Wild Ingleborough practical conservation day (Oct-Dec)

Thank you for your interest in getting involved with the Wild Ingleborough Project.

During Oct-Dec we will mainly be planting out wildflowers grown in our upland plant nursery with a few drystone walling days mixed in as follows:

Planting days: 21st Oct, 28th Oct, 11th Nov, 18th Nov, 25th Nov

Walling days: 4th Nov, 2nd Dec, 16th Dec

We've included the information below to give you an idea of what to expect on one of our task days. Please read this information before deciding to book a place and feel free to contact us with any further questions.

What to expect -

• You will be working on the side of, or around Ingleborough mountain, around 350-370m elevation. At this elevation it is significantly more exposed and colder than down in the valleys so please take this into account when preparing for the day. Conditions in the winter are very challenging and the appropriate equipment (footwear and clothing) is essential for you to enjoy the day out with us and stay safe. We do bring along extra layers, gloves and waterproofs incase you get caught out.
• There is on average between a 10-20 minute walk onto the work site over uneven terrain including through limestone pavement and rush pasture.
• The work itself will involve carrying tools, equipment and personal belongings to the work site.
• The task will be physical in nature and will involve manual handling such as carrying, bending, dragging and digging, often with tools. Walling requires handling heavy stones.
• In clear weather you will be rewarded with beautiful views of the Yorkshire Dales! However we may need to change or cancel a task day due to poor weather given the exposed nature of the work site. We will send out an email to those booked on if we need to do so.

Even for those who are used to being out on the hill in winter, these are challenging days so please only book on if you believe you are fit and healthy enough to cope with the conditions. If you're unsure if this is suitable for you, please feel free to get in contact with us and we'd be more than happy to answer any questions about this or other volunteering opportunities.

We will email details regarding meeting points, parking and the planned activity for Task Days 2 days beforehand to allow us to check the weather forecast and adapt plans if needed.

Dates -

Please see the booking link below for our available dates between January and March.

We have more dates throughout the year with different volunteering opportunities including dry-stone walling and potting on plants in our nursery. We list them 3 months at a time so keep checking our page for more dates.

Time -

9:30am - 3:30pm

Location -

We work across the Wild Ingleborough project area which lies in the vicinity of Ribblehead (see the map on https://www.wildingleborough.com/visit).

Nearest Train Station -

Ribblehead Station.

We encourage our volunteers to use the trains where possible and many of our volunteers come to the practical conservation days via public transport. Many of the task day sites are not easily accessible from the train station but we are happy to pick you up from the station to get to site.

Facilities -

Please note there are no toilet facilities on site and mobile phone signal is very poor across the area.

Who can get involved -

* You don't need to have any experience as training is provided.

* You will need to be reasonably fit to access the furthest work sites.

* For young volunteers aged 16 and under a parent/responsible adult will need to attend your volunteering day with you. For 16- & 17-year-olds you can attend alone but we will need to ask for your parent/responsible adult to complete a Parental Consent Form. Please do let us know if you are a young person wanting to volunteer and we will be back in touch to get that set up for you.

What to bring -

Working on the side of a mountain, especially during the winter, is very exposed and the temperatures, with the wind chill, are usually a lot colder than down in the valleys or what the forecast might predict. Therefore make sure to bring:

• Plenty of layers of warm outdoor clothing that you don't mind getting muddy.
• Waterproof layers which can also be used as a windproof layer.
• Sturdy, waterproof boots for walking in wet, uneven terrain. If you need to borrow wellies please let us know your size in advance.
• Plenty of food and water for the day as there is no shop nearby.

Tools, gloves and training will be provided by the team on the day.

Booking -

We limit places due to limited car parking space and/or the nature of the task, therefore pre-booking is essential.

Thank you for your interest in getting involved with the Wild Ingleborough Project, we hope to see you soon. If you have any further questions please feel free to get in touch - wild.ingleborough@ywt.org.uk

Kind regards,

The Wild Ingleborough Team