Volunteering at Leybourne Lakes
Make a Difference
If you would like to volunteer to help maintain and improve Leybourne Lakes Country Park, we’d love to hear from you. As a volunteer you will be helping to maintain and become actively involved in shaping the future of Leybourne Lakes Country Park, as well as learning new skills. You can volunteer at times that suit your schedule or as a member of our monthly Conservation Volunteer Group.
As well as assist in practical site management and maintenance, volunteers also need to:
- Assist visitors by giving friendly advice and guidance
- Encourage by example, persuasion and personal approach a reduction in litter, dog fouling and other site issues
- Encourage others to follow the rules, and report any incidents of anti-social behaviour
Interested? To find out more simply contact the Ranger Team.
Team Working
If you would like to work as part of a team, our Conservation Volunteer Group meets on the second Tuesday of each month. Members work under a leader with a group of like-minded individuals from various backgrounds. Typical Conservation Volunteer Group tasks include:
- Coppicing
- Bird box building
- Habitat creation
- Hedge laying
- Fence building and park furniture maintenance
- Invasive species control
- Litter picking
- Lake bank reinforcement
- Planting trees and hedges
- Pond clearance
- Scrub clearance
- Surveying for wildlife or wildflowers
Independent Volunteering
If you can’t make the group sessions and would like the flexibility of volunteering at times that fit around your schedule, that’s an option. As an independent Conservation Volunteer, you will be tasked with litter picking, flora and fauna recording and other pre-arranged low risk manual tasks. As well as working on your own, there’s the possibility of occasionally working with the Ranger Team or contractors. You will be provided with relevant health and safety documentation and task-specific risk assessments to avoid putting you at risk. Independent volunteers must be 18 years or older.
Field Study Volunteers
The Ranger team is looking for passionate volunteers to undertake field surveys to record the plants and animals present in the Country Park.
Volunteers would be required to make regular visits to the park to undertake this research, the ranger’s will be available to help and support individuals when needed and to help set up the survey with the appropriate methodology and associated documents. Ideally, we are looking for people who have previous experience of this type of volunteering, however, free, basic online training is available to those without experience – see links below.
The wildlife surveys that need to be completed include:
- Recording of reptiles under refugia from May-September. See basic training from the UK Amphibian and Reptile Trust.
- Recording of small Mammals under refugia from May-September. See basic training from The Kent Mammal Group.
- Monthly Butterfly surveys from May-September. See basic training from Butterfly Conservation.
Interested? To find out more simply email our team.