Volunteer for wildlife

volunteers pruning a tree

Volunteer to help wildlife

What better way to help nature than to get out there and do something yourself! Put on your wellies and roll up your sleeves, make new friends and keep fit in the fresh air: that’s what volunteering is all about.

Practical volunteering

  • Practical volunteering is brilliant if you don't have a garden as it gives you the chance to get your hands dirty.
  • Get in touch with BTCV or Do It for details of volunteering projects across the country.
  • Would you like to help toads cross the road safely? Yes, you really can do this as a volunteer!
  • Kids are perfect wildlife volunteers - what do they like better than getting grubby outdoors? For a fun, healthy way to keep your kids entertained, get in touch with Wildlife Watch, the children’s section of the Wildlife Trusts.
  • Other groups for children are: RSPB's Wildlife Explorers, Woodland Trust's Nature Detectives and the Young People's Trust for the Environment.
  • You can do a survey whenever you have a bit of free time and wherever you live. Find out more about taking part in a wildlife survey.

Conservation holidays

group of volunteers

If you love wildlife or you want to find out more, a dedicated holiday is a wonderful way to make a difference. You'd get to see a different part of the country and meet other people who like the same things as you.

Volunteer holidays are run both in the UK and abroad. You generally pay for travel and the cost of accommodation and food, though sometimes extra money is charged to fund other charity work.

As a volunteer on holiday, you might be planting trees or researching into rare species – or anything in between.

Watch a video made by Breathing Places team member Bindu Chander when she took a conservation break with Trees For Life.

Success Stories

quarry and lake

West Kilbride Green Centre

The transformation of a disused quarry into a thriving nature haven.

children pond dippingSt Johns Primary School, Jersey

Creating an amazing wildlife area in the schools grounds.

Elsewhere on Breathing Places

Scarce 7-spot ladybird, courtesy Ken DolbearWildlife surveys

Help science and make Britain an observation nation

  • Ladybird Survey
  • More surveys you can do any time

    Elsewhere on the web

    Do-it - volunteering made easyBTCV - find details of projects throughout the countryWildlife Watch - the Wildlife Trusts kid's activitiesYoung People's Trust for the Environment - information for parents, teachers and childrenNature's Calendar - record your sightings and contribute to UK phenology researchBritish Trust for Ornithology website - find out about surveying birds

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