What We Do

We are a group of volunteers who do practical environmental conservation work around Edinburgh and the Lothians, pretty much every Sunday of the year. Occasionally on Saturdays as well, if there is plenty for us to do. Lothians Conservation Volunteers is a charity registered in Scotland (No: SC020384), and is run entirely by volunteers. We are not political, and though most of our volunteers are deeply interested in environmental causes, we are not involved in campaigning for them.

We work for a range of clients, including conservation charities, local councils and other managers of land with conservation value. We ensure that our clients have a conservation management plan in place to make sure the work we do is of high conservation value.

Once a quarter we organise residential tasks to give our volunteers the opportunity to go for a long weekend to a far flung corner of Scotland, often Taynish and Moine Mhor. These are rustic trips, staying in a bothy or hostel, hard work over the day and home cooking and good fun in the evenings.

We do different kinds of practical nature conservation work, depending on the requirements of our clients and the time of the year. Our main types of work are shown below.

You may also see pictures of our recent tasks on Facebook and Instagram.

Habitat
   maintenance

Habitat maintenance

Raised bog management

Raised bog management

Coastal
   conservation

Coastal conservation

Pond
   maintenance

Pond maintenance

Woodland
   management

Woodland management

Tree
   and shrub planting

Tree and shrub planting

Access
    improvements

Access improvements

Control of invasive species

Control of invasive species

Path work

Path work

Photograph credits: Catriona Anderson and Louisa Martin