Vincent Wildlife Trust

Description

Vincent Wildlife Trust, VWT, is a charity that works on mammal conservation in Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe.

It was founded in 1975 by the Honourable Vincent Weir, initially to focus on the status of the otter. Its work now covers threatened mammals such as the water vole, dormouse, stoat, polecat, pine marten and rare bat species, including horseshoe bats, Bechstein’s bat and the barbastelle. Its vision is to act as a catalyst for mammal conservation, and its mission is to conserve threatened mammals through scientifically sound conservation work. Its current work combines survey and monitoring, research, education, training and advocacy.

The Trust has run national surveys of otters, water voles and polecats, and its early water vole surveys helped identify the species’ population crash and led to legal protection. It manages horseshoe bat roosts across Britain and Ireland, including maternity colonies of international importance, and it has translocated pine martens from Scotland to Wales and to the Forest of Dean since 2015. In Ireland it runs surveys and habitat projects for the lesser horseshoe bat and the Irish stoat, often in partnership with universities and other conservation bodies.

The Trust has produced dozens of peer-reviewed research papers and relies on volunteers to support its research and conservation work. Its head office is in Herefordshire, England.