Style Guide

and - always spelled out as 'and'. Only use ampersand '&' in tweets or in headings if it looks neater

Aquaculture -  capital A, specialist term which needs an explanation for most audiences:

The farming of fish, crustaceans, molluscs, aquatic plants, algae, and other organisms. Also known as aquafarming, it involves cultivating fresh or saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing.

Area of Natural Beauty - always spell the acronym out fully, with AONB in brackets afterwards, before simply referring to AONB.

biodiversity - use wildlife instead

biodiversity offset - use compensation for damage to wildlife instead

breathtaking - all one word, not breath-taking

catchment / river catchment - use river, rivers or riverscape instead

cetacean - a specialist term that needs explanation for most audiences:

Cetacean is the scientific name for whales, dolphins and porpoises, of which there are around 90 species worldwide living in both salt and fresh water.

climate emergency / climate crisis - as opposed to climate change.

Dates -  use the format 23rd June 2019 / 25th December 2020. For years - 1990s (no apostrophe)

e.g. - not eg. Where possible, use for example, instead

etc. - always followed by a full stop

email - not e-mail or E-mail

engage - we talk about engaging audiences internally, but generally, you wouldn't visit the Living Seas Centre to 'engage with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust'. Describe actively what supporters will be doing instead - join us for an event, visit our centre, discover our wildlife, chat to our team, read our blog

fish or fish population - not fish stocks

fly-tipping - not fly tipping or flytipping. 

Give Peat a Chance - as a hashtag, capitalise all: #GivePeatAChance. Otherwise it’s a lower case ‘a’ only, unless you’re using within a sentence, for example: This spring, help us give peat a chance before it’s too late!

habitat - be careful when using this. Occasional use in context is fine, but it can get repetitive very quickly. Can you say it another way? Examples: Home / natural environment / domain / haunt / natural surroundings

homepage - one word

hydrology/water table - these are scientific terms and not widely understood. Think of what you’re trying to describe and use simple language instead. People will never understand the value of land that is/meant to be wet if they don’t understand that’s what we mean. Two examples:

These developments will drain water away from the nature reserve which would be devastating for the wildlife who call it home. The plants and animals living here depend on it being wet. If the land dries out, they may not survive.

Wet peat locks in carbon, but peat that has dried out releases carbon back into the atmosphere. Keeping our peatlands healthy and wet is vital in the fight against the climate emergency.

i.e. -  not ie. Where possible, use ‘that is’ instead

internet - lowercase ‘I’ (an uppercase ‘I’ used to be the standard)

invertebrate - use insects if that’s what you are talking about. If you do use it, provide some info about what an invertebrate is. National Geographic has some wonderful descriptions!

Living Landscapes - capital L, capital L.  Where every nature reserve is connected to neighbouring land by natural corridors, which stretch across Yorkshire in an interconnecting web of wildlife-rich habitats.

Living Seas - capital L, capital S.  Where better protection and management of our seas causes declining marine species to become common again.

Living Seas Centre - never ‘LSC’

log in - two words as a verb, not login

Marine Protected Area (MPA) / Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) - always use in full at first mention, and only follow with the acronym if mentioning again. Don’t assume people know what these are! ]

Give them context: Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are effectively nature reserves at sea - designated protected areas where marine wildlife can start to revive and hopefully thrive once more.

manmade - one word

marine pollution - this is a bit vague - it could refer to litter or waste but it could also refer to an oil spill or even noise. Try and be more specific, for e.g. if you're talking about plastic, say 'plastic pollution'.

mermaid’s purse - or mermaid’s purses if plural

murmuration - a wonderful word and thing! Use with a description and a photo/video for maximum ‘fall in love’ factor

National Nature Reserve - not NNR

nature - use wildlife instead if it makes sense to.

Nature Matters - capital N, capital M. Inspiring people to have a personal connection with nature. Where people understand the value of nature in their everyday lives and take action for it.

Nature Recovery Network - capital N, capital R, capital N. A network of naturally connected, joined-up landscapes, where wildlife can move around easily and naturally.

naturalist - depending on your audience, it could be worth a short description. We don’t want to be confused with naturists! A naturalist is someone who studies the impacts of living species on each other and the environments in which they live.

nature reserve  - upper case N if at the start of a sentence, otherwise always a lower case n and r: Potteric Carr nature reserve, Askham Bog nature reserve. 

Exception if it is an official part of the name: Spurn National Nature Reserve.

Wherever possible, include a description of what a nature reserve is, for context:

• Nature reserves are designated areas of land that are specially managed for wildlife.
• A nature reserve is a safe place/haven/refuge/sanctuary for wildlife.
• Nature reserves are maintained wild places where wildlife can live and thrive, and where people can go to relax, explore and reconnect with nature.

