The right equipment for the job

Volunteers may not have the cuddly appeal of a dormouse or a barn owl and – thankfully – they’re not endangered either, but they do need to have access to safe and effective equipment while they’re giving up their time to help on our farms. Volunteers play a valuable role in keeping CRT farmland wildlife-friendly and sustainable by carrying out tasks such as hedge planting, scything, building nest boxes, or doing warden duties at our open days, for example. 

When we realised that your donations had exceeded our target, CRT Volunteer Manager, Hannah Bosence, wasted no time in investing your gifts in new bow saws, pruning saws and loppers. Most of these will be put to use on Green Farm, where, until now, volunteers have had to bring their own equipment.  

Green Farm is one of CRT’s most specialised sites for wildlife and its former heathland needs regularly clearing of gorse and other invasive species, for which the saws will be invaluable. It also has a beautiful orchard, where the new equipment is just what the volunteers needed to prune and invigorate the old apple tree, which have been slightly neglected in the past. 

Bere Marsh Farm will be getting a new long-handled slasher. It sounds alarming, but it comes in especially handy for clearing away brambles. As Hannah observed, “Although brambles are important wildlife habitat, they do need keeping in check.” The other task that the slasher will be useful for is clearing ditches; being on a flood plain, keeping the ditches clear for drainage is essential. Being able to invest in new tools makes the world of difference to how well volunteers can perform all these kind of jobs. 

How you can help

We are fortunate to have a growing number of volunteers at the CRT, but need enough equipment for our new volunteers to use when they are on the farm completing conservation work. They need things like loppers, bow saws, bill hooks and mattocks so they can really help to make a difference.

Wildlife blog: Tools empower people