Thanks to You Here are just a few ways in which people can and do help the Trust to save Cornwall’s wildlife and wild places - we can’t do it without you. Habitat Appeal At the time of writing we’re about one year into the appeal. We set ourselves a target of £1,000,000 over five years and already we’ve raised about half of that! We’ve bought two wonderful nature reserves - Cabilla and Redrice Woods and Prideaux Wood - and we’ve agreed a sale for two more. This fantastic achievement is largely down to the generosity of yourselves - our members - and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Over £30,000 has been donated by members alone and this has been used to draw down Lottery grants and secure other funding, making it worth over ten times as much. A piece of wild Cornwall about the size of a football pitch is lost every day. Owning and managing land as a nature reserve is the best possible protection you can give it. We want to continue buying the most important wildlife sites, but to do it we will need to raise more money. If you - our members - continue to support this appeal as generously as you have done so far, we will be able to buy more land and protect it for ever as nature reserves. Projects funded so far Cabilla and Redrice Woods We purchased this lovely ancient woodland in March 1997. The woods are suffering from several decades of neglect and there is a great deal of management work to be done. Recent surveys have shown just what a haven for wildlife these woods are - dormice, bats, badgers, deer, otters and much more have been recorded here. Estimated total cost - £260,000 Prideaux Wood We purchased this mainly coniferous woodland in November 1997. It is a haven for the very rare greater horseshoe bat. In fact there are only 12 other sites in the country where these bats are still known to breed. Estimated total cost - £81,000. Chûn Downs This spectacular piece of the West Penwith Moors also includes half of Chûn Quoit and half of Chûn Castle. At the time of writing, we have agreed a sale and successfully raised the money required to complete the purchase. It is now in the hands of our solicitor, but by the time you read this I hope Chûn will be one of our nature reserves.Estimated total cost - £34,500 ??? We’ve also agreed a sale on another important site. We hope to be able to tell you the full details soon.Estimated total cost - £56,500 Ways you can help Send us another donation. Do you know somewhere that would make a good nature reserve? If you do, please let me know. Ideally, we want to know about sites that are available for sale, but we are also interested to hear your wish lists. Are you a retired land agent or agricultural land valuer? If so, we want to hear from you. The Trust is considering the possibility of appointing an Honorary Land Agent. This would be a voluntary post with currently no more than one or two days’ work a month. Responsibilities would include land valuations, negotiating with landowners and advising the Trust on issues regarding its land holdings and acquisitions. For further information contact me at Trust HQ on (01872) 273939. Paul Horak Trust on-line http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/cornwall/ If you’ve got access to the internet, you can find us on the World Wide Web at the address above. It’s only a small site at present, but we hope to expand it in the not-too-distant future. You can find out the latest about Habitat Appeal news, visit Stephen Westcott’s seal site, find out more about our work and even print out a donation form. Special thanks are due to Bob Russell at Gallaher Russell Design for building the site for us. I hope you like it - please let me know what you think. Email us - cornwt@cix.compulink.co.uk The Trust has had an email address for some time - you may have noticed it on our letterhead. We’d like to know how many members also use email, so if you’ve got an account at home please email us at the address above. As more and more of us start to use this new technology it could help the Trust save money. Paul Horak FREE reserves leaflet Many members have asked for an updated reserves leaflet. We hope you like the free copy enclosed with this pack (if for any reason you did not get one, please call us on (01872) 273939). Why is it free? It’s our way of saying thank you for your generous support of our Habitat Appeal. We will easily recover the cost by making the remainder available in the shop and asking for a donation from people who would like a copy - hence the "recommended donation £2" printed on the front. Modern-day "rag and bone" collectors Kate and Simon Wilde are donating all proceeds from the sale of recyclable materials to the Trust and Surfers Against Sewage. If you live in the Falmouth area, and want someone to take the hassle out of your recycling, call Rag and Bone 2000 on (01326) 311811. Photo: Mark Nicholson Let wildlife live after you die Your will can help make sure that Cornwall’s wildlife lives on after you die. A will is also a vital legal document which everyone should make and regularly review. To help members who are thinking of making or changing a will, we have produced a simple booklet. It’s packed with useful information which should help save you money, because you will be well prepared when you visit your solicitor. Among other things, it provides the essential information (about the Trust) that your solicitor will need if you decide to leave us a bequest. Please let me know if you would like a copy by calling (01872) 273939 or writing to me at Trust HQ. Some facts about wills... - In England and Wales alone, approximately £2,000,000,000 is left by people who haven’t made a will - in other words, who die intestate. - If you die before you make a will, your spouse may not inherit all your belongings. The laws on intestacy will decide. Only a portion will pass to your spouse unless the total is under a certain value. The rest must be shared with your children or other relatives. - You can use your will to choose a guardian for your children in case both parents die. If you don’t do this, the courts decide who looks after your children and this might not be what you would have wanted. - If you have not made a will, your stepchildren will receive nothing unless they have been formally adopted by you. - There are tax advantages in leaving money to a registered charity like the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. In some cases, this can mean more money for your relatives and other benefactors. - If you get married, any existing will is invalid and you must make a new will. - If you are separated but not divorced, and you haven’t made a new will, your spouse will still have a legal claim to inherit from you, no matter how long the separation has lasted. - If you are gay and have not made a will, your partner will be excluded from your estate as there is no entitlement for inclusion for non-relatives. Don’t die intestate! Paul Horak Sales A year has now gone by in our new shop premises in Penzance. The threat of another move in September proved to be a false alarm, buying us time well into the new year. The summer season was perhaps the most unpredictable we have had. The weather in June and August didn’t help, and traders were reminded that building society windfalls have largely been spent out of town. Fortunately, we have maintained good sales figures since the autumn, particularly in the wild bird food and feeder department. It seems we have established a very good reputation for delivering quality goods for our feathered friends. We have had the added bonus this autumn of being able to provide a wonderful array of wooden feeders, nest boxes and tables, kindly constructed by Stewart Clark at the wildflower nursery at Bosilliac. They have been treated with safe wood stain and our bat boxes are made with untreated wood. All are offered at very competitive prices. Our bird food all carries a certificate of safety. It is very important to be wary when buying food for birds, as there is no law preventing the sale of bad-quality - even toxic - peanuts, which can spell death for many. If you would like to learn more about gardening for wildlife, please remember our weekend workshops, which take place upstairs in the shop: Bats in Your Garden - Saturday 24th January - cost £12 (which includes your own bat box) Wildlife Gardening - Saturday 7th March - cost £6 Workshops are from 10.00am until 4.00pm and tea and coffee will be provided. Please call to reserve your place. Saving money to save wildlife - volunteers Jean Smith and Nick Tregenza are among the many who pack and hand-deliver Wild Cornwall to save on administrative and postage costs. Photo: Tony Cartwright Sally Hawkins

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