As with so many other organisations, the first lockdown created total upheaval practically overnight. Dealing with working from home and furloughed staff, we had to figure out how to continue our work for wildlife in these new and uncertain surroundings.

But we managed. From mastering new technologies to running virtual events, to ensuring our visitor centres and offices are safe and welcoming for all and wearing PPE on our nature reserves, we adapted, innovated and persevered.

In a year where not much feels positive, we take our hats off to everyone who has simply managed to keep going, despite it all. It may not feel like a big achievement, but for us, that's a reason to be proud.

With most people at home, we wanted to find a way that we could all encounter and appreciate wildlife. We decided to ask people all over Yorkshire to count the creatures in their gardens, yards and out their windows over 24 hours in June. And so the Great Yorkshire Creature Count was born! 

Over 4,500 people signed up to take part, with an incredible 13,500 observations and an astonishing 1,400 species observed over the weekend! With tips, advice and inspiration shared all weekend, we hope we inspired all our participants to take action for wildlife in their own little patch and beyond!

North Cave Wetlands is a truly 21st century nature reserve. From working quarry to thriving wetland, this oasis for wildlife turned 20 this year!

Once part of ancient fenland, the area was drained for agriculture and then transformed into a quarry. Areas around North Cave are still actively quarried today. We acquired the reserve in 2000 and began to transform the area into a wetland, returning it to the habitat that it once was.

For the first time in years, we started to see wildlife return to the area in larger numbers, and were overjoyed to see rarer species like bearded tits and redshanks successfully breed on the reserve. And North Cave Wetlands is continuing to expand as we prepare to open three new sections in spring 2021. 

For the very first time, we discovered that the 'big three' - marsh harrier, bearded tit and bittern - had all bred at Potteric Carr. We've been working for this since we created Huxterwell Marsh all the way back in 2006! This is great news as it demonstrates that the reedbeds across Huxterwell have matured sufficiently to attract a full range of bird species.

It also means that Potteric Carr is becoming an established habitat within the wider landscape. It's part of a network of nature reserves and protected areas which support many amazing species and provide the habitat they need to thrive. In the future, we hope the small colony of bearded tits will grow further, both at Potteric Carr and beyond!

Our volunteers help us to achieve so much for wildlife and for people. From putting in the hard graft on cold, miserable winter days to speaking passionately about wildlife to people all across Yorkshire, we could not do what we do without them.

Despite our volunteering programme being severely disrupted this year, our volunteers have still managed to clock a huge 19,233 hours for wildlife!

We celebrated our volunteers with a virtual Volunteers' Week this year, with competitions, videos, quizzes and more! This beautiful painting was submitted by volunteer Sheila Bury - isn't it wonderful?

Invasive non-native species (INNS) pose a real threat. They overwhelm the habitats where they grow and outcompete our native species, causing lasting damage to the environment, our health and the economy. As part of the Yorkshire Invasive Species Forum, we're tackling INNS all across Yorkshire. This year alone, we managed to treat 54.8km of riverbank for Japanese knotweed, complete surveys along 49km of rivers and worked with an amazing 64 landowners!

We've also successfully secured funding from Yorkshire Waters' Biodiversity Enhancement Programme to help us protect our native white-clawed crayfish, who are at threat from crayfish plague spread by the American signal crayfish!