With the Trust celebrating 60 years of protecting nature this year, it’s been the perfect time for exciting changes to take place at the reserve, including an upgrade to the gift shop which now sells plants too thanks to new local supplier Giddy Kippers! Discovery packs containing binoculars, crayons, and paper are also available to pick up from the centre to take with you on your adventure! 

Our reserve is a wonderful place for birdwatching – an activity of great importance to a lot of our supporters – so we are very excited to be able to cater to this through now stocking our diverse range of scopes and binoculars in the shop, as well as offering free appointments with our optics trained staff - available to book in person at the centre or by emailing optics@nottswt.co.uk. We are also running our popular optics days with Viking Optics, so that our visitors can try out our range in real field conditions and get expert advice to find their perfect fit. A new Retail Volunteer role is being introduced to the centre, which will add an important central point of contact for visitors, as both a person to chat to about nature on the reserve and to assist with running our busy gift shop.  

The community feel at the reserve is thriving, with our new Wilder Nottinghamshire Officer, Harri, at the heart of it. Harri started her new role back in January and has already been getting involved in the community and enjoying learning more about wildlife in her everyday surroundings.

Harri has also been involved in bringing Wellbeing Walks to the reserve, a free weekly opportunity to meet new people and spent time in nature together. Walks run every Tuesday, with everyone welcome.

We are also excited to now be able to welcome responsible dog owners and their companions into the café, so that everyone can enjoy a cuppa, whatever the weather! But with the weather warming up, why not make the most of our outdoor seating area? With cake, hot food and drinks available at the café, including gluten free and vegan options, it’s the perfect place for a picnic! Keep an eye out for exciting new afternoon teas in the future too… 

Kate, our new Retail & Catering Manager has been making lots of positive changes, including re-vamping our shop with more wildlife friendly products, and only using suppliers with our eco-conscious morals and made in the UK – where possible Nottinghamshire locally. She has also drastically cut down the number of suppliers to cut carbon emissions through the number of vehicles delivering products, and the café is now all compostable packaging. We have alternative milks available in our café for no extra cost, and 50p off drinks if you bring your own reusable cup to wander round our reserve! 

Family events are returning to the reserve after lockdown, with previous events this year including Beaver Day, a fun packed free event celebrating bringing back beavers to Nottinghamshire on the reserve, as well as a string of successful lambing events running throughout the Easter holidays, where the public got involved and got a behind the scenes look at our newborn conservation grazers! We have had plenty of new additions to our rare breed cattle team too!