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The Conservation Volunteers
What does the charity do?
We engage people through practical work, empowering them to take control of their outdoor spaces and help preserve the natural environment in London.
What do your volunteers do?
Activities vary from traditional conservation tasks such as coppicing and hedge-laying to construction tasks such as building new ponds and paths – even entire nature gardens, such as the one on Benhill Road in Camberwell, London.
Do you focus on any particular species?
Yes – stag beetles. London sits squarely in the swathe of south-east England where these insects are found, so many of our projects involve creating the dead wood habitat they need, from small loggeries (collections of logs standing on end and partially buried) to log pits, into which entire cut sections of trees are placed.
How do your volunteering regions fall across London?
We run projects based at various sites managed for nature, such as Stave Hill Ecology Park in Rotherhithe and Railway Fields Nature Reserve in Haringey. We also have four Biodiversity Action Teams (BATs) who transport tools and volunteers to wherever they are needed. This also means more people can get involved.
What’s most special about London's wildlife?
It’s amazingly diverse, thanks to the urban environment offering lots of different micro-climates and micro-habitats. The canals, rivers and railways that bisect London also provide wildlife corridors.