Weald Area Practical Team Volunteer

• Commitment: Mondays

• Frequency: Weekly

• Location: Reserves in the Weald area

Why do we need you?

Many of Kents woodlands are coppice woodlands that need managing to maintain biodiversity. This opens up areas letting light into the woodland floor creating a chain reaction of benefits. More plants and flowers lead to more insects to more birds and mammals. Grasslands like Marden Meadow need careful management to maintain and improve the wildflower species. Volunteers from an essential part of an effort to help restore, maintain and enhance natural spaces and wildlife across the county.

Full training is given and you'll only be asked to do work you are comfortable with.

What will you be doing?

• Coppicing
• Ride cutting & raking
• Scrub clearance
• Fencing
• Meadow management

Experience, knowledge and skills needed

• Enthusiasm
• No previous experience is required
• Be prepared and happy to work outdoors in all weather
• Willing to work as part of a team
• A want to share the message of Kent Wildlife Trust
• Be personable, chatty and not afraid to strike up a conversation
• Enjoy meeting new people
• A passion for nature and wildlife

What's in it for volunteers?

Volunteering as part of the Weald group is a perfect opportunity to belong to a close-knit, motivated and friendly team of volunteers, operating across numerous sites in the Weald. Woodlands, meadows, heaths, ponds: volunteers go out every week in diverse habitats and get stuck into a wide range of practical habitat management activities such as coppicing, scrub clearance, ride cutting, raking and fencing.

This is a great opportunity to discover new habitats and hidden gems across South-West Kent. Volunteering can also lead to becoming qualified in certain countryside management skills by becoming brush cutter or chainsaw trained, as well as first-aid trained.

Where is the role based?

Volunteers will be expected to travel to multiple reserves across the Weald on a weekly basis.

Car sharing between the volunteers themselves, or with the warden from Tyland Barn in Maidstone is an option.

**If you are driving yourself you will need a vehicle as some of the reserves are very remote.

Speak to the warden before hand for lifts from our head office.

Things to consider before applying for the role:

• You will need to be fairly physically fit as some of the grazing areas have rough terrain, tussocks, boggy ground that you need to be able to negotiate
• Full training is given and you will only be asked to do work you are comfortable with
• You may need a vehicle to get to these reserves, unless you can get a lift from Tyland Barn in Maidstone for a lift from the warden.
• This role is only open to applicants over the age of 18

Commitment

Volunteers currently meet every Monday from 1000 to 1600. There is no obligation to stay for the entire duration of the task. Volunteers stop for tea break at 1130 and for lunch at 1330.

Future plans to introduce a second weekly task on Wednesdays.

Each person is free to volunteer for however long they desire to, and how regularly they want to. Some of the Weald volunteers have been around for 15 years!