Volunteer

The National Trust are a charity organisation that manages beaches, landscapes and historical buildings across the UK. Their activities include maintaining and protecting 780 miles of coastline and over 248,000 hectares of land.

Current voluntary opportunities:
Beach cleaning

The government body responsible for sustainable management of UK Woodlands. They invite contact for information on pests and diseases, grants, advice and contacts, felling licenses, forestry policy, tree planting and woodland management.

Forestry England are the managers of England’s public forests, and are in partnership with government, the charitable and private sectors. Forestry England are also responsible for a volunteer network who ensures that the woodlands are maintained for public use.

Volunteering Matters are a UK based charity that match more than 23,000 volunteers with active volunteering programmes which they run and deliver for a variety of causes.

England’s Community Forests describe themselves as ‘the country’s biggest environmental regeneration initiative’.  They work across sectors and communities to deliver their aim of urban, economic and social regeneration.

The Community Forest Trust are a charity organisation that focus upon delivering projects that create community wellbeing and health through forests, woodlands and urban green spaces. The trust has local branches that engage on a local level within communities.  They believe forests and woodland are important because they are enjoyed by people; places in which we can discover, relax and learn. Trees promote health and well-being and have an important environmental role countering climate change and promoting bio-diversity.

The Woodland Trust vision is a for UK rich in native woods and trees, for people and wildlife. The trust has over 500,000 members and they run a diverse programme of activities which promotes ‘protection, restoration and creation’.

The Wildlife Trusts are a collective of local trusts focusing on saving wildlife and wild places and bringing people closer to nature across the UK. Their activities Include education, managing habitats, nature and wellbeing, advice to farmers, saving species and more. Collectively, the Wildlife Trusts look after 98,500 hectares across 2,300 nature reserves, have more than 800,000 members, 40,000 volunteers, 2,000 staff and 600 trustees.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds are a nature conservation charity which engages with volunteers and other organisations to protect bird species across the UK.  The charity has an ambitious target to restore natural habitats across the UK by 2030.

Small Woods is a registered charity that has an interest in ensuring efficient management and prosperity of small woodlands. The organisation provides support and training to their members to ensure sustainable woodland management is achieved and they also run apprenticeships and volunteer schemes in this area.

Grown in Britain is a ‘not for profit’ organisation that supports the growth of the British woodland industry and the social enterprise sector. They collaborate with the Forestry Commission and corporate partners to achieve their aims. The organisation also place volunteers with the ‘Making Local Woods Work’ scheme.

The Conservation Volunteers charity places volunteers across the UK at a number of different independently run projects, dependant upon their skills and interests.  A key focus for them is upon offering volunteers opportunities to create and protect green spaces.

Voluntary opportunities
Tree planting – Go to website for details

Do It are a charity that run a digital platform to connect volunteers with charity organisations across all sectors in the UK.  It is possible to find volunteering opportunities based upon location and areas of interest.

The I Will campaign is a movement to engage 10 to 20 year olds in social action, with the aim of creating embedded social action across communities and supporting young people to develop their skills. One of their recent projects include #iwillfornature where young people are placed upon projects that are addressing environmental issues.