Over the last few years, I have worked with a number of individuals and charities in the conservation/ecology sector, supporting them with website updates and articles, and magazine features, as detailed below, and also ventured into the great outdoors for one volunteering role.
For 12 months (November 2021 to December 2022), I carried out two monthly plastic pollution surveys along the River Mersey – one at Otterspool Prom and the other near Liverpool Marina – for the Plastic-Free Mersey project run by the Rivers Trust. When the project entered its second year, I reduced my commitment to focus on the Liverpool Marina site, with another volunteer taking over at Otterspool Prom. I sincerely hope that the data we have provided will lead to meaningful system change to drastically reduce the amount of plastic not only being discarded but being produced, because the latter, in my view, is the only way out of the plastic crisis.
From March 2020 to February 2023, I provided proofreading and copy-editing services to Hen Harrier Action, an organisation that supports local groups to organise their own Hen Harrier Days to raise public awareness of the plight of this iconic species and the uplands on which it lives.
In 2022, I participated in the six-month Life Letters project, run by the Reader Organisation, writing a fortnightly letter to a care-home resident, including chatty text and a poem with prompts to help them engage with the work. This project was a great way of communicating with people at a distance to enrich their lives.
In 2019, I was the Volunteer Communications Officer for the Liverpool Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Group, which meant that, as well as participating in the group’s field trips and indoor meetings, I used my professional skills to help them communicate with the general public, e.g., about the RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch.
For nine years from 2009, I volunteered with the Woodland Trust, a charity which aims to protect ancient woodland, increase new native woodland, restore and improve woodland biodiversity, and increase people’s understanding and enjoyment of woods. I started as a Local Media Volunteer, and also provided a proofreading service on a voluntary basis; I also carried out paid PR work for their Woodland Communities Project in Runcorn and Warrington – a three-year project, which ended in March 2012. I was twice nominated for a Volunteer of the Year award.