Refer to it as a nature reserve in the first instance, then you can use reserve on its own so it doesn’t feel too repetitive:

• Askham Bog is Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s oldest nature reserve. An exceptional place for wildlife and described by Sir David Attenborough as ‘irreplaceable’, it is home to many rare and unusual insects and a haven for all sorts of birds. Much loved by locals and visitors alike, this reserve is of international importance

NB - do not use (it’s problematic for some non-English speakers). Use please note instead.

offer - only to be used as a verb - We're offering you the experience of a lifetime! - or in the context of special offer. Do not use offer as a noun - our visitor experience offer - as it is an internal phrase that doesn't mean much to our visitors.

offshore - no hyphen

online - no hyphen

on-screen - with hyphen

Overwinter/wintering - not said in speech by many, so this is better: The geese come here for the winter

Path or trail - preferred term when talking about a route people can walk. Not pathway or walkway.  

pollinators - fine to use, but expand to include some species for greater understanding: Pollinators like bees and flies love these sort of plants!

peatlands - use this as a ‘catch-all’ to describe these landscapes, as we don’t want to confuse the public with mixed terminology. Use peatlands, the peatlands, our peatlands and NOT uplands, moorlands, blanket bog, moors, the moors, lowland blanket bog, raised blanket bog, bog etc.

plant and animal names - we write all animal and plant species as lower case, unless starting a sentence or where the species name includes a geographic location or a proper name – like Hebridean sheep, Arctic tern, St John's wort and Dyer's greenweed. If the latin name is required, write it in italics and the first word must be capitalised.

peninsula - a peninsula is the noun – e.g. Spurn peninsula – and peninsular is the adjective (consisting of or relating to a peninsula).

reedbed specialist - not said by anyone outside of the sector, so use something more accessible: Wetlands full of reeds are the bittern’s favourite habitat / Bitterns live in the reedbeds / Bitterns eat fish and amphibians, which they find in the reedbed or at the reeds’ edge.

river catchment - use river, rivers or riverscape instead

rockpool - not rock pool

(seasons) spring, summer, autumn, winter - never with a capital, always lower case

Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) - always use in full at first mention, and only follow with the acronym if mentioning again. Don’t assume people know what these are! Give them context: An area that has been selected by Natural England for protection, due to features of special interest such as wildlife, geology or landform.

site - don’t refer to a nature reserve as a site – it sounds industrial, technical and not at all wild.

species - be careful when using this – occasional use in context is fine, but it can get repetitive very quickly. Can you say it another way? For example, instead of 'different species of bumblebee prefer different species of flowers', how about: 'Bumblebees look for certain types of flowers. Those with shorter tongues need short, open flowers, but bumblebees with long tongues can enjoy deeper flowers like honeysuckle."

supports (as in ‘this tree supports many species of bird’) - this is not something you’d say in speech, so do not use it in writing. Use simple or evocative phrasing so that people make the connection between land and wildlife, plant and insects. 

These reedbeds are home to the elusive bittern. Can you glimpse one moving among the reeds? They’re perfectly camouflaged and difficult to spot!

Flowering plants like these wildflowers attract so many beautiful butterflies!

Otters live in this river! It’s got everything they need to raise a family.

Stirley - not Stirley Community Farm

The Wildlife Trusts - always with capital T, capital W and capital T and never TWT or RSWT

time of day - we use the 12 hour clock, not the 24hr. So it would be 4:30pm and never 1630. 12pm is midday/noon and 12am is midnight.

URL - capital letters, not url

wader - provide some description when first using: Waders are birds with long legs (and possibly necks and bills too) who are adapted for wading in water

watercourse - river/stream/channel

web addresses - no need to write https://www at beginning of address - for example, ywt.org.uk

web page - two words

website - one word

wellbeing - one word, not with a hyphen or two separate words

wetlands - the clue is in the name, but don’t assume that everyone is familiar with them. Use a short description at first mention: Wetlands are areas that are defined by the presence of water. Many birds, insects and other wildlife are reliant on wetlands for vital stages of life

who - when referring to wildlife, use who, not that or it. Be like David Attenborough and talk about animals and insects as who. We need more than ever to encourage empathy and stop them from being ‘other’

Wilder Future - capital W, capital F. The Wildlife Trusts’ campaign for a strong, new Environment Act

wildlife - as a noun, wildlife is uncountable (cannot be counted), but the plural of wildlife is also wildlife. To avoid confusion and mixing tenses, decide whether you’re talking about plural or singular wildlife and stick with it – whether that be in a sentence, paragraph or entire article

wild place(s) - not space(s)

years - 1990s (no apostrophe)

Yorkshire - we refer to Yorkshire as a singular county - 'e.g. all across our great county' - rather than plural counties.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust - not the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and never YWT.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is singular not plural, so it should always be is/has/was not are/have/were. Where possible, include a brief blurb to provide context: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is the only charity entirely dedicated to conserving, protecting and enhancing Yorkshire's wildlife and wild places.

Yorkshire Peat Partnership - not ‘the’ Yorkshire Peat Partnership

ywt.org.uk - lower case y, no www