The Duke of Westminster becomes Patron of Cheshire Wildlife Trust

Cheshire Wildlife Trust, a charity dedicated to preserving Cheshire's plants, animals and wild places, both now and in the future, announced The Duke of Westminster as their new Patron.

The Trust is the region's leading environmental conservation organisation, working on all aspects of nature and wildlife protection, and in recent years have broadened their remit to include regularly advising landowners on how their land can be more effectively managed to create safe habitat ‘corridors’ between existing nature reserves.

On accepting the role, The Duke of Westminster said “Cheshire Wildlife Trust does great work with wildlife and people throughout the county, and I was very pleased to be invited to help as their new Patron. Their 45 nature reserves are a valuable asset but the Trust’s work with landowners and farmers across the wider countryside is probably even more important.”

Part of the strategy is to create a ‘Living Landscape’ by using native-breed livestock to graze nature reserves and other land under the Trust’s management – an area that the Duke of Westminster was keen to learn more about.

The Duke of Westminster added: “It was superb to see at first-hand during my visit the dedication of the team managing the livestock herd across the Trust’s many grazing sites, but also meet the young people who get a chance to truly experience where food comes from and the rich abundance of wildlife that the county has to offer, whether below the surface of a pond or within a simple bird nest box”.

Chairman of the Trust, Professor David Norman, added “We know that the Duke has supported our work for some years now. Following his visit to our headquarters a few months ago where he met schoolchildren from Ellesmere Port and several members of staff, I was delighted when we visited him at Eaton Hall and His Grace agreed to step up his involvement with Cheshire Wildlife Trust. Our 50th anniversary in 2012 will be an exciting and busy time and we hugely appreciate the Duke’s backing at this ambitious time in the Trust’s history.”