VWTImpactReport28Oct2025PT - Flipbook - Page 10
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VWT devised a novel method using
social media to clarify distribution
of marbled polecat, a rare species
found in parts of southeast Europe.
A total of 131 new sightings
con昀椀rmed its presence in
92 areas within the study area.
The results can help to target
future surveys for the species.
Otter survey methodology
devised by Nature Conservancy
Council (now Natural England)
and re昀椀ned by VWT was
adopted as the standard
approach by the International
Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN).
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VWT’s Pine Marten Recovery
Project set the ‘gold standard’ for
carnivore translocations in Britain,
helping to ensure successful
human-wildlife coexistence as
carnivore populations recover.
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Under VWT management,
greater horseshoe bat
populations in Britain
increased by 366%
compared with 164%
in other roosts.
VWT safeguards 10% of
Britain’s lesser horseshoe
bat population in roosts
VWT has pioneered the enhancement that will ensure protection
of horseshoe bat roosts in derelict in perpetuity.
or sub-optimal buildings, including
protection against predators and
climate change, to provide optimal
breeding and hibernation conditions
and maximise survival and
breeding success.
VWT safeguards 50% of
Britain’s greater horseshoe
bat population to ensure its
survival into the future.
VWT has helped greater horseshoe bats
to return to southern England by providing
secure maternity roosts to help establish
a viable breeding population in southeast
England, 100km east of its nearest
stronghold in Dorset.
In Ireland, populations of
lesser horseshoe bats
in VWT-managed roosts
increased by 217%
while numbers remained
stable elsewhere.
VWT safeguards the largest known
colony of lesser horseshoe bats in
western Europe, which has increased
from 305 in 1993 to a record count
of 1,360 adults in 2018.
VWT safeguards
16,000 greater
horseshoe bats and
lesser horseshoe
bats in its bat roosts,
enhanced to
protect against
future impacts of
climate change.
VWT carried out the First National
Otter Survey for Scotland in 1977
and Ireland in 1982. National surveys
documented the decline of otters
in Britain and Ireland and led to the
species becoming protected, which
was a key factor in their recovery.
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Vincent Wildlife Trust 50 Years Impact Report 2025
In partnership with Sussex
University, VWT developed
and tested a ground-breaking
method to estimate the age
of individual Bechstein’s bats
using DNA. The 昀椀rst time
such a method has been
applied to any bat species
— and only the second time
trialled in wild mammals.
