In 2002, a legacy gift from William (Bill) Payn, helped us to secure a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to purchase Mickle Mere and so create a fabulous new nature reserve.

The purchase of Captain's Wood in 2005 was made possible by a legacy gift from Gloria Ford which provided the foundation for our successful application for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

All but 16 acres of the surviving woodland became a National Nature Reserve, until in 2010, a legacy gift from Peter Mitchell allowed us to seize a once in a lifetime chance to buy the final corner of ancient woodland.

Since 2007, 10 separate land purchases made possible by legacy gifts, have transformed Carlton & Oulton Marshes, piecing together fragments of flower-rich fen and grazing marsh into the magnificent wetland landscape we can now enjoy.

Bill Payn was one of the Trust’s Founders and the author of Birds of Suffolk. He remembered the Trust in his Will and as a life long bird lover, requested his gift should be used for a nature reserve with ornithological importance.

Very few places are this special and we were only able to make it happen because of the generosity of William & Mary McAtamney in remembering the Trust in their Will.

Lying on the north bank of the River Alde, between Snape Maltings and the village of Snape, the marshes are a wonderful haven for both wildlife and people.

Philip Elsey gifted Church Farm to Suffolk Wildlife Trust in his Will in 2004. He owned Church Farm for over 40 years and thanks to his stewardship, it is a wildlife haven with the wonderful variety typical of a traditional Suffolk farm.

The flowery riverside meadows at what was previously known as the Grove Farm nature reserve are already one of the largest and richest in central Suffolk. 

By ensuring the majority of this unique fen is under the Trust’s protective ownership, David Feavearyear’s gift has ensured its future.

At Arger Fen & Spouse’s Vale we are indebted to local sisters Frances and Edith Vale. In 1991, they bought a small bluebell wood near their home and gifted it to Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Frances added the wet meadows in 1997.