Woodland Trust events and volunteering

Yesterday I took part in a very interesting Woodland Trust Volunteers Gathering at the Water of Leith Conservation Trust Visitor Centre.

Matilda Scharsach, Volunteering Development Officer with the Woodland Trust in Scotland talked about the work of the trust carries out across Scotland, conserving and promoting the value of ancient woodlands and trees. She outlined some of the varied opportunities available for volunteers, ranging from survey work to photography to recording threats to areas of ancient woodland. You can find out more about volunteering with the trust here.

I then gave a short presentation on my work as a volunteer Super Campaigner (you may have noticed most recently for example my blog posts on the trusts campaigns including the General Election campaign and the Bluebells Survey.)

After a delicious lunch, I lead the group on a guided walk round Craiglockart Dell along the Water of Leith (this is part of the area I cover in my weekly river patrol and is classified an area of ancient woodland as it has been constantly wooded since 1750 (the Scottish definition of ancient woodland)). I concentrated on the plantlife and birds, though I did talk about the local history as well, as this part of the river (though you would hardly believe it now) used to host several mills.

Several more volunteer gatherings will be happening in Scotland in the next few months. Everyone is welcome to go along, both current volunteers and those interested in the possibility of volunteering. You can sign up to more than one event as they all offer different interesting activities! The details of these events are:

3^rd June

	Stirling University	Find out more about our Ancient Tree Hunt and the Ancient Tree Inventory, and go on an Ancient Tree Hunt with us, recording ancient trees in the university grounds.
10th June	Backmuir Woods, Dundee	Learn more about our talking Trees speaker project, and afternoon tree and wildflower ID walk.
17th June	Traquair House and St Ronans Wood, Borders	Photography workshop in the grounds of Traquair House and in St Ronans Wood
26th August	Lang Craigs woodland, West Dunbartonshire	Find out more about how we manage this woodland and go on a plant ID walk in the woods with the Site Manager and a very knowledgeable local volunteer.
16th September	Drumlanrig House, Dumfries and Galloway	Find out more about our Ancient Tree Hunt and the Ancient Tree Inventory, and go on an Ancient Tree Hunt with us, recording ancient trees in the grounds of the house.
23rd September	Ledmore and Migdale Wood, Spinningdale, Highland	Find out more about our Seed Collection Project whereby we are collecting tree seeds for the Millennium Seed bank at Kew Gardens, and then join us with collecting seeds in the afternoon. Evening BBQ including local Woodland Trust venison, and a chance to stay overnight help us to build a revetment on the Sunday!

 
You can find further details of these and other events across the UK as well as find details of how to book here.

If you are looking for conservation related volunteering opportunities, I can definitely recommend both Woodland Trust (wherever you are in the UK) and Water of Leith Conservation Trust (if you're in Edinburgh)!