For those of us working in the nature recovery sector, the tail end of 2025 felt like the start of a very bleak midwinter.
The Labour Government’s nightmare before Christmas was unfolding, shredding the hopes of millions of people who care about the decline of the natural world.
Following the passage of the damaging Planning & Infrastructure Bill, the Government weakened the landmark Biodiversity Net Gain scheme.
And whilst the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) was busy launching its new but underwhelming Environmental Improvement Plan, the Prime Minister was busy welcoming the Nuclear Review’s recommendation to bypass what he described as “fundamentally misguided environmental regulations.”
What’s been particularly galling as all of this has unfolded, is the deliberate and politically convenient distortion of the evidence, both by Government and the lobbyists employed by big business.
Whether that’s the Prime Minister making misleading claims that rare spiders had somehow stopped a new town from being built, or the way bats somehow get blamed for the cost escalations HS2 Ltd., when the reality sits with the company itself.
Similarly, coverage of Fingleton’s Nuclear Review Report plucks figures from lobbyists, rather than experts, and twists the narrative to point the finger at fish, rather than the decisions made within the business.
Reasons to be optimistic
All of this suggests that our collective efforts to secure nature’s recovery are doomed to failure, failed by a policy landscape that seems determined to undermine nature at every step.
But, there are two important reasons why we remain hopeful at Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust for a better year for nature in 2026: people and nature.
Let’s start with the latter. Colleagues from across the UK’s Wildlife Trusts have spent the New Year celebrating what was a ‘bumper year’ for new arrivals and discoveries across nature reserves.
The many nature highlights from this year are testament to the efforts of our staff and volunteers working hard to restore habitats, reintroduce lost species and boost nature’s recovery across the UK.
Here in Gloucestershire, nightjars have bred successfully for the second year running thanks to decades of work carefully managing and restoring lowland heaths in the Forest of Dean.
From this we take great hope in the knowledge that as we continue to create bigger, better, more, and more connected space for nature, it will return when given the chance.
The second aspect of hope comes from the thousands of people we work in partnership with across the county.
Whether that’s:
- the 4,000 school children we work with, and their natural desire to engage and be connected with the natural world,
- the hundreds of people who gave so generously to our appeal to create a vital landscape connection at Knapp Lane,
- the community that stepped up and led the way in helping us save Juniper Hill Fields.
- the 600 volunteers we work with every day, and with whom we wouldn’t be able to achieve half of what we do each year,
- and the growing number of members who are joining in support, judging by the pile of new member welcome packs, who make this all possible.
With signs like this, it’s possible to go into the New Year with hope for what can be achieved, not least calling on people’s support to send the message to our politicians that #NatureMatters.
We are concerned about what might come next in terms of the Government’s view on “misguided” habitat regulations that protect the country’s most important species and habitats for destruction.
As a start, we’re asking supporters to write to your MP - https://www.gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk/nature-matters-campaign to send a simple message about why #NatureMatters to you.
Our hope is that we will be able to stop the nature crisis becoming a catastrophe, and we’ll be asking for more help in getting that message through to policy makers.
Sign up to our email to keep in touch, and find out more.
- Andrew McLaughlin, GWT CEO