Volunteer Awards

Large blue butterfly

Formerly extinct in the UK the large blue butterfly (Maculinea arion) was reintroduced to the Polden Hills in 2000. The Wildlife Trusts are one of a number of partners involved in ensuring proper management of grassland sites and monitoring of populations in their Somerset stronghold. Find out more about the large blue and the management of Green Down nature reserve.  

Cheddar pink

The cheddar pink (Dianthus gratianopolitanus) is Somerset's county flower. It has a very restricted range, growing on dry, sunny limestone rocks in the Mendips - in particular Cheddar Gorge. Find out more about the Mendip Hills.

European eel

Once abundant in wetland of the Somerset Levels and Moors, the European eel Anguilla anguilla is now a critically endangered species. These freshwater fish play a critical role in our wetland ecosystem, providing food for wetland birds and mammals. They have a complicated life cycle and one of the longest migration journeys on the planet. 

Find out more about our work for eels in Somerset. 

Providing positive nature experiences across our nature reserves is one of our key aims to connect more people with nature. Lesley and Nick, as Engagement Volunteers, support us to achieve this at Westhay Moor by running our Sunday ‘Welcome’ tent where they meet and greet hundreds of visitors, letting them know about all the wonderful wildlife on-site, and answering many, many questions with a smile! They even religiously arrive a couple of hours before their shift to tour the site, so they can tell visitors the best places to go that day. Lesley also delivers children’s activities at the tent, including colouring in animal masks which is a particular favourite with families. 

Since we started this service in June last year, Lesley and Nick have not missed a single Sunday, even at Christmas, which has meant we can continue to provide this service even when Kevin, our Visitor Experience Officer, isn’t around. We’ve had lots of feedback from visitors complimenting them on their approachability and expert knowledge, and how they genuinely helped improved peoples visits to Westhay. So much so, that we had an email from someone who wanted to take the time to thank Nick and Lesley for their insight and positivity, which helps them to feel more connected to the space and its purpose. 

Lesley and Nick are devoted to the Trust, as they also contribute many hours to species surveys at Westhay, and even volunteer to help at other local events too. Their role requires outstanding communication skills, and the ability to engage with anyone, regardless of age or background. Lesley and Nick are brilliant in the role, dedicated to the cause and a credit to volunteering. They are wholeheartedly deserving of a volunteer award! 

Tim has been volunteering with the Mendip reserves team for three years now, during which he has worked alongside Chris, James, Liz and Claire. He’s quickly become an integral part of the team. Tim is always happy to pitch in whatever we’re working on, and has helped out with a huge range of tasks, from tree felling (which I’ve been told is Tim’s favourite task) to bracken cutting, haymaking to dormouse monitoring, and scrub management to livestock fencing and infrastructure repair work (apparently another one of Tim’s favourites, although he has been known to get a bit carried away knocking in fence posts from time to time!). 

As well as being extremely handy with a chainsaw, brush cutter and all manner of hand tools (including the most important bit of kit in our arsenal, Tim’s folding chair), Tim’s background in rope access work has also come in handy, allowing us to set up ground anchors to winch down dangerous trees, while we’d have definitely been scratching our heads over how to do by ourselves! 

Having Tim out with us is essentially like having an extra part time member of staff. He takes our work very seriously (this doesn’t preclude constant good humour of varying quality), works hard and is committed to our goals as an organisation, and to doing what he can to help wildlife on Mendip. Tim has made a really significant contribution to what our team has been able to achieve, and the quality and resilience of our nature reserves has certainly improved as a result. Thank you Tim, for everything you do.

Sharon has been volunteering as a Honeygar Ranger since July 2023, and in that time has had a huge impact. This was demonstrated by the fact she has not one, not two, but three nominations this year. 

She has been instrumental in setting up a wide variety of surveying on site including camera traps, water vole rafts, footprint tunnels, mole surveys and harvest mouse surveys. We now have a wealth of videos which have been used across SWTs social media channels to engage the public with the wildlife on site and her videos of otters and water vole ended up on national news! On top of this, Sharon has produced a number of reports, giving us extensive baseline data on a number of species on site. As surveys are repeated and the project progresses, this data will help guide how we go forward in managing the site and has enabled us to start to evidence our wilding approach and how it could potentially be used elsewhere to facilitate nature’s recovery. 

Sharon is truly committed to her role as a Honeygar Ranger, often providing training for new rangers and supporting at events. All of this work has contributed significantly to volunteer retention and inspiring those around her to take positive action for nature. Sharon always has time for people; she is personable, caring and her passion is infectious. Not only is she an asset to the Honeygar Rangers, she also supports the Recorders of the Avalon Marshes, largely authoring the DNA barcoding protocol that they use and keeping track of the chemicals audit to make sure the project is well equipped.  

Sharon is so deserving of an award! 

Elizabeth set up and ran the West Somerset Wild Ways project a few years ago, which continues to inspire people across West Somerset to record the wildlife they see and has significantly increased the number of records on iNaturalist. 

Additionally, in 2025 Elizabeth sought funding for a specific project; “Ponds Alive!”. This project aims to inspire, educate and create more ponds across West Somerset. She has coordinated the whole thing; recruiting a team of helpers, leading workshops, talks, family activities, creating a “pin your pond map” and alongside staff, assessing applications for free pond kits which she then delivers and helps get started. She is a force of nature, and it’s really like having an additional member of staff on board as she commits so many hours to making her projects happen. 

A big aim of her work is inspiring people, and she has certainly been successful in creating a movement for nature by bringing along so many people within her community. Additionally, she’s telling Somerset’s story with all the recording she’s supported, and delivering nature’s recovery with the creation of new freshwater habitats. It’s multi-benefit work that simply wouldn’t happen without the time, dedication and enthusiasm that Elizabeth throws into to every single thing she does. We are so grateful! 

You can nominate an individual or a group for an award. The nominee/s must have made an outstanding contribution to a wilder Somerset and volunteered with or in association with Somerset Wildlife Trust within the last 2 years.

We have removed the formal categories to make nominating for an award more flexible, but we still expect those awarded to reflect the scope of volunteering at SWT. This includes long-standing volunteers (volunteering with or in association with SWT for at least 10 years) or a young volunteers (under the age of 25), volunteer groups or individuals.

The nominations should reflect how the nominees have contributed to one or more of our aims to create a wilder Somerset.

Creating a nature recovery network in Somerset: Delivering practical solutions for natures recovery to combat the ecological crisis and achieve climate resilience.

Building a movement for natures recovery: Engaging and inspiring others to learn about, love and take action for nature.

Telling Somerset story: Recording, monitoring and surveying wildlife to understand and inform.

• Any individual who volunteers for or in association* with Somerset Wildlife Trust can be nominated.
• Groups may be part of or associated* with Somerset Wildlife Trust. The primarily focus of the work for which they are being nominated must be within Somerset. “Group” may refer to a formally constituted group or an informal group/couple if what they have achieved has been a joint effort and where it would not be appropriate to single out any individual.
• Any supporters, staff and volunteers can submit one or more nominations.
• Volunteers may only receive an award for the same role once in any five-year period.
• Trustees cannot nominate another Trustee.
• Volunteers may receive additional awards for different volunteer roles within SWT.
• Awardees will be chosen by a panel of staff and trustees.

*”associated” refers to both joint projects and work taking place on SWT reserves (for example surveys by the specialist groups)