Volunteering

You can make an active contribution by volunteering with the Trust.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of the Trust. Without them we would not be able to manage our nature reserves,  run our offices effectively or carry out our education work.

Volunteers help us in every aspect of our work. From several days a week to a few times a year, they can choose how much time to give, and all of it is greatly appreciated. Work can usually be found to match a volunteer's skills and interests.

Volunteering is a great way to meet new people, to find out more about how the Trust is working to protect the county's wildlife and to play your own part in that work. Volunteering enables people to use existing skills and learn new ones, to keep work skills current during a career break or gain experience to get a job. By donating your time to the Trust you can make a positive contribution to the wildlife of Derbyshire.

If you are interested in volunteering for Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, here are some of the areas were we use volunteers. Please note that there may not always be volunteering positions available.

Mid Week Volunteer Team
Every week throughout the year, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the Mid Week Volunteers visit Trust nature reserves to carry out essential maintenance, conservation and recording work. Work varies throughout the seasons and the team visits nearly all of the Trust's nature reserves through the year.

Please phone the office on 01773 881188 to arrange to go out with the Mid Week Team. Click here to download a leaflet.

Weekend Work Parties
Some of our larger nature reserves have work parties at the weekends, carrying out practical and monitoring work. These work parties usually take place one Sunday morning a month throughout the year. To find out what's happening near you click here. Other, smaller, reserves need volunteers to be the Trusts eyes and ears, by taking a regular walk through the site and liaising with Trust reserve staff to protect sensitive plants or animals. Click here to see which is your nearest nature reserve.

For more details on what's involved with practical conservation volunteering or to help patrol a reserve, please contact Sam Willis.

East Mill Office
The Trust's headquarters is at East Mill, Belper. Volunteers help in all aspects of the work here from envelope stuffing and filing to data entry and reception duties. To find out more phone 01773 881188.

Education
To support the work of the education staff volunteers are needed to help take school groups of all ages out onto our nature reserves to carry out practical work and school studies. Patience and experience of working with children are an advantage. All volunteers will need to provide two references and will be subject to a full criminal records bureau disclosure. For more details please contact or phone the office 01773 881188.

 Help with surveys: Wildlife surveys are an important part of our work. They help us to identify which species are under threat and earmark areas where they are thriving and which need preserving. Contributing to a survey is easy – once you know which species we’re surveying you can look out for them and let us know where you’ve seen them and whether there were any obvious conservation threats in the area.