January 2026 Summary...

Feb 1
3 min read

WHY?? All of the work that goes into the Wildlife Care Badge, plus our UKWT structure: the fundraising, the growing of our Driver Database, our constantly updated ‘Drivers Guidance’?

It’s ALL to just make sure that feathery / spiky / scaly / furry persons, like those in the pic above, get to the emergency care that they deserve, if/when they need it: because they matter.

These are 'persons' being got to the RIGHT places. See why that's not just important but no small matter: HERE.
And what does it take to make ALL of this happen? A LOT of effort. See what's involved: HERE.

This is our UKWT quiet season (December to March) during which we have a bit more time to focus on keeping going & growing - making sure we’re working to fill in all of the transport gaps in the UK, bit by bit - and making sure that we’re ready to say ‘yes’ to every transport request that comes in, during the Spring/Summer craziness, when all we’ve got time for is to organise up to 20 transports a day, across the UK…

So far in 2026 (in January)…

THE WILDLIFE CARE BADGE

(WCB is a self licensing scheme, enabling/ensuring that Wildlife Rescues have the high standards of care that all animals deserve. It provides the map of Wildlife Rescues that we can take to, that UKWT relies upon, to provide animals with a second chance. I run the WCB, amongst others, as well as UKWT).

January is the month that quite a few of our WCB Holders renew their badges, and I'm still in the process of overseeing those: 3 of our WCB Holders - Hindley Hedgehog Help, Hedgepigs & Lowton Hedgehog Rescue - have completed renewing their badges now (this means that they have had their annual veterinary visit of their premises & have sent over info on the CPD they've done over their last year, to keep up with the latest wildlife care research/practices).

We had our big, annual, WCB Open Meeting on 29th January, featuring WCB Holders making themselves available to answer any questions about WHY they were WCB Holders, about what they thought about self regulation in the industry & more, to anyone who wanted to find out.

The WCB has had enquires (answered already, with info/support sent over) from Vet Practices about the Vet Wildlife Practice Support that we offer.

We’ve had some kind new emails/enquiries from new potential WCB Holders.

A fab volunteer from one of our WCB Holders has already sat & passed our WCB Knowledge Assessment for Hedgehogs, on behalf of their Rescue.

Finally, on 3rd January The WCB gave out our last 2025 WCB Grant (awarded on 31st December): £100, granted towards helping to fund housing for Hedgehogs at a wonderful Hedgehog Rescue. Our first 2026 WCB Grant (also £100) was awarded on 31st January, granted to help fund a new oil radiator at another equally brilliant Hedgehog Rescue.

UK WILDLIFE TRANSPORTERS

We’ve transported 19 animals to emergency care.

We’ve been contacted & advised on a further 3 animals, in need of help (2 Peregrine Falcons in London & a Cormorant in Glasgow).

We've run our first 2026 Driver Recruitment Advert.

We’ve welcomed 12 new Drivers on board (popped onto 17 different Driver Teams, between them).

We’ve set up our 52nd & 53rd Drivers Teams.

On 22nd January myself & Sue, from Anglesey Hedgehog Rescue, had a meeting with a fantastic Vet Practice on Anglesey, to work out getting the most prepared that we could be, to ensure that wildlife on the island & across North Wales, always get to the emergency care that they deserve this Spring/Summer. We discussed setting the Vet Practice up with a UKWT Drivers Team on WhatsApp (with Drivers from Anglesey, North Wales & potentially all along the route to Shropshire, where Cuan Wildlife Rescue is based, as last year they kindly took quite a few wildlife casualties/orphans from North Wales). I also provided them with the 'Vet Support Info' from the Wildlife Care Badge AND we even discussed holding some local 'how to help wildlife' training sessions for members of the public, together. I am really excited to see where this goes.

I’ve had an online meeting with a big Wildlife Hospital about a collaboration to help wildlife more across parts of the UK. More meetings are already booked in to see about taking this further.

Please donate here, if you can, even £1 will help us: HERE.

Or we have 3 raffles going at the moment, one of them a seaside stay in Anglesey: HERE.