Earth Trust

Founded in 1967, Earth Trust is an environmental charity (not-for-profit organisation) which was originally known as the Northmoor Trust for Countryside Conservation. Earth Trust was initially established by the British engineer Sir Martin Wood to promote environmental conservation through land management, education, and land science. It is a registered charity under English law.

Since 1982 Earth Trust has been providing and championing accessible natural green spaces and running inspiring, award-winning programmes to help connect people with nature and the environment. Earth Trust inspire people to address climate, biodiversity and wellbeing with the power of natural green spaces.

Earth Trust is the owner and manager of the largest freely accessible natural green space landscape in Oxfordshire - the iconic Wittenham Clumps: 500 hectares of woodland, farmland, wildflower meadows and wetlands. Earth Trust also care for a growing number of smaller community reserves - special places for both nature and people within urban areas and towns. These places receive 200,000+ visits each year.

Earth Trust use the places they manage to demonstrate nature based solutions and engage people with the natural world in order to influence for more accessible and better green spaces.

As well as managing and promoting accessible natural green spaces for everyone, Earth Trust also operate a working farm. Along with their Farm Step tenants, Earth Trust are one of Oxfordshire's mid-sized producers of legumes, grains and wildflowers, beef, lamb, Goat's cheese and honey.

Earth Trust have 500 hectares of mixed use farmland, demonstrating the links between environment, wildlife, landscape and growing food. Earth Trust encourages and supports the production, distribution and eating of good quality, local, healthy food. Land management, skills and the means needed to produce and distribute food locally, minimising transport and waste are all important ingredients. Earth Trust continue to explore and develop methods to show that farming practices can be environmentally friendly and economically sustainable.

In 2000 Earth Trust took on the management of three community meadows: Wallingford Castle Meadows and Riverside Meadows in Wallingford, and Mowbray Fields in Didcot.

In 2009, Earth Trust came into a management position of Thrupp Lake, located in Radley. A beautiful wetland site, it is one of England’s top bird sites and was protected through an agreement with RWE npower (who own the site) and the local community.

In 2010 Earth Trust acquired 500 acres of farmland adjacent to Little Wittenham Wood and the River Thames. Their River of Life project created new wetland habitats on the riverbank and means there’s now a continuous area of high quality wildlife habitat from the Thames basin up to the top of the Wittenham Clumps – an area covering 150ha. Earth Trust's land at Little Wittenham now extends to 1,200 acres and includes woodland, research plantation, wildlife meadows, wetland and mixed farmland.

In 2014 Earth Trust started managing Abbey Fishponds in Abingdon. Tucked away in a residential area of the town, Abbey Fishponds is a small nature reserve loved by locals and teeming with wetland wildlife. The reserve is around 7ha and despite being completely enclosed by housing, is a haven for wildlife, walkers and local explorers.

Volunteers have always played at important part in the Earth Trust and in 2016 their hard work was rewarded with the prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the MBE for volunteer groups.

2017 saw Earth Trust take the first step in their Gateway project when South Oxfordshire District Council Planning Committee granted approval for their proposal to improve the Earth Trust Centre. This will enable Earth Trust to establish a new gateway with the facilities that visitors need to access the countryside. Work started in 2019 with archaeological investigations.

The newest Earth Trust building, Earth Lab is a cutting-edge sustainable building and winner of the “Most Innovative and Sustainable Initiative” at the 2021 OxPropFest awards. More than a building, Earth Lab is a living demonstration of human interactions with the natural environment through its design, materials and functional choices.

Following on from the success of River of Life, the River of Life II project has created several new wetland habitats along the River Thames and River Thame and transformed a total 46,000m2 of wetland (the size of six football pitches). The ponds and backwaters were developed in 2021 and provide important habitats for people and wildlife to enjoy as well as wetlands which help to alleviate floods and absorb carbon. You can spot herons, kingfishers or even otters, as well as plenty of fish. You can also see wildflowers in the meadows in spring and summer, and visiting migrant birds at the wetlands in the winter.

Earth Trust hosts a full programme of events each year, including countryside management courses, taster workshops and family festivals. They are best known for their Lambing Weekends in spring, which were attended by over 8,000 people in 2016.

Properties

Little Wittenham

Round Hill at Wittenham Clumps.

