The impact our volunteers have had

The volunteers for the Penwith Landscape Partnership have made a substantial difference to the unique Penwith landscape - they have cleared and improved knowledge of our ancient sites, helped maintain and improve access paths, supported biodiversity and local conservation efforts, repaired and maintained Cornish hedges, and even improved our knowledge of local use of the Cornish language and folktales.

A diverse group of volunteer activities were available, covering a wide range of interests and abilities. These included: 

Practical outdoor tasks – The Practical Tasks Officer led a number of open volunteer sessions. Groups cared out a whole range of tasks including: clearing ancient sites of vegetation, repairing and maintaining Cornish hedges, creating and restoring wildlife habitats as well as improving and managing public rights of way.

Wildlife Surveying - There were opportunities for volunteers to undertake species surveys, such as butterfly and bird counts, botanical surveys and habitat assessments.

Archaeological Surveying – Volunteers had the opportunity to be trained to undertake archaeological surveys of some of the ancient sites across Penwith.

Research - We had two main research projects for our volunteers. The first focused on archaeological sites and finding information and historical records. The second project involved researching old place and field names. We wanted to ensure these records were kept for future generations by archiving reliable material.

Landscape Character Assessment - Our volunteers have been involved in carrying out Local Landscape Character Assessments of parishes within the PLP area. These surveys looked at the features within each parish to identify all the heritage aspects that make the landscape special and interesting - for more information visit the That's Our Parish project page.

If you have any queries regarding volunteering please contact Chandelle at chandelle.randall@cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk