Ted Smith’s mission was to stop the destruction of our county’s most precious natural habitats and protect the species that call them home. The Trust he founded is celebrating its 75th birthday this year and has come a long way since its founder took those first groundbreaking steps. From a tiny voluntary group based at Ted’s own house near Alford, Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust now cares for nearly 100 nature reserves and has a dedicated team of around 70 along with hundreds of passionate volunteers.
Gibraltar Point, the Trust’s pioneering first reserve, remains a vital site for wildlife. Decades of committed shorebird protection have ensured rare little terns still nest there – the only place in Lincolnshire – and it is a stronghold for many other migratory and resident birds. Further north on the coast between Mablethorpe and Grimsby, the Trust manages Donna Nook National Nature Reserve with its incredible grey seal colony and over 2,000 pups born every winter, plus around 55,00 visitors enjoying the experience of seeing them close-up in the wild. In the south it has transformed Willow Tree Fen near Spalding from arable farmland to a reserve teeming with nature, including breeding pairs of common cranes - a species extinct from Lincolnshire for more than 400 years prior to 2020. And Trust reserves across the county have seen the welcome return of bittern, otters, natterjack toads, several birds of prey species, and much more.