• Earth Trust Centre – Located at the base of the Wittenham Clumps, the Earth Trust Centre comprises the office, Earth Lab learning centre and Fison Barn, which is hired out for weddings, parties and corporate events.
• Earth Lab - Designed in sympathy with the surrounding landscape, Earth Lab provides a seamless flow from indoor to outdoor learning areas. Used as the learning environment, Earth Lab also provides a range of stimulating and inspirational spaces for corporate events. Earth Lab features a flexible airy atrium space, two indoor classrooms and a covered outdoor meeting space.
• Wittenham Clumps – The two hilltops of Castle Hill and Round Hill are known to be the two oldest planted hilltop beeches in England, dating back over 300 years. Wittenham Clumps and Little Wittenham Nature Reserve are the most visited free site in Oxfordshire.
• Little Wittenham Wood – Located in the area of North Wessex Downs, Little Wittenham Wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to the large breeding population of Great Crested newts that live in the ponds and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
• Broad Arboretum – Planted in 1998, the Broad Arboretum features every species of fauna native to Oxfordshire along with recent introductions such as walnut, sycamore and chestnut.
• Neptune Wood – Neptune Wood was planted to honour the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. Thousands of oak trees were planted in this area to replace the countless number of trees that were used to build the ships. Specifically, Lord Nelson's flagship was made out of approximately 5,000 oak trees, while the 27-ship fleet had used over 50,000 trees.
• Paradise Wood – Paradise Wood is a national research woodland that is the largest collection of hardwood timber trials in the country. It consists of around 60,000 hardwood trees and the research is helping Earth Trust champion a new sustainable model for our trees and forests - integrated management which balances their value for amenity and for wildlife, as well as for economic, sustainable timber production.
• River of Life – In 2010 Earth Trust acquired 35 hectares of land next to the River Thames. As well as adding 2.5 km of Thames frontage to the Earth Trust portfolio, this land provided a golden opportunity to create a unique wetland landscape. River of Life is an ambitious project that will ‘re-wild’ this stretch of the Thames. With support from the Environment Agency, in 2013-14 new backwaters and ponds were dug, and reedbeds, wet woodland and wildflower meadows planted. In June 2014 River of Life was the joint winner of the Best Practice Award for Practical Nature Conservation at the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) Awards.
• River of Life 2 - River of Life 2 follows the success of their first wetland habitat creation, River of Life, on the banks of the Thames near Shillingford.  This project will transform three locations along the River Thames and Thame, working in partnership with two other landowners – Church Farm Partnership and The Hurst Water Meadow Trust. It is the biggest project undertaken as part of Earth Trust's Water & Wetlands programme, which aims to demonstrate landscape management of water and wetlands, clean rivers and the importance and value of water to nature and people. Working at a larger scale than before, the project has a lifespan and potential legacy that will tackle a number of environmental challenges.

Wallingford

• Wallingford Castle Meadows - Now in ruins, the castle was known to be one of the greatest medieval castles located in England. In 1066, William the Conqueror and his army crossed into the Thames at Wallingford and ordered the building of the castle. Castle Meadows today is home to important wildlife habitats and is a much-loved community greenspace. Earth Trust manage the site on behalf of South Oxfordshire District Council.
• Riverside Meadows - Riverside land located alongside the Thames River in Wallingford. It is considered to be a rare and threatened habitat and Earth Trust is working to restore the wildflower meadows. Riverside Meadows can be enjoyed during the summer months when the meadows are ablaze with fields of oxeye daisy, common knapweed and bird’s-foot trefoil. Earth Trust manage the site on behalf of South Oxfordshire District Council.

Other

• Mowbray Fields - Earth Trust manage this local nature reserve in Didcot on behalf of South Oxfordshire District Council. It is home to the common spotted and southern marsh orchids.
• Thrupp Lake - Thrupp Lake, part of the Radley Lake complex, is located in the village of Radley on the edge of Abingdon and is a man-made lake owned by RWE npower and managed by Earth Trust. Radley Lakes were the subject of a community campaign to save them from being filled in (2005-8). In 2015 Earth Trust was awarded the management contract for some of the surrounding former lakes.
• Abbey Fishponds - Earth Trust took over the management of this community nature reserve in Abingdon in July 2014.The site is also known as Daisy Bank. Earth Trust manage the site on behalf of Vale of White Horse District Council. The reserve is around 7ha and despite being completely enclosed by housing, is a haven for wildlife, walkers and local explorers.

Earth Trust Events

Earth Trust host many events throughout the year that aim to get people out enjoying the countryside, from family festivals to bushcraft courses. The majority are held at their flagship site in Little Wittenham with a small number taking place on the nearby community nature reserves that the charity manages. Such events such as the 'Lambing Weekends' happen yearly.

See also

• The Poem Tree at Wittenham Clumps, carved by Joseph Tubb.

External links

• Earth Trust website