BERKSHIRE, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE AND OXFORDSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST

Registered charity 204330 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q4892236 · Wikipedia · also known as BBONT, BBOWT, BERKS BUCKS & OXON WILDLIFE TRUST, BERKSHIRE, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE AND OXFORDSHIRE NATURALISTS' TRUST LIMITED, BERKSHIRE, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE AND OXFORDSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST LIMITED

BBOWT is the only voluntary organisation concerned with all aspects of nature conservation in Berks, Bucks & Oxon. We care for 85 nature reserves that are safe havens for rare & endangered species & habitats. We encourage all sectors of the community to learn about & care for our natural heritage. We work with other landowners & seek to influence decisions to safeguard important wildlife habitats.

Objects

THE OBJECTS ARE FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT TO SAFEGUARD AND ENHANCE BIODIVERSITY (MEANING THE VARIETY OF LIFE IN ALL ITS FORMS, LEVELS AND COMBINATIONS, INCLUDING ECOSYSTEM DIVERSITY, SPECIES DIVERSITY AND GENETIC DIVERSITY), AND IN PARTICULAR(A) TO UNDERTAKE AND PROMOTE THE CONSERVATION OF WILDLIFE SPECIES AND THEIR HABITATS INCLUDING THE RESTORATION AND CREATION OF SUCH HABITATS;(B) TO PROMOTE PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF, AND SUPPORT FOR, THE NATURAL WORLD; AND(C) TO CAMPAIGN IN SUPPORT OF SUSTAINABLE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Vale of White Horse, South East, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity ended the year with a surplus of £2,045k, driven by a sale of an office building and increased membership income. Free unrestricted reserves stood at £3,545k, which the trustees note is approximately five months of operating costs, falling short of their stated optimum policy target of up to six months. The charity confirmed it is a going concern with no material uncertainties identified by the auditors.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by HaysMac LLP. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Top pay band moved from £90,001 - £110,000 (FY2024) to £90,000 - £100,000 (FY2025).
• Employees paid over £60,000: 5 (FY2024) → 4 (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

• Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust Nature Discovery Centre in Thatcham is getting wild for nature newburytoday.co.uk · 12/06/2023

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 00680007
• Trading subsidiary: FUTURE NATURE WTC LTD Companies House 02648728

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Berkshire Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Estelle Bailey — Chief Executive (source)
• George Levvy — Chair of the Board of Trustees (source)
• Karen Hartshorn — Assistant Chief Executive (source)
• Becky Hall — People, Culture & Operations Director (source)
• Steve Proud — Land Management Director (source)
• Liz Shearer — Community Engagement Director (source)
• Matthew Stanton — External Affairs & Landscape Recovery Director (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• Prince's Countryside Fund — “The Jordans Farm Partnership is a partnership between Jordans, The Wildlife Trusts, the Prince's Countryside Fund and LEAF (Linking Environm…” (source page)

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• LUDHRA, Subash Chander — director, appointed 23/07/2024on trustee list
• DICKSON, Simon James — director, appointed 23/07/2024on trustee list
• PADFIELD, Amy Louise — director, appointed 07/03/2024on trustee list
• BURGH, Samuel — director, appointed 07/03/2024on trustee list
• AUSTIN, Jolyon Geoffrey Seneschal — director, appointed 27/07/2023on trustee list
• CLARK, Garth Anthony — director, appointed 06/12/2022on trustee list
• HANCOCK, Zoe Julie Clare — director, appointed 27/07/2022on trustee list
• CHACKSFIELD, Mark Andrew — director, appointed 27/07/2022on trustee list
• DAVIES, Timothy Kay — director, appointed 27/07/2022on trustee list
• BENNELLICK, Andrew — director, appointed 28/07/2021on trustee list
• LEVVY, George — director, appointed 28/07/2021on trustee list
• EVANS, Miles William — director, appointed 28/07/2021on trustee list
• GANPATSINGH, Natalie Diana Lisa — director, appointed 11/12/2019on trustee list

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

118 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (90 freehold); recorded price paid £300k. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~3.6 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 27.9% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 3.7%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (12/02/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Amy Louise Padfield
• Andrew Bennellick
• Dr Sasha Marie Woods
• Fiona Mary Manning
• Garth Antony Clark
• George Levvy
• Jolyon Geoffrey Seneschal Austin
• MARK CHACKSFIELD · trustee of 1 other charity
• Miles William Evans
• Natalie Ganpatsingh
• Samuel Burgh
• Simon James Dickson
• Subash Chander Ludhra
• Timothy Kay Davies
• Zoe Julie Clare Hancock

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Bracknell Forest · Buckinghamshire · Milton Keynes · Oxfordshire · Reading · Slough · West Berkshire · Windsor And Maidenhead · Wokingham

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT WILDLIFE TRUST.

• HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT WILDLIFE TRUST income £9.9m
• THE HERTFORDSHIRE AND MIDDLESEX WILDLIFE TRUST LIMITED income £3.8m
• SOMERSET WILDLIFE TRUST income £5.3m
• SHROPSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST income £3.4m
• THE WARWICKSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST LIMITED income £13.5m
• DORSET WILDLIFE TRUST income £7.3m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.