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Get Involved
If you have a passion for wildlife then you'll want to get involved. There are hundreds of projects around the country that you can volunteer on. One of the best places to look for opportunities is at your local Wildlife Trust.
There are several organisations that could benefit from your eyes and ears. Wildlife surveys rely hugely on the input of data from volunteers.
Deer collisions | Help Anita Diaz | Count mammals | Send in owl pellets | Bat detecting | Save puffins
Dr Jochen Langbein, contributor on the Wild Thing deer programme, would like to hear from you about deer road accidents. Overseen by the National Deer Initiative, the Deer Collisions Project aims to provide a point for central registration of road traffic accidents involving deer. The survey aims to map black spots for deer accidents and then to take measures to limit animal and human suffering involved when deer meets car at high speed.
To find out how you can take part go to Deer Collisions or e-mail info@deercollisions.co.uk. For general information on deer visit the Deer Initiative.
Deer ecologist Dr Anita Diaz, contributor on the Wild Thing deer programme, wants your help if you live in and around the Bournemouth and Poole areas and are likely to visit Arne Nature Reserve. She is studying the effects that sika deer are having on the ecology of the salt marshes at Arne. If you visit Arne and feel able to assist by collecting information on what parts of the salt marsh deer are using and when, Anita would be delighted to hear from you.
Please e-mail her at ADiaz@bournemouth.ac.uk or go to her page at Bournemouth University website for more information.
Mammals Trust UK are currently inviting the public to take part in three surveys.
The Mammals on Roads survey needs your help to identify and count the number of animal road kills outside urban areas. The study is to investigate the potential for using data on road casualties to monitor animal population distribution and size.
Living with Mammals needs your help to survey how animals utilise urban spaces. If you have seen city wildlife, you may want to take part in this.
The recent Hogwatch survey is asking volunteers to record and send in hedgehog sightings.
You can get information, forms and survey packs for all three surveys from Mammals Trust UK by calling 020 7498 5262 or e-mailing enquiries@mtuk.org. You can take part in Hogwatch online or go to Mammals Trust UK for more information.
The Mammal Society National Owl Pellet Survey started in January 1993 and is still running. They would like you to send them owl pellets, with a note of where and when you found them.
Small mammals form a large part of the owl diet, particularly for the barn owl. Owls can digest the soft tissues of the prey but not the bones, teeth, claws or fur - all of which are formed into a pellet and regurgitated. Owl pellets are a valuable source of information on the diet of owls and indirectly on the abundance of the small mammal prey.
To see what an owl pellet looks like, and to find out where to send it, go to the surveys page of the Mammal Society.
Remember – never disturb owls in the wild.
The Bat Conservation Trust track changes in populations of the 17 species of bat that inhabit Britain with their National Bat Monitoring Programme. Their bat surveys are fun, well organized, easy to access and designed for any level of experience. They even have an online tutorial designed to teach you how to take part in their field surveys.
To sign up for the bat survey go to The Bat Conservation Trust and click on Help Us Count Bats, or call 0845 1300 228 (local rate), or e-mail enquiries@bats.org.uk.
The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology needs your input for their Tree Mallow Survey.
One of the largest UK colonies of Atlantic puffin, at Craigleith, an island off the coast of North Berwick in Scotland, has halved in the last five years. Ecologists think that the puffins are suffering from the spread of the large Mediterranean-Atlantic herb, tree mallow.
Tree mallow can grow up to three metres tall and form dense thickets. Puffins are unable to breed successfully and abandon their burrows in areas where tree mallow has invaded.
There are several possible approaches to the situation. The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology would like your views on how you feel the situation should be managed.
They are running an online survey from their website.
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