Conservation Volunteering - an evening of illustrated talks

Showing visitors red kites, recording wild flowers, monitoring mink or getting active in your local community woodland will be just some of the many and varied conservation volunteering opportunities you will be able to learn about at the Easter Ross Biodiversity Forum on Thursday 19th February.

River clean up days

Speakers for the evening include Simon McKelvey of Cromarty Fisheries, who offer a wide variety of ways in that people can get involved, from anglers recording their catch to river side clean up days, or tackling invasive plants. Simon commented: “Volunteers make a huge contribution to the work that we do. People can come along to our work days, or work on surveys and monitoring in their own time. We like to keep it flexible.” 

The meeting will take place in Strathpeffer Community Centre at 7.30pm (doors open at 7.00pm).

This informal evening is being organised by the Easter Ross Biodiversity Group, which meets twice a year to discuss wildlife projects and oversee delivery of the Easter Ross Biodiversity Action Plan.  The Group is co-ordinated by Janet Bromham, The Highland Council’s Biodiversity Officer. 

She echoed Simon’s views: “From the seashore to the mountain tops people can get involved in conservation volunteering. It’s a great way to get out and about, provides valuable wildlife information and help with habitat management, and there are often health benefits associated with volunteering outdoors. It can simply just be great fun, and a good way to meet like-minded people.  

“We’re keen to set up an Easter Ross Conservation Volunteers Group, and will be discussing this during the evening. We’d like to hear people’s thoughts on whether such a group would work and if they’d like to join.” 

Electro fishing surveys

The Highland Environment Forum is also focusing on volunteering this year, and has organised a conference on Monday 30 March in Inverness entitled “Environmental Volunteering in Highland: Do We Need A Collaborative Approach?”  Have a look on the Highland Biodiversity website events section http://www.highlandbiodiversity.com/calendar.asp  or contact Janet Bromham on 01463 702 274 for further information on either of these events.