The Executive Branch: Beccy Speight (RSPB), Darren Moorcroft (Woodland Trust) and Craig Bennett (The Wildlife Trusts)

Around a table at the Woodland Trust's headquarters in Grantham, David sits down with three of the most powerful voices in British conservation: Darren Moorcroft, Chief Executive of the Woodland Trust ; Craig Bennett OBE, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts ; and Beccy Speight, Chief Executive of the RSPB - between them, custodians of millions of members, thousands of nature reserves, and decades of hard-won environmental progress. It is, on paper, a story of success. The RSPB alone counts more members than every major UK political party combined. The Woodland Trust manages 1,200 sites, all free and open to anyone. The Wildlife Trusts have more nature reserves than McDonald's has restaurants - and if an ambitious bid for a vast estate in Northumberland succeeds, their newest will be the size of Athens. (Put that in your Veggie Burger, Ronald!) And yet the State of Nature reports - co-authored by all three organisations since 2013 - tell a grimmer story: the UK remains one of the most nature-depleted countries on the planet. So if these organisations are succeeding, why is there less wildlife in Britain today than when the first report was published? What follows is a candid, wide-ranging conversation about why that gap persists - and, more importantly, what it will take to close it. The trio are frank about the limits of their power and the outsized influence of ideology on Downing Street, but also clear-eyed about what is changing: public awareness is shifting, businesses are moving beyond philanthropy, and a growing movement is starting to feel "...like a wave that can be pushed further up the beach than ever before." All three believe that tipping-point is closer than it looks. As Craig puts it: if you got rid of the economy, nature would be fine. If you got rid of nature, there would be no economy. Get that truth to land in the right places - and the next State of Nature report might finally tell a different story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can listen to The Executive Branch: Beccy Speight (RSPB), Darren Moorcroft (Woodland Trust) and Craig Bennett (The Wildlife Trusts) online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Executive Branch: Beccy Speight (RSPB), Darren Moorcroft (Woodland Trust) and Craig Bennett (The Wildlife Trusts) is an episode from Trees A Crowd by David Oakes.

This episode is 1:21:49 long.

This episode was published on Mar 17, 2026.

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