Volunteer

Weekly Work Parties

Our Volunteer Work Parties are a great way to start practical volunteering. Meet new people, learn a skill and enjoy the wonderful scenery and wildlife of Durlston, while helping protect it.

Tasks are available for all ages and abilities, with equipment and training provided. Just come along to the Learning Centre for a 10am start. We have a break at 11.30 and the session ends at 1pm. Tea, coffee and occasional cake provided!

Tuesdays: Pleasure Grounds Project: Enhance the heritage, accessibility, and habitats throughout the Victorian landscape of the park.

Wednesdays: Reserve Conservation: Help care for our stunning National Nature Reserve. Habitat management, scrub cutting, path clearing, hedge-laying, fencing, and more!

Thursdays: Dry-stone Walling: Volunteers help maintain over six miles of dry-stone wall across the Country Park. We welcome new walling volunteers to get started with a training session held once per month. Please email durlston@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk for details. 

Indoor Volunteering   

Volunteers help with planning events, publicising what we do, designing interpretation, collating or analysing data and more.

We have regular volunteers who come in once or twice a week to help, those who help from home, volunteers who work on a range of things or have a specific task they give their time for.  Please get in touch and we can discuss what jobs we need help with.

Castle Volunteering

Working at the Castle visitor centre is a great way to meet people, spend time in a beautiful location, and share your enthusiasm for Durlston, working alongside a Ranger for a morning or an afternoon (or a full day if you’re very keen).

This role involves greeting visitors, providing information, answering questions and taking money from shop sales. Training is given and a Ranger is always available to help out. Hours are flexible to suit you.

Roaming Rangers

This is an informal public engagement role which aims to provide support to the ranger team and improve visitor experience. It involves roaming the park and chatting to people, sharing points of interest, and helping to point visitors in the right direction where needed.

Your role as a roaming ranger will be dependent on your own personal interests. Where you go and what you do, is up to you - some roaming rangers might prefer to take a pair of secateurs or a litter picker with them, whilst others might just go for a walk looking out for wildlife. 

This role is a great excuse to get out and about exploring our National Nature Reserve (and volunteers park for free whilst on duty). You will develop close links to the ranger team and an insight into everything going on at the park.

Get in touch to organise an induction with us. We don’t require you to have any prior knowledge of the park before you start, just be friendly and appraochable!

Corporate Volunteering Days

We welcome companies offering corporate volunteering days to work with us for free here at our National Nature Reserve in Dorset.

Large groups offer us the opportunity to take on large outdoor conservation jobs which might otherwise take our small ranger team a long time to complete.

Tasks very throughout the year, and will be dependent on the group size and the needs of the park at the time.

In the autumn/winter this is likely to include scrub cutting, raking and burning on the coastal downland. In spring/summer, anything from orchid surveys, to path maintenance along our trails; such as sweeping paths, wood-chipping, or pruning plantings.

All volunteering at Durlston is FREE, but we welcome donations, such as tools, to support our conservation work. 

Please get in touch with us to discuss - durlston@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk