Volunteering for The vincent Wildlife Trust

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We need nature and nature needs us. The fact that UK is one of the most nature depleted countries says a lot how much work we need to be doing to help restore much of our lost biodiversity in our countryside.

I was asked a few months ago to film some aerial drone shots of what used to be my former home in Talybont on Usk and the beautiful valley that the river Usk flows through. Living there for a number of years and I hadn’t realised that it was home to two of the largest roosts of the lesser Horseshoe bats. The ladies were making a film about the area and how important the ecosystem is and how it needs to be protected by potential further development in the valley.

A few months down the line a volunteer request pops up on my twitter feed for a days work at one of the bat roosts in Pencelli. The job in hand would be to cut back all the brambles and weeds on which the old mill sits on so that wildflower seeds could be sown to give more diversity in return to provide more insects fore the bats and birds to eat.

We arrived at the site to a very overgrown meadow with hogwart standing as tall as me.

With four of us, a handful of rakes and scythes it was looking like a pretty hard task ahead. Especially as temperatures where in their mid 20s. But with good determination we were making good progress and by lunchtime we were more than halfway through the length of the meadow.

The team from Vincent wildlife trust provided us with much welcomed tea and chocolate biscuits. We also have a supply of bountiful amounts of hazelnuts, apples and damsons. I'll take this as payment anyday!

With the mid afternoon sun beating down we were on the home straight with just a few meters of grass and weeds to chop. It was time to have a look at the old mill as one of the volunteers was leaving early.

Using my phones long exposure mode I could actually get a peep into the old workings that workings were still in there. The mill has been here on the site for over 400 years and with the help of The Vincent Wildlife Trust that have restored a lot of the building.

With the tour over I quickly re sharpened my scythe and cut last few feet of remaining meadow before we packed up, said our goodbyes and admired our hard work. What a transformation!

It was a great day and one that was also good for the sole. I’m fortunate to have a little spare time which I like to use wisely, especially for the benefit of nature.

If your looking to volunteer have a look on the Vincent Wildlife Trust website for further details.