Public Benefit
The local community is central to our mission to protect and enhance the River Darent and the precious landscape of the Darent Valley. We all have an important part to play in addressing the nature and climate crises and Darent Nature Partnership is about working together to achieve shared goals.
As well as the public benefits that are provided through our environmental actions, we strive to provide local people and visitors greater opportunity to connect with, appreciate and enjoy the nature on their doorstep. We achieve this through:
- Volunteering opportunities
- Nature-based community activities
- Enhanced public access and information about the landscape
- Engaging school and community group education programmes
Citizen Science
It’s vital that we understand and monitor the condition of the river and habitats, and the diversity and abundance of key species. This helps us to plan and, if necessary, adapt our actions.
A key way of sustainably doing so over the lifetime of our project is with the help of local citizen scientists, volunteering their time to help record local wildlife and other information. Current surveys that our local volunteers support with include:
- Pollinators
- Water vole and otters
- Birds
- Water quality (shown on the RiverSearch map)
- Botanical
- Reptiles
- Hedgerows
Darent Valley Volunteers
Our dedicated group of community volunteers has supported with our work from the start of our project. Their passion, time, skills and knowledge is invaluable to achieving our aims.
Volunteering with us is flexible and on a casual basis. We offer training and advice and then allow volunteers to commit to as little or as much time as suits them. Although we don’t meet on a regular day each week, we do provide opportunities throughout the year to meet up, via training or events. We encourage volunteers to work in pairs or small groups and we keep in regular contact through email and our volunteer WhatsApp group, so volunteers can easily connect with each other, as well as nature.
This is a long-term, ambitious project and as it grows, so does our need for local volunteers. Please get in touch if you would like to offer your time in any of the following:
- Citizen science surveys
- Administration
- Data analysis
- Any other skills you feel you could bring to the project
