I started volunteering in June 2021 after I attended a talk given by the Trust’s previous CEO, Roger Mortlock. He spoke about the shocking species decline in the UK, and urging that conservation is not just something to do with the Amazon; it needs to happen right here in Gloucestershire. So I bought into that and decided to help with nature recovery here in the county.

I only properly became interested in wildlife when I stopped work in 2019. I started with wildflowers, expanded onto trees and now I have a particular interest in river wildlife. I mainly volunteer for the GWT project team supporting the Cotswold Canals Connected project at Whitminster, though I do attend other opportunities occasionally. Through my time with the Trust I have been surprised at the breadth of work undertaken by the charity. I've really only focused on one project and the variety has been huge. 

I volunteer with several organisations across the Cotswolds. I do this mainly because it's a major contributor to the structure of my week. It has also become an embedded part of my identity and purpose. It's an excellent way to meet new people, discover new places and learn from the smartest ecologists around.

During my volunteering with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust I've learned new skills, met a lot of people and made new friends. It complements perfectly the other organisations I volunteer with, and I can compare and contrast approaches taken by different ecologists on different aspects of nature's recovery.

Being outdoors has improved my wellbeing considerably. I spent 30 years in an office and just value the chance to work in a different environment. Fence repair, tree pruning, brush cutting, tree surveying, hedge planting, kissing gate installation, pond restoration, beetle survey, fruit tree grafting and small mammal monitoring are just some of activities I have done. I've done so many I lose track!

Out of all of the volunteering activities I have done, I'm most proud of the tree survey which six of us did over a year along the canal. We surveyed 3,000 trees along 9km of the canal, and the data has been used to drive decisions on the canal restoration that improve conservation outcomes. The training courses have also been excellent, and I look forward to starting a riverfly monitoring course soon, organised by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust.

It’s amazing the credibility and confidence you gain from volunteering, to engage in conversations about nature recovery with the wider public. It's really no exaggeration to say that I learn something new every time I go out volunteering and this soon builds into substantial layers of knowledge.

For anyone thinking of volunteering I would say just try it. It's probably going to be different from what you think. Every contribution makes a difference and is additive to the greater goal. If you go on regular work parties it’s also worth investing in good gear! (Boots, waterproofs etc).