Nature Conservation Group Support Project
The Colne Valley Regional Park is home to many open spaces and nature reserves and the care of some of these is in the hands of local Conservation Groups where volunteers dedicate their time to enhance their open space for wildlife and recreation. There are different volunteer groups spread across the valley from Staines up to Rickmansworth and all do their bit to help improve their part of the Colne Valley.
This project was part of the Lottery Landscape Partnership Project and the aim was to help support and connect conservation groups to enable them to garner skills and continue the amazing work that they do.
Group expertise exchange involved a skilled member of one group sharing their knowledge with another group. A good example was the delivery of a guided bat walk to share their knowledge of bat ecology. To find out more please see more information below.
Further to better connecting these groups there was also funding to provide some groups with tools and training to allow them to complete work they may not have been able to complete before. Training was in a variety of subjects like First Aid, and species specific survey training.
The group support project also hired 3 conservation trainees. These placements helped the trainees gain practical experience and learn about project management. One of the trainees went on to a full-time role with a contractor, another went into further education to learn more about conservation and the third valued the experience but Covid did get in the way a bit.
All in all, we feel this project has helped build on the already fantastic work of volunteers in the Colne Valley and provided a lasting legacy by which key sites will be cared for in the future.
Volunteer Groups in the Colne Valley Park webpage
As part of this project, we have created a page on our website dedicated to volunteer groups in the Colne Valley Park. The aim of this page is to bring together volunteer groups in the Colne Valley Park who meet our main objective, which you can find here. The aim of this page is also to help the public find their local volunteer group to join or support with donation. This page is a great platform for your group to look for volunteer groups local to you and possible partner up depending on what work is needed on your site or even exchange some expertise knowledge.
Are you representing a volunteer group in the Colne Valley Park and want to be added to the page? Don’t hesitate to contact us on [email protected] and if you meet one of our objectives, we would be more than happy to add you on to this list.
