Get your hands dirty and join up as a Wildlife Conservation Volunteer!

Volunteers

Monday 01 February

East Devon District Council’s Countryside Team has become a major partner in the Government’s exciting new environmental volunteering campaign - Muck In4Life.

The campaign aims to get families - children, grandparents and anyone who wants to volunteer outdoors in the fresh air - to help the world around them.  And as a first step to make this happen, the Countryside Team has set up the East Devon Wildlife Conservation Volunteer network.

Volunteers will be asked to help look after wildlife, landscapes and other green spaces to enhance the natural environment.  Volunteers are already at the heart of many of the District Council’s Local Nature Reserves giving time to help the Countryside Team manage habitats, create new ones and look after key wildlife species.  The volunteers carry out a huge range of tasks from planting trees, scrub bashing and creating new paths to ensure visitors have a great time on the Reserves.

All their work contributes directly to caring for nature and wildlife and the Muck In4Life campaign is an extension of this. This winter is a great time to volunteer with the Countryside Team with so much happening.  Muck In4Life could mean doing anything from building a bird box, clearing out a pond, counting bats and birds or laying a hedge.

Councillor Graham Brown, East Devon District Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said : “Volunteers are the life blood of so much of what we do in this authority. Without them we simply couldn’t carry out as much of the vital conservation work we do on our Nature Reserves throughout the year.

“Having the Government also encouraging people to volunteer to give wildlife and nature a helping hand can only be a good thing.”

For more details about Muck In4Life see www.muckin4life.direct.gov.uk or contact the Countryside Team on 01395 517557 or www.eastdevon.gov.uk/countryside  to find out how you can become involved in volunteering.    

For further press information please contact:

Nick Stephen, Communications Officer, on 01395 517 559

East Devon District Council, Knowle, Sidmouth, Devon EX10 8HL