Nature groups

The group is mainly based at Crickley Hill but at times covers nearby sites such as Barrow Wake. The group meets on the first Wednesday of the month between 10am - 2pm. Much of the work will be managing the SSSI grassland of Crickley Hill.

Join us every Wednesday from September and fortnightly on Saturdays from 10am-1pm to manage this beautiful reserve, with its heathlands, marshes and lakes.

Get involved with the management of the Trust's reserves in the Slad area where there is a wonderful variety of nature reserves, from grasslands to ancient woodlands, this groups is led by Alan Sumnall and is active every Tuesday and Thursdays throughout the year. Our Tuesday group is currently at capacity but you would be welcome to help on Thursdays.

Currently at capacity

The Severn Hams group are active all year round on a Tuesday and help manage nature reserves in the Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury areas. Come along and help undertake practical conservation tasks at some of our most valuable habitats. Del Jones leads this group, visiting a wide variety of nature reserves.

Enjoy the Cotswold Water Park by helping us manage it every Tuesday with our reserve manager George Griffiths, who leads this group. Visits various nature reserves in and around The Water Park area, helping to maintain them for wildlife.

Do you live in or local to Bourton-on-the-Water, why not volunteer at Greystones your local nature reserve?

You can volunteer and help manage this beautiful site with its wildflower meadows, water voles, barn owls and otters all thriving thanks to our staff and volunteers.  The group is active on Thursdays, twice a month.

Spend a day in the Forest of Dean working on a reserve near you. Join the Dean Green Team and learn all about wildlife with Kevin Caster. The group supports both Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust nature reserves and sites managed by the Forestry Commission.  They are active throughout the winter on Tuesdays, alternating between Wildlife Trust sites and Forestry Commission sites.

If you come along you will have the opportunity to visit some spectacular landscapes and take home a variety of practical skills. We also have a new Thursday practical group in the Forest of Dean, contact us for more information.

During the spring and summer the groups run more ad-hoc due to ground nesting birds limiting the work we can do on our sites. 

Come and get stuck into conservation work at our Lower Woods reserve, we promise a great day out at a spellbinding woodland. Join in and help with a wide variety of practical conservation tasks. Neil Lodge leads this group every Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the year. The Thursday group is currently at capacity but you would be welcome to join the Tuesday group.

This is our newest conservation team which runs from Robinswood Hill Country Park in Gloucester on the last Friday of every month between 10am-2pm. This site is accessible via public transport. Come along and enjoy getting your hands dirty for the benefit of our local wildlife. 

Between October - April our dedicated volunteer team visits our Snows Farm nature reserve and carries out vital conservation work to protect the species rich grassland. This is a monthly group run on a Sunday.

Support the management of our nature reserves in and around the Stroud area. This group manages 5 of our nature reserves including Frome Banks which sits nestled in the centre of Stroud along the River Frome, Box Woods a semi-ancient woodland, Stuart Fawkes home to the rare meadow Clarey plant, and, Coaley Peak and Neu-Lindsey both important grassland reserves. 

The group meets on Thursday from 9:30am-1pm.

The work of the Living Landscapes team in the Cotswolds offers volunteers the opportunity to work on private land to help improve the habitats of key waterbodies. Volunteer tasks range from installing fish habitat enhancement features, undertaking overshading bankside scrub/tree encroachment, controlling invasive species and using natural flood management (NFM) techniques at priority locations. A reduction in degradation, and improved connectivity, of native marginal vegetation along these waterbodies and associated wetland habitats will improve the sustainability of the important wild brown trout & grayling fisheries and allow recovery of the area’s water vole population.

The group meets every other Friday at various locations.

A project called the ‘River Frome Invasives Control Initiative’ aims to improve river habitats through a targeted control programme of removing invasive species, restoring fish habitats and improving eel passage over minor barriers throughout the catchment. The project runs each year between mid-May to early August.

The removal of stands of invasive Himalayan Balsam along the Painswick Stream will improve the diversity and connectivity of native marginal vegetation along this waterbody, therefore improving habitat for the benefit of our native plants and animals.

One of the most effective ways to control its spread is to pull young plants out by hand. With cooperation from willing landowners, suitable resources and dedicated people a significant effort can be made to help our rare and native plants and animals. Between May and August a dedicated team of volunteers meet weekly to work on farms and private land to help control the spread of Himalayan Balsam for the benefit of our native wildlife.