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Springwatch Do Something Great

This spring the BBC wants volunteers to join its Do Something Great campaign. Here at Springwatch, we want YOU to go out there and help nature and our wonderful wildlife! From litter picking and beach cleans to planting trees and restoring reed beds, there's something for everyone. Take a look at the events listed below to find one near you, and tell us all about it! Use #Springwatch and #DoSomethingGreat on Facebook and Twitter. And we want to see your volunteering photos and videos, we'll be sharing ours! It's never been easer to get out there and Do Something Great!

Take a look at what other people have been up to here.

Do Something great for nature with BBC Springwatch

Be inspired by Springwatch to Do Something Great

Find out how you can help nature around the UK.

The organisations helping with this campaign

Things you can do anywhere

  • Build a bee b&b

    Encourage the bees in your garden by building them a home. Bees are in decline nationally, and they are vital for wildlife and humans, as they pollinate our food.

  • Make a frog and toad abode

    Help out the amphibians in your garden or local patch. Frogs and toads will love your garden even more if they have somewhere to live. You might even be lucky enough to entice a few newts!

  • Give a hog a home

    Hedgehogs are in real trouble, and they need your help. Make your garden hedgehog friendly by cutting holes in your fences and making a hedgehog house like this one.

  • Build a bat box

    What's better than spending summer evenings watching our nocturnal neighbours on the hunt for moths? Building a bat box is a great way to help these amazing nightly creatures.

  • Make a high rise bug hotel

    Insects provide vital food for lots of animals like hedgehogs, birds and bats. Making a space for them not only allows the insects to flourish, but will encourage a whole range of other wildlife to visit your patch.

  • Bring your garden to life with dead wood

    You'd be surprised at how dead wood can provide so much for so many. This quick and easy activity can not only look great, but will do wonders for the mini-beasts in your garden.

  • Create a mini pond

    Water is the key to life in your garden. This simple idea can look beautiful, and may surprise you with the wildlife it will attract.

  • Take part in the BTO house martin survey

    There are large gaps in the knowledge we have for the house martin breeding season; it is often quoted that house martins can have as many as three broods between their arrival in the UK in the spring and their departure in the autumn, but it is unclear if this is true. By asking people to monitor house martin nests on building close to them and by recording a few simple observations, the BTO hope to fill these gaps, and maybe learn more about why this engaging summer visitor is declining.

  • Get out and BirdTrack

    Getting out and enjoying Britain’s birdlife is one of the best ways to see the great British countryside. While you are out you could also be doing something great by submitting your observations to BirdTrack. In doing this you will be helping to populate an already huge database on Britain’s birds, providing information on where they are, their movements and what they are doing;. Your sightings can be used by scientists, conservationists and policy makers to help develop and target conservation action where it is needed.

  • Find a ring

    Checking dead birds might not seem like a great thing to do but around a million birds are fitted with uniquely numbered metal rings every year, and by checking a dead bird you might strike gold and find one. These rings contain a lot of information that can be retrieved by submitting the details to the BTO. Not only will you find out the life history of the bird, you will have contributed to the knowledge of that species, and have done something truly great. You could look out for colour rings too – these are visible on the living bird and contain lots of information too. Submit the details of any you find to www.ring.ac

  • Count ducks on a village pond

    Whilst we know a lot about the distribution of waterbirds on our large waterbodies and estuaries, our village ponds are often overlooked. These important habitats could hold far more than we know; there is only one way to find out, do something great and count the waterbirds on your village pond as part of the Wetland Bird Survey. Doing this as part of a longer term study could really help us to understand just how valuable these small sites are.

Events in the North West

Events in the North East

Events in the Midlands

Events in the South West

Events in the South East

  • Volunteer Work Party at Tiptree Heath

    Weekly Tuesday afternoon work parties are organised by the Tiptree Heath Warden throughout the year from 2-4pm to carry out on-going maintenance and access tasks.

  • Beach clean at Mundelsey, Norfolk

    Beachwatch, the UK's biggest beach clean up and survey, is the Marine Conservation Society's national cleaning and litter surveying programme - helping people all around the UK to care for their coastline.

  • Beach clean at Budds Farm, Hampshire

    Beachwatch, the UK's biggest beach clean up and survey, is the Marine Conservation Society's national cleaning and litter surveying programme - helping people all around the UK to care for their coastline.

  • River clean at Horsham

    Mondays from 18th April - 18th July, 10am - 4pm: Get your wellies on and help clean up the rivers with the ARC and Horsham district council!

  • Help the Heartwood

    Work with the volunteers working on restoring the Heartwood in the heart of London's greenbelt.

  • Woodland working party at Tring

    With the second largest area of unimproved chalk grassland in the county, Tring Park is one of Hertfordshire’s most important habitats for wildlife. As well as its ecological value, Tring Park has much historical significance. The site is located two miles out of Tring, Hertfordshire.

  • Working party leader at Bramingham wood

    The Bramingham Wood Volunteers (BWV) are a long standing group established in 1985 who carry out all manner of practical tasks onsite as well as running their own website and newsletter. Work parties take place every 2nd Saturday through autumn, winter and spring, with a break over the summer. Their core work includes Hazel coppicing on a formal 8 year rotation, construction and maintenance of entrances and infrastructure, litter picking and pond maintenance as well as a wide verity of one off tasks which are routinely undertaken by the group. Typically work parties consist of between 8 and 20 people. The group are looking for a new leader with good communication skills (verbal and written) and a common sense approach to problems, showing pragmatism.

  • Go batty in Norfolk and Suffolk

    Do something great in southern Scotland and record a bat. People who live in southern Scotland are being asked to take part in a novel survey; to help find out what bats southern Scotland has and where they live. Anyone can take part, even if they know nothing about bats, by booking an automated bat recording system out from one of fifteen centres in southern Scotland and deploying them in their chosen area overnight. Once the information collected by the recording kit is analysed, the participants will be told what bats they found, and the bat map for southern Scotland will begin to be written.

  • Golden rod pulling at Warren Farm

    The Meadow Project is a Woodland Trust volunteer group at Warren Farm in Surrey. The group is made up of local community conservation volunteers who are tackling the invasive Canadian Goldenrod plant.

Events in Wales

Events in Scotland

  • Go batty in Southern Scotland

    Do something great in southern Scotland and record a bat. People who live in southern Scotland are being asked to take part in a novel survey; to help find out what bats southern Scotland has and where they live. Anyone can take part, even if they know nothing about bats, by booking an automated bat recording system out from one of fifteen centres in southern Scotland and deploying them in their chosen area overnight. Once the information collected by the recording kit is analysed, the participants will be told what bats they found, and the bat map for southern Scotland will begin to be written.

  • Buglife Bridgeness Biodiversity

    Buglife will be running habitat creation events for the project Bridgeness Biodiversity the first Wednesday of every month this year. These run from 10am-1pm and people can come for as long or as little as they are able to. The dates are: 6th April, 4th May, 1st June, 6th July, 3rd August, 7th September, 5th October, 2nd November, 7th December

  • RSPB practical conservation days - Glasgow

    Every Thursday, 1pm - 3pm. Get stuck in with some hard labour and help out with some practical conservation in Glasgow with the RSPB.

  • BioBlitz at RSPB Mersehead

    Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th June: Join Natural History experts to find and identify as many different plants, birds, insects, amphibians and mammals as possible at Mersehead during the weekend.

  • Scotland's big nature festival

    221st - 22nd May: Get involved with the Big Nature Festival and help others get inspired by wildlife.

Events in Northern Ireland