Joy of working among wildlife W
HEN you are wandering across the moors and see someone putting up a fence.
When you climb over a stile into a woodland nature reserve and see a team of men and women creating a new path.
When you walk across a meadow and see a similar jolly bunch raking or balsam bashing or sowing wildflower seeds, do you ever think ‘who are these people?’
They may be farmers working on their own fields, they may be Wildlife Trust officers working on their own reserves but most of the time they will be volunteers.
Volunteers are the people that keep the countryside beautiful, that create wonderful habitats for wildlife and who make paths and stiles so we can get into these outstanding areas.
I have spent many days out with Wildlife Trust volunteers and I really enjoy spending time with them.
We have planted Christmas trees on the beach to create new sand dunes, bashed balsam in waistdeep water, coppiced areas of woodland to help bird species and served a festive meal to our volunteers.
Our volunteers range from 16 to 90, and have a range of skills to bring to the work of the Wildlife Trust.
We have former and budding architects, engineers, joiners, builders, computer wizards and shopkeepers.
The biggest thing about volunteering is their enthusiasm.
They have a passion for the job and often make a nature reserve an extension to their garden - their kingdom.
They are very protective of their ‘patch’ and will not stop until a job is finished if it is going to improve an area for wildlife.
While they are working they are outdoors, getting fit and making new friends which is all good for their health and well-being.
This is a natural national health service with millions of volunteers working every day in the UK – Wildlife Trusts have 750,000 volunteers with around 5,000 of them working the North West region.
These custodians of the countryside thrive on biscuits and interesting conversation.
I once spent a week with different groups.
On the Monday I was at Wigan Flashes, eating Rich Tea and discussing rugby league and football.
Tuesday saw me head off to East Lancashire for ginger nuts and chats about witches and 350-year-old fossils which can be seen on one of our reserves there.
On Wednesday I was at Brockholes, our wonderful reserve off the M6 at Preston, sailing across to an island to do some scrub clearance.
It was shortbread and celebrity gossip on the agenda – I was good at that.
Thursday meant a trip to Mere Sands Wood, where I am always roundly told off for shirking in my office half of the week.
Cheek, but it’s all wonderful banter and I do love that reserve, hidden away in Rufford; custard creams, my dress sense and ability to wander off for a rest during hard work.
Finally, it was Formby, posh Merseyside.
We had chocolate fingers and conversation about the arts and literature – a real learning experience.
I am not trying to stereotype here but I did buy a pie for my lunch in Wigan.
Every one of these experiences was a treat; I was aching at the end of every day and badly in need of the sofa by the Friday, but I did feel so much better about myself having done something so worthwhile.
There are lots of volunteering opportunities for the Wildlife Trust on our website. We certainly have a lot of amazing projects about to start on the mosses around Salford, Bolton and Wigan, where you could be involved in reintroductions of some very rare plants and animals.
For mosslands volunteering contact Andy Hankinson at ahankinson @lancswt.org.uk.