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Wildlife Watch is the junior branch of The Wildlife Trusts, and is the UK's leading club for young environmentalists. Children can attend local Wildlife Watch groups, join as subscribing members to receive our magazines and posters and take part in wildlife projects. Local Watch groups run a full and varied programme of environmental and wildlife focused activities that are fun, interesting and inspiring. Watch aims to enthuse young people to take action to protect wildlife and provide them with the knowledge, skills and experience to do so.

Leaders are at the heart of Wildlife Watch groups and play a pivotal role in making sessions fun and memorable. Without them the Wildlife Trust would not be able to provide anywhere near as good a service to young people as we do. Volunteer leaders often come from many different backgrounds but are united in their desire to foster awareness and respect for the natural world in young people and ensure they have the opportunities to voice their own opinions, ideas and points of view.

Our current volunteer leader has session plans and expertise that she’s happy to pass on. The group is of great value to the families who attend so we’re keen to keep it running and continue to grow the group.

A new leader would be stepping into a well-supported set-up with use of a room, Apex park and resources but there is still lots of scope for creativity!

The group has been running monthly, but it could also work well as a holidays only group (6 sessions a year). As a Wildlife Watch Leader you have the flexibility decide on the number of sessions you want to run.

Leaders often come with a range of different skills which they can offer to the group however there are a few qualities we look for in every leader:

• An enthusiasm for wildlife and the natural world (but you don’t need to be an expert!)

• An enthusiasm for working with young people and ability to relate to young people and talk to young people at their level

• To be organised and happy to take on the responsibility for planning and leading safe and enjoyable sessions

• The ability to work well with other adults and share tasks as a team

• Use of creative ideas to make sessions interesting and engaging

• Experience of working with young people would be a benefit to this role

• A sense of fun

To find out more, please email volunteering@somersetwildlife.org