£90k to celebrate Aylesbury nature reserve's 80th birthday

A wildlife haven which helped inspire a banker to start the UK's nature reserve movement will receive a special birthday gift to celebrate its 80th anniversary – a grant of more than £90,000.

The money will be used to improve Dancersend Reserve in Buckinghamshire, which was one of the first nature reserves in the UK. The 211-acre site, near Aylesbury, is where a young Charles Rothschild discovered his love of nature. He went on to help found the conservation society that eventually became The Wildlife Trusts.

Now, the Rothschild Foundation set up by Charles's family has given £92,000 to the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) to develop the site which it was gifted as a nature reserve 80 years ago.

The donation will help create a mosaic of new habitats, a wildlife pond and display boards telling the little-known story of Dancersend. BBOWT, which part-owns and manages the reserve, is also planning a series of events to celebrate the anniversary and will work with neighbouring landowners to help protect and enhance the natural environment in the area for people to enjoy. The two-year program of works started yesterday (1/7).

BBOWT CEO Estelle Bailey said:

"Dancersend is like the mother of all nature reserves – one of the foundation stones on which The Wildlife Trusts was built. This beautiful place inspired the man who became a pioneer in the UK's nature reserve movement, so it has an important place in history as well as in our hearts.

"Over the past year, the reserve has had extra pressure put on it by the increase in visitors enjoying the outdoors during the pandemic, which has caused some damage to its fragile habitats and pathways. This generous grant will enable us to repair that damage, but also future-proof the site, so it can be a wildlife haven for people to enjoy for many years to come – a fitting legacy to Charles Rothschild."

Charles Rothschild (1877 – 1923) was a member of the famous Rothschild banking dynasty, and spent much of his childhood at the family’s Tring Park estate in Buckinghamshire. He discovered the wonders of the nearby Dancersend valley with his older brother Walter. They would go hunting for butterflies and moths there, sparking Charles’s lifelong interest in natural history.

As well as becoming a banker in the family business, Charles also became a respected entomologist and, in 1912, he founded the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves (SPNR), which later became The Wildlife Trusts of which BBOWT is a member.

He acquired 78 acres of the richest habitat in the Dancersend valley to protect it for wildlife and, in 1941, his son Victor and daughter Miriam gifted that land to the society which their father founded to be one of its first nature reserves. That land is now part-owned and managed by BBOWT.