There can now be very few people in Dorset, the UK or the world who are not aware that we are facing two major global crises. The climate and ecological crises present a huge threat to our wildlife and our quality of life locally. While we are all deeply concerned, many of us are at a loss as to what we can do to help address these crises. The scale of the problem can seem beyond our abilities to personally have an impact upon.   

The mantra ‘think globally, act locally’ has never been more relevant. While we are certainly thinking globally, all most of us can do is to act locally. We need to take responsibility for our bit of the world in whatever way we can. 

In practice this could mean making our own garden’s wildlife-friendly or linking up with a local community group to improve local greenspaces for nature or even improving the wildlife value of your local churchyard. Dorset Wildlife Trust offers a range of advice on wildlife-friendly gardening with lots of ideas on how we can transform gardens into havens for wildlife. 

Dorset Wildlife Trust has over 40 nature reserves around the county. These provide vital storehouses for biodiversity in the landscape and also serve as valuable greenspaces for people and communities, providing people of all backgrounds and abilities with free access to nature and opportunities to benefit from regular contact with nature. 

Volunteering to help look after your local Dorset Wildlife Trust nature reserves is a wonderful way of experiencing nature and benefiting from all that it has to offer while making a real contribution to addressing the ecological crisis. 

Volunteers also contribute to the work of Dorset Wildlife Trust in many other ways, helping to staff our visitor centres, delivering engagement activities, carrying out repairs and maintenance and supporting fundraising. Volunteering is a great way to meet new people and there are opportunities for everyone, without the support of a small army of volunteers the Trust would not be able to do half of what it achieves.   

If you would like to volunteer for Dorset Wildlife Trust please have a look at the volunteering opportunities on our website, sign up for the Volunteering Alert e-newsletter and complete the online registration form to let us know that you would like to Volunteer to Make a Difference for wildlife and people in Dorset.   

Brian.