Volunteers' Week is an annual celebration of the contribution millions of people make across the UK through volunteering in their communities. Taking place from 1- 7 June, it’s a time for us to recognise and celebrate the huge contribution our volunteers make to the work of the Trust and to supporting our local wildlife. And, of course, it’s an opportunity to say an extremely loud and heartfelt ‘Thank you!’

If you have ever wondered how the Trust accomplishes so much with a relatively small team, it's the power of our army of volunteers that provides the answer. The roles they have may vary from mending steps and fixing fences to water vole surveying and sampling groups of sensitive river invertebrates, from entering data and organising group talks to monitoring planning applications and leading us to new levels of organisation. Each and every one of our volunteers makes a valid and valued contribution and we simply could not achieve what we are doing for nature’s recovery without them.

Our volunteer roles

Conservation volunteers help in their numbers, often joining our regular work parties to take care of our nature reserves. It’s amazing to see the before and after photos that emerge from these work party days – and to see the camaraderie and the smiles of a team, knowing they’ve achieved a job, well done. We have livestock volunteers that monitor the wellbeing of the animals who graze on our reserves and those who take on the responsibility of being a volunteer nature reserve warden.

Surveying volunteers capture important information and data, supporting a programme of work on our nature reserves, Local Wildlife Sites and on our chalk streams – with only 240 of those in the whole world and around 10% of them in our region that’s extremely important work.

Within the community, our volunteers engage and inspire people to take action for wildlife, educating people at community events, talking to uniformed groups and a host of other organisations, who all benefit from their time and knowledge.

Administrative tasks can be a burden on a charity’s resources but our reliable volunteers support us with data entry, membership administration and with their experienced grasp of financial spreadsheets.

Marathon runners, cyclists, crafters and all manner of other dedicated teams and individuals set aside days, weeks and months of training and doing – all in order to fundraise for the Trust.

Our Trustees bring their considerable skills and experience to the table, steering and governing the charity and taking us from strength-to-strength.

Just take a moment to consider how all of the above extends our scale and reach… Then take a moment more to absorb the fact that during our last financial year we benefitted from the work of 1,065 volunteers who collectively contributed 2650 days to the Trust. We are blown away by those statistics and so appreciative of every single one of our volunteers. Thank you, thank you, thank you…

The benefits of volunteering

We do know that the benefits of volunteering aren’t one way. Often, feedback from our volunteers cites the benefit of learning new skills, meeting new people, working in the open air, making a difference, improving fitness and the overall positive it has on their wellbeing. Two of them share their experience here:

“I’ve always been interested in wildlife, both flora and fauna, and decided to try volunteering locally when I retired last year. While the work-parties have been hard work at times, the people I’ve met and the reserves I’ve been able to ‘get down and dirty with’, have been great experiences. I totally recommend giving it a go, you learn so much from everyone involved, and there is lovely camaraderie and banter - it hardly seems like work at all!” – Mary Young

“Work party volunteering can be a physical workout. Some tasks are strenuous jobs in conditions ranging from winter snow to hot summer sun. What’s the attraction? Working alongside like-minded people managing reserves and creating conditions to help nature thrive. And, hopefully, getting fitter without paying gym fees.” – Gary Tedds

Interested in volunteering?

If you would like to find out more about joining our band of volunteers and doing more for nature, please check out our volunteering pages and find an activity that interests you.  Please note that all activities are carefully risk assessed and all volunteers must be registered with the Trust before joining an activity.