Scrutton Bland Foundation get hands-on at Carlton Marshes

Thank you to Scrutton Bland Foundation for donating their time and hard work on Green Team volunteering days at Trimley Marshes and Carlton Marshes!

As part of their staff development and wellbeing programme, the Scrutton Bland Foundation have enjoyed a first-hand experience of practical reserve and visitor centre management. Business volunteering offers a unique office away day and provides employees the opportunity to develop individual and team building skills whilst making a real difference for local wildlife.

The Scrutton Bland Foundation raises money for good causes, enabling them to volunteer their time to local projects. But what actually happens on those days? Joy Shaw from the Ipswich Tax Team lets us know.

“In August 2019, we had a fantastic work party, volunteering for Suffolk Wildlife Trust at Trimley Marshes, clearing the islands ready for the arrival of the winter migrant birds. We hoped the uptake would be good for 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic struck and put our plans on hold.

However, by October 2020 we were asked to provide a task force (complying with the rule of six) to help prepare the new Visitor Centre at Carlton Marshes, near Lowestoft. We quickly put together a volunteer team but, thwarted by heavy rain, had to postpone to the next day, when we were blessed with glorious autumn sunshine. We soon found that our task was to rake over the ground, removing stones and thistles from the adventure play area before it was seeded with grass, and much to our delight we had to use the adventure equipment to get around the site.

Lunch was taken on the terrace of the new Visitor Centre with a wonderful view of Carlton Marshes. One eagle eyed team member spotted a Chinese water deer, which obligingly came out to graze for us all to appreciate. We then worked on painting black boards and setting up sanitation points ready for the opening of the centre, in the next couple of weeks.

Carlton Marshes is a free to enter, family friendly, nature viewing facility with several walks and a fun adventure play area to let off steam.”