Digging for Devon…

The Force4Nature volunteer teams provide a friendly, motivated and increasingly experienced and well equipped work force to projects large and small that are actively giving nature the helping hand it needs to recover and once again thrive.

The teams venture out every week to a wide variety of  projects, all of which are, in one way or another, working towards a more symbiotic relationship with nature. The Pulse caught up with Jess from the group to find out how an outing pans out…

My day started by joining Gary…

and the team on the Fun Bus, setting off to our location for our activity. Each week we go to a different location to help out small businesses to manage the land. It could be tree planting, rewilding, removing non-native and destructive plant species, building no-dig veg beds, sowing wildflower meadows, establishing new hedgerows, building leaky dams or tree planting!

On arrival, the first priority is coffee and cake to fuel us up for the day! We catch up on each other’s news and then get started on the task in hand. Today, we were at Forest and Beach Forest School in Beeson. They have a beautiful space which they’ve transformed from wasteland into an engaging, exciting and fun place for children to play, explore and climb trees – just as every child should have the opportunity to do so.

We made a start on removing nettles and brambles away from newly planted apple and plum trees, giving them space to grow, and cleared a path for children to access a handmade shelter and archery area. Needless to say, the homemade soup our kind hosts provided for lunch was very well received after a few hours of work!

We all really value being outside and working together

Spending time in green space or bringing nature into your everyday life can really benefit both your mental and physical wellbeing. We all really value being outside and working together on a task, and the bonus is seeing the transformation we’ve achieved from us all getting together as a team. It’s a great opportunity to share knowledge and advice across the group, which has a huge variety of experience and expertise across all sorts of subjects.

Getting together

Getting people outside, working together as a team and accomplishing nature projects, all whilst making friends and meeting new people is a fantastic way to get integrated into your community.  Being physically active and involved in a project reduces stress, boosts energy and enhances mood, and gives people the chance to build relationships they wouldn’t have otherwise known about. We go to places that we didn’t know even existed, which are doing wonderful things every day to support wildlife, biodiversity and the ecosystem.

Our mission at Force4Nature is to bring people who share a common interest in the outdoors closer together, providing a social activity that shares a passion and enthusiasm for the environment and wildlife. We pride ourselves in our ability to provide local, environmental projects the manpower and resources they’re often lacking, whilst enjoying the benefits of being out in nature and working together as a team.

Fancy joining in?

We bring together people in communities who want to spend time outdoors in nature, with local projects to give them a helping hand. If you’d like to come along, there’s always a warm welcome and a slice of cake on offer! And I promise that you’ll feel great too.

For more info, please visit https://www.tillthecoastisclear.co.uk/force-4-nature or contact Gary on +44 (0) 7817910115