Buckinghamshire is a beautiful county with some quite spectacular scenery, ancient beech-woods, chalk streams and a diverse range of flora and fauna.

The area has been well wooded for hundreds of years and today is still one of the most wooded parts of England with over one fifth covered by woodland. A wide variety of trees grow in The Chiltern Hills including ash, cherry and oak, all are common here as well as the highly prevalent beech.

There are numerous environmental organisations and community groups in the Chilterns that need volunteers, and the range of opportunities is wider than you might think. If you’re practical and like to get your hands dirty, there are lots of regular volunteer work parties across the area with tasks ranging from scrub and path clearance to tree planting and stream management.

If you like identifying and monitoring wildlife, there are groups looking for wildlife recorders. Perhaps, you enjoy walking? Then maybe you could combine a walk with inspecting the state of a footpath or the signage of a promoted route, or checking on the sheep grazing a nature reserve? Even if you prefer not to work outdoors, many organisations have office-based volunteering opportunities.

If you would like to know more about volunteering visit the Chiltern AONB Website at http://www.chilternsaonb.org, they are always looking for keen volunteers.