What would you like Cheshire's countryside to look and sound like in years to come? Perhaps you picture wildflower meadows alive with bees and butterflies, healthy wetlands where curlews can raise their young, or woodlands busy with thriving habitats. 

After taking care of the people closest to you, a gift in your Will to Cheshire Wildlife Trust could help make that future possible. Gifts of every size can protect precious places, help wildlife recover and ensure that future generations can experience the nature we know and love today.

Here are three incredible ways your gift could make a lasting difference.

1. Protect precious wild places

When an important piece of land comes up for sale, there may be only one chance to save it. That is exactly what happened when Fox Hill became available; we used a gift left by a local supporter in his Will to give our £420,000 fundraising appeal the head start it needed. 

That remarkable gift helped turn a unique opportunity into reality, a powerful example of how your love of wildlife can live on in a real piece of Cheshire's countryside.

Donations in action – the Pennine Fringe

Overgrazing and drainage have stripped Cheshire’s upland habitats bare. Focusing on the Cheshire's Peak District, we are restoring peatlands, grasslands and woodlands. Donations allow us to deliver habitat restoration and natural flood management, which in turn keeps carbon safely stored, improves water quality, and provides safe breeding spaces for many species, such as red-listed curlew and lapwing.

Did you know… Cheshire has the highest species loss recorded of any county in England. Our nature reserves are carefully managed refuges for vulnerable species, providing safe public access and protecting key habitats. Each one is managed to its full potential, so it can support the long-term survival of rare and threatened wildlife.

The Pennine Fringe now marks the strong hold, if not the only, breeding population of curlew in the country. A gift in your Will can protect land which the survival of species with national importance rely upon. 

2. Restore nature at landscape scale

Restoring nature needs patient, practical support over many years. Nesting sites for red-listed species like linnet and grasshopper warbler must be protected, habitats carefully managed and breeding populations monitored. 

A gift in your Will could support the long-term recovery of some of the region's most vulnerable wildlife. Your gift could fund habitat improvements, wildlife surveys and the skilled conservation work needed to give struggling species a more hopeful future.

Donations in action – the Sandstone Ridge 

Decades of intensive land use have left their mark on the Sandstone Ridge and Delamere. We are restoring heathland, mosses, meres and woodlands along one of Cheshire’s most iconic landscapes. We’re reconnecting habitats, recovering species like the rare white-faced darter dragonfly, creating resilient landscapes that are wilder and richer for wildlife, giving them the best possible foundations for successful and sustainable recovery. 

Did you know… The main threats to nature in Cheshire come from agriculture, development, pollution and climate change. We’re at a tipping point. What happens next will define whether future generations inherit a Cheshire rich in wildlife and wonder, or one that is depleted and diminished.

We won’t stand by while wildlife is lost. A gift in your Will can help us tip the balance for nature's future.

3. Help threatened wildlife recover

For wildlife to truly survive and flourish, it needs connected habitats. Linking fragmented sites by improving the quality of land around existing reserves, creates ecological corridors that allow species to move, adapt, and recolonise lost areas. 

Gifts in Wills can support ambitious work beyond individual reserves. By restoring wetlands, reconnecting hedgerows, creating flower-rich grasslands and working alongside farmers, landowners and communities, your gift will enable us to make more room for nature across our region.

Donations in action - the Gowy catchment

The River Gowy has lost 7km of its length in a century; straightened, drained and disconnected from its floodplain. Our Restoring the Gowy Catchment programme is putting that right. Over decades of patient work, we’ve restored wetlands, meadows, woodlands and reedbeds. Now we’re reconnecting the river to its floodplain, supporting nature-friendly farming and creating safe havens for otters, water voles and eels. 

Did you know… Water voles have been lost from 94% of their range since the 1970s. Through habitat protection, invasive species control and reintroductions, we’re bringing water voles back from the brink and letting this remarkable mini-ecosystem engineer help restore healthy river habitats.

We’re taking action before the water vole is gone. A gift in your Will can help us protect them and even more threatened species in the future.

Your gift, your way

You do not need to choose between your loved ones and wildlife. Many people leave a percentage of what remains after family and friends have been cared for. Because it is a proportion rather than a fixed amount, this kind of gift can adapt if the value of your estate changes.

Whether your gift is large or small, it can become part of something lasting: healthier landscapes, recovering wildlife and more people standing up for nature. Together, we can leave Cheshire's nature in safe hands - for wildlife, for the people we love and for generations to come.

Find out more

If you are considering including a gift in your Will to Cheshire Wildlife Trust, we have a section dedicated to gifts in Wills on our website which contains further details. Additionally, you can find clear, practical information in our free download. 

Download our free gifts in Wills information booklet

You can also speak to us for a friendly chat and we will help answer any questions you may have about leaving a gift in your Will. There is no obligation whatsoever, and every conversation is treated with the utmost confidence. 

Call our philanthropy officer, Amy Green, on 01948 822 222 or email agreen@cheshirewt.org.uk.