Some of our intrepid volunteers, working to improve coastal habitat for a rare moth.
Volunteering
Introduction
Volunteering your time is a great way to meet other people, learn new skills and spend time outdoors whilst doing something positive for nature!
We offer a variety of volunteering opportunities with Life on the Edge to suit the different needs of people and the activities required at different times of the year for our species and landscape.
The sessions are friendly and relaxed and we try to accommodate the needs of the participants wherever we can.
What we offer
The activities are all led by an experienced member of the LotE team and we bring along all the tools equipment you will need, plus the ever important brews and biscuits to keep everyone going. The activities are part of the Life on the Edge programme, and are covered by the Public Liability insurance of our host organisation, South Hams District Council.
As public transport is almost always an issue when getting to the remote coast of South Devon, we offer a free pickup service from public transport hubs wherever possible. You will see details of the locations and times on the programme.
We are also able to offer reimbursement of reasonable travel expenses to help cover the cost of you coming out and giving your time. You will need to be a registered volunteer to claim these.
Clearing ground to plant narrow-leaved everlasting pea plants – a favourite forage food for Long-horned bees!
What our volunteers get up to!
We run three main volunteering programmes. You can find details of all of the activities on our events calendar.
Conservation tasks
These sessions are practical activities making improvements or enhancements out on site. Much of the time we are working on sites of our project partners or local community group or parish council. Most of these tasks take place in autumn, winter and early spring tasks.
Volunteers creating solitary bee habitat out on the coast
Species Surveys
Throughout the summer we need to be out on ground spotting, counting and recording our target species buzzing, blooming, flying and flowering. We run regular volunteer survey sessions on the first Friday of each month, with the opportunity of joining more on an informal basis by arrangement with the conservation team. We are already increasing our knowledge of the species through these surveys and have discovered new populations in new areas of some of the rarer ones – something we would not be able to do without more eyes on the ground! During the winter of 2025/6 we ran a series of Mediterranean oil beetle surveys with volunteers out on the coast at night, searching for these nocturnal insects. They found this rare beetle in a new sites where they have never been recorded before, which is an amazing success! You can read more about this in our blog.
Night time surveying for Mediterranean oil beetles
Women’s conservation group
We run a monthly volunteering afternoon around the Brixham area for women (non-binary and trans folk welcome). This is group is an ideal way for women to get into conservation as part of a friendly and supportive group. The sessions run throughout the year and are a mix of practical tasks and species surveys.
The women’s group volunteers digging out a solitary bee bank
Volunteering in your community
People power is a great thing – and we can help communities to make where they live, work, learn and play, to be better spaces for pollinators.
We can support groups such as schools, community or resident groups, local businesses, community facilities and parish councils to develop projects that help meet LotE aims. Whether this is advice or support with a Parish Pollinator Plan – get in touch with us to see how we can help you make your space buzzing with wildlife!
We also run two small grants schemes which can fund your project, you can find out more about this, and how to apply, on our LotE grants page hyperlink
You can see some examples of LotE grant funded projects in our project scrapbook hyperlink which may give you
Planting out a bee friendly garden with Brixham Pride volunteers
More feet on the ground!
Thousands of people enjoy walking around our coast each year, whether they are taking up a challenge on the South west Coast Path, or just out with family enjoying a stroll by the sea – everyone can help play a part in the helping record what they see and hear.
Why not download the iRecord app and join the Life on the Edge activity page. That way your findings will feed directly into our project recording and help us build an even better picture of what is out and about on our coast! If iRecord is new to you, we have a how to guide in our LotE toolkit hyperlink
Walking on the South West Coast Path
