Volunteers support just about every aspect of Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s work: whether wielding a computer mouse in an office, a spade on a nature reserve or a bat detector and clipboard in survey. Volunteer coordinator, Alan Marchbank explores how they enable so much more to be achieved for Norfolk’s wildlife.   

The figures are in: during 2017, more than 1,400 people gave up their time - and put in considerable effort - to volunteer for Norfolk Wildlife Trust. For the first time in our 90 plus year history, our volunteers together donated more than 50,000 hours to helping us save wildlife: that’s more than 1,350 working weeks!

Head of People and Wildlife at NWT, David North says: “There are just so many different ways our volunteers help: they support habitat management and species protection on our reserves, they inspire children at our education events, they give talks and spread the word about Norfolk’s brilliant wildlife and they inspire our staff with their enthusiasm, passion and commitment. Quite simply they are a crucial part of the team.”

At Visitor Centres, our volunteers provide that first warm welcome, and guide visitors towards a close encounter with nature – maybe a water vole on the bank, the sound of a crane bugling or the breath-taking sight of a swallowtail butterfly on the wing in our Broadland nature reserves. The beautiful surroundings are a definite perk. Jane is one of our Visitor Centre volunteers: “Ranworth is a unique place, I enjoy starting my day by walking along the boardwalk. You come from civilisation and enter a different magic world, full of birdsong, to arrive at the floating visitor centre and the peace of Ranworth Broad.”  

Helping with practical habitat management on our reserves

We also have hardy volunteers who are out in all weathers helping with practical habitat management on our reserves. On any given day they could be on hands and knees banging nails into new boardwalk to ensure visitors can get safely across the reserve; knee-deep in mud cleaning out ditches to allow water to flow freely and stimulate wildlife; or cutting back brush with bow saws and chainsaws to clear areas and allow native plant life to thrive.

The work is hard but hugely satisfying, and it builds a real bond between the volunteers. Many of them having been volunteering together for years, and the chatter and joking bears witness to that. The only distraction to them is likely to be a darting kingfisher or a marsh harrier overhead; every day brings a different memorable moment. David, a Reserves Assistant on our Bure and Ant reserves, says “volunteering has increased my enjoyment of wildlife, I am aware of much more. I enjoy seeing the processes involved in managing the reserves to help wildlife flourish.”

A very popular volunteer role over the past year has been doing surveys in churchyards, on roadside verges and on County Wildlife Sites, sifting through the undergrowth to a soundtrack of buzzing bees and singing birds. One can really lose oneself in the task at hand. One of the surveying volunteers, Rebecca, described it thus: “I have such special memories of experiencing nature in these sites: coming across a scattering of purple orchid flowers at Swardeston Common on a warm sunny day, with the air filled of the scent of the water mint that I was walking on; seeing damselflies darting around on the river bank at Redbridge County Wildlife Site and marvelling at dragonflies basking in the sun.”

Volunteers assist at education events, inspiring future generations about our wonderful wildlife to ensure that they too will become custodians of the natural world. For Tina, a volunteer at NWT Cley Marshes, the wonder of wildlife makes her role so

Volunteering activities with children at Cley Marshes

special: “There is nothing more magical than taking a group of children with their families to a bird watching hide at Cley and discovering not only the marsh harriers the session had planned to focus on, but to have a peregrine falcon fly right in front of you, seen by all the children. That is a definite WOW!”

There are so many other ways that our volunteers help: with administration at our office, checking the welfare of our ponies and cattle on our more remote reserves, presenting talks for a wide variety of groups as ambassadors of NWT, running beach cleans at Cley, and the list keeps growing.

So why do all these people give their time so freely? One common reason amongst them all is their love of our County’s wonderful wildlife, and their desire to preserve and protect it. Beyond that, everyone has their own reason, from younger people wanting to add to their CV to older people wanting to do something rewarding in their retirement.

Chief Executive of NWT, Brendan Joyce OBE is truly grateful: “The hours that NWT volunteers put in is equivalent to the number of hours that 30 people working full-time would do. For an organisation like NWT with around 100 paid members of staff, these volunteers allow us to do at least 30% more work than we would otherwise be able to. We offer them a sincere ‘thank you!’ They are vital in helping us save Norfolk’s wildlife for the future.”
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