Be part of something amazing...

Meet new people, improve your physical and mental wellbeing, share your skills and learn new ones - all while supporting your local Community Forest. 

Volunteers are a huge part of our team - we couldn't manage our sites without you! We have regular, practical activities for you to get involved in, with something for all interests and abilities. Check out our timetable below - all you need to do is let us know that you're coming along.

We cant wait for you to join us today!

Our activities

Scrub management -  We need to maintain a varied age structure within the scrub habitat and create areas of bare ground, as this is important for reptiles and invertebrates such as butterflies and beetles. To do this we remove shrubs from certain areas, and burn them.

Woodland pathway care - To help prevent our paths getting too overgrown in the summer we head out in the winter to clear bramble and overhanging branches back through the winter. This time of year we can cut things back further because we don’t need to worry about disturbing nesting birds.

Hedge trimming - We need to cut back hedges to keep our sites tidy for our visitors and the local community to enjoy. We do this in the winter as as not to disturb nesting birds.

Pond care - Pond care involves removing any dead plants and clearing reeds to allow for species to have access to the pond, as many need open water as part of their life cycle. We also clear certain areas for school groups looking to take part in pond dipping.

Upcoming activities

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Date	Activity	Location	Meeting place	Start time	End time	Task leader
Thursday 23rd November	Scrub management	Millennium Country Park	Outside the Barn	9:30am	3:30pm	Lottie
Thursday 30th November	Woodland pathway care	Wiles Wood, Gateway Woods, Wootton	Iron Gate Corner Entrance	10am	3pm	Steve
Tuesday 5th December	Tree Guard Removal	Wiles Wood, Gateway Woods, Wootton	Iron Gate Corner Entrance	10am	3pm	Nicola
Thursday 7th December	Scrub management	Millennium Country Park	Outside the Barn	9:30am	3:30pm	Steve
Thursday 14th December	Woodland pathway care	Rectory Wood, Cranfield	End of Rectory Lane	10am	3pm	Tony
Thursday 21st December	Scrub management	Millennium Country Park	Outside the Barn	9:30am	3:30pm	Lottie
Tuesday 9th January	Tree Guard Removal	Wiles Wood, Gateway Woods, Wootton	Iron Gate Corner Entrance	10am	3pm	Nicola
Tuesday 6th February	Tree Guard Removal	Shocott Spring, Cotton End	Car park behind Cotton End Primary School	10am	2:30pm	Nicola

What you need to know

• All tools are provided for each activity
• Please wear old clothes and sturdy footwear
• Parking charges do not apply when volunteering - please make sure that you give your registration number when you sign in for your task
• Free tea and coffee vouchers for the Forest Centre Cafe are provided
• Activities are subject to change, depending on weather and staff resources on the day
• Please contact the task leader if you need any further information, or contact Lottie if there is no set task leader

Other opportunities

We have plenty of other volunteering opportunities for you to get involved in, such as being a woodland volunteer, a fundraising volunteer, a visitor engagement volunteer, and corporate volunteering opportunities. To find out more about these roles please email our Community Engagement Officer Jo Roberts at [email protected]

Corporate groups

If you're part of a corporate group and would like to get involved with a volunteer activity, you can contact Robina on 01234 762605 or send her an email for more information.

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