Bracknell Conservation Volunteers
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If you would like to join us on a Tuesday task, please contact us first
to check the schedule and for directions to the site.
What to bring
Picnic lunch, mug, old clothes, sturdy footwear, work gloves and waterproofs.
What BCV provide
Tools, tea, coffee and biscuits. We can supply leather work gloves.
Please note that there is usually no access to toilet facilities.
Types of Tasks
Vegetation clearance to increase biodiversity and to open up footpaths and woodlands; including removal of holly, brambles, laurel and rhododendron.
Pathway improvements including laying woodchip, building boardwalks,
small bridges and drainage ditches.
Traditional hedge-laying, dead-hedging and orchard pruning.
Coppicing and woodland management.
Heathland management, including clearance of invasive birch and pine.
Building wildlife habitats such as stag beetle loggeries and habitat piles.
We may have a bonfire to burn excess vegetation.
Tools used: bow saws, loppers, spades, forks, mattocks, hammer & nails, billhooks and wheelbarrows. We do not use any power tools.
What to expect on a typical day
We meet on-site at 9:30am and have an informal meeting to discuss the tasks for the day, and review any risk assessment. If appropriate the meeting may include a countryside ranger from Bracknell Council or other involved organisations. We stop for a tea break at 11am and again at 1pm for lunch (bring your own picnic). We are usually tidied up and finished by 3pm.
You may be as active and involved as you wish, or take a more gentle and relaxed approach. Please do work at your own pace. You do not need to stay for the whole day - we have several volunteers who turn up late or leave early, and nobody minds. You also do not need to attend every week.
Health and Safety
The tasks we perform do have as much risk attached as many outdoor activites. Scratches and bruising can occur, and some muscle ache if you are not used to this kind of physical activity! We do have trained First Aiders on site. The group has 3rd party liability insurance through our membership affiliation with
the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers.
Children under 18 should be accompanied by a responsible adult.
