Early to rise

Alarm clock rings. Shower, breakfast, reach for the suit . . . the usual daily grind.

Rays of sunshine are streaming through the curtains, and you are wishing you were not about to head out to the office for another day at the desk.

Well, just think for a moment how thrilled you would feel to be swapping the suit for jeans and wellies and the office for the great outdoors.

This is the excitement enjoyed by groups of corporate volunteers who spend a day with BBOWT, engaging in practical conservation tasks on our nature reserves across the three counties we cover.

Having recently moved to BBOWT myself from a corporate background, I still share the joy of our corporate teams to be outdoors, getting my hands dirty, and doing something really worthwhile for the environment!

All sorts of work

BBOWT has run a corporate volunteering scheme for a number of years, welcoming groups from companies based locally to our nature reserves for a day’s conservation work.

These groups get involved in a whole host of tasks, from building fences to contain our livestock, to coppicing to protect ancient woodland.

Work such as scrub clearance can be so satisfying for participants. It is a very different feeling to be able to review your morning’s work in front of you and see a clear patch of land, which had been covered in overgrown vegetation just hours before, than to consider how many hundreds of emails you have dealt with.

Especially when you realise how important this work is for the environment, helping us to maintain a diverse and varied mosaic of habitats within our sites.

Out of the office

Only last month I went out with a group of volunteers from National Grid to Warburg Nature Reserve, near Henley-on-Thames. We spent the day building a post-and-wire fence to contain the sheep which graze the chalk grassland.

The team also had a chance to inspect their handiwork from last year, when a number of them helped to build a new fence around a wildlife pond in order to keep the cattle from trampling its edges.

The fence looked as sturdy as the day it was put up. And the pond has gone from strength to strength, attracting a wide variety of wildlife like newts, dragonflies and damselflies, with swallows and house martins skimming the surface.

This is a typical example how much the work of volunteers helps BBOWT to protect and conserve wildlife. The volunteers are always quick to recognise the benefits for themselves too.

Not only do we all feel energised by the fresh air and the physical work after a day out on the reserve, but the volunteers get the chance to work with their colleagues in a totally different environment, helping them to strengthen their business teams and learn new skills to take back to their workplace.

Paul Auckland, energy requirements manager at National Grid, said: “It’s great to do something both for local wildlife and the community. It benefits us as a company through offering a way to further strengthen our teams. We’re looking forward to getting stuck into some more conservation work soon.”

Opportunities

Corporate volunteering is an opportunity for companies to contribute to their local wildlife whilst fostering team-building skills and boosting employees’ morale. For more on BBOWT’s reserves, volunteering and events, visit bbowt.org.uk or call 01865 775476.