Nature lovers, volunteers and community groups in Berkshire are being invited to join a free networking and training day this spring.

BBOWT is hosting the event at Great Hollands Pavilion in Bracknell on Saturday 9 March.

The Trust will be offering species identification training, workshops on volunteer conservation work and a chance for groups from across the county and beyond to meet, swap ideas and promote their work.

The Trust is also hosting a series of free training days for nature groups starting on Friday 1 March, that will cover leadership skills, staging events and managing green space for wildlife, and local volunteers are being urged to sign up.

Lily O'Neill, Community Network Officer for BBOWT, said:
"We're so excited to be putting on this series of fantastic, free events in Berkshire. Over the past two years our community network has gone from strength to strength and groups that have joined  have been able to do even more great work to benefit wildlife and people.

"If you are in a group that's doing work to help nature, or if you're interesting in joining a local group, we would love for you to come along: this is all about bringing people together and I'm hoping that people can join groups, find groups, and maybe start their own if they connect with other individuals."

The event at Great Hollands Pavilion on Saturday 9 March will run from 2pm to 5pm.

The first free training day on Friday 1 March is a session on leadership skills. The second, on Saturday 27 April, is a guide to putting on events and the next, on Saturday 11 May, is entitled Managing a Green Space for Wildlife.

All the events are free to attend but anyone interested in joining is asked to register by emailing teamwilder@bbowt.org.uk. Full details will also be made available on the BBOWT events page - bbowt.org.uk/events.

The charity is planning to put on similar events in Berkshire and Oxfordshire later in the year.

The flurry of plans to help local people help nature comes after BBOWT won £84,000 National Lottery funding for the community network project last year.

The network was launched in July 2022 to help the dozens of community conservation groups already going across the three counties to help wildlife on their doorsteps.

A Facebook group for the project now has more than 240 members, and project officer Lily hosts free online monthly meet-ups where group members can chat, swap stories and get expert advice from the Trust on helping specific species like hedgehogs, owls and badgers.

Find out more about the community group network at bbowt.org.uk/team-wilder