Getting Involved
There are three main ways you can get involved with the Grazing for Wildlife Project:
Helping to check the livestock:
If you are a regular visitor, maybe you would like to help by becoming a ‘looker' for the grazing animals. This is a simple check of the animals' behaviour and health. You are the eyes and ears of the person who owns the animals. The volunteers usually give two to three hours a week. We are able to provide full training so that you are confident in what to look for.
If you are a more casual visitor, but know the site, perhaps you could take up wardening? You can report problems such as fly tipping and broken fencing and more pleasant news like wildlife sightings.
In order to report a problem, it is useful to know where you are. Download a ‘looker map': (Note large files)
For more information on what to look out for, download our Advice for lookers (Note, very large file 10MB).
Practical conservation work parties
If you would like to get more hands on to help look after the special wildlife found on the Grazing for Wildlife Project sites, and meet other local folks, join one of the work parties. These are led by Grazing Project Staff and full training and all tools are provided. You can make a real difference to help wildlife found on your doorstep.
Contact 01256 381190 for more details or look at our volunteering pages.
Do you own suitable livestock?
We are keen to involve local farmers, livestock owners, smallholders and rural businesses in the Project and would like to hear from you if you could graze the land.
Because some of the land is good for nature conservation and wildlife, it is not necessarily high quality pasture. The types of plants available for the animals to eat would typically be fine grasses, young saplings and heathers, so would suit hardy breeds of stock such as native or cross-bred animals, or those being brought on more slowly for meat. However, these sites may only need grazing during the summer when the grasses and scrub is soft and lush and can provide plenty of fodder.
As well as these conservation areas, we also have some good quality winter grazing areas available where animals could potentially overwinter, without the problems of having to survive on the lower quality grazing of the conservation land.
Please contact us on 01256 381190 if you are interested in finding out more.
