A few years ago, I volunteered for Cats Protection.

It was a wonderful thing to do and I loved it.  The cats were appreciative, so were the staff.   Yes, there were times when I came away and shed a tear;  but I used to tell myself that the cats needed practical help, not my tears.   Tears don't change anything, I'd say to myself;   practical help will.

There are many different ways you can get involved and make a difference to cats and kittens all over the UK.

Cats Protection is the UK's largest cat charity.  They help about 200,000 cats and kittens every year, thanks in part to a network of over 250 volunteer-run branches and 32 adoption centres.  And there are also charity shops, too.  There are about 10,000 volunteers across the UK - that's a lot of cat lovers!  

Volunteering is a great way to make new friends who also care about cats... 

Click here to pounce on volunteer opportunities with Cats Protection

They include:

Cat care and welfare - hands-on roles with cats
Committee members - leading and managing roles
Education - inspire & educate
Fundraising - raise money for cats
General admin and support
Publicity & Communication - spread the word for cats
Retail - a role in a charity shop
Volunteer management

So there's lots to do!  

If you're looking to do volunteering for your Duke of Edinburgh Award, click here

If you're a butterfly lover, why not think about volunteering for Butterfly Conservation and help butterflies in your local area?

Volunteer for butterflies 

There are 32 branches of Butterfly Conservation across the UK, each one managed by a committee of volunteers.  Help your local branch, and you could find yourself leading butterfly walks, and moth events and conservation days, or getting involved with publicity, fundraising, or recruiting members.  Click here to find your local branch.

Or you could get involved in work parties, helping to bash scrub, plant trees or re-build stone walls, usually on the charity's nature reserves.   Essentially, you're doing vital work to restore or maintain butterfly and moth habitats.

You could also help monitor and record butterflies - there's training available to help you. 

And there are four offices who need help with tasks such as database input, making up reports, cataloguing of materials, preparing mailings, and photocopying. 

Of course you can also help butterflies at home in your garden by planting flowers and plants to attract butterflies - here's an idea from Buttefly Conservation:

Have you been inspired by the Blue Planet?  Have you been horrified by the pictures of sea life being caught up plastic?   

Well, here are 9 ways to help marine life, our seas and beaches, all with the Marine Conservation Society.

The Society believes too much is being taken out and too much is being put into our seas.  Everyone involved in the Marine Conservation Society is passionate about  creating a sustainable future for our seas. 

So 9 ways to make a difference to sea life:

1. Become a sea champion
2. Get active and help keep beaches clean
3. Fundraise for the Marine Conservation Society
4. Reduce your impact - do the plastic challenge!
5. Support the charity's campaigns
6. Offer company support
7. Join them and become a member
8. Sign up to their newsletter and receive news
9. Discover more about the world's oceans and the life living in them

Best of all, you don't need to live by the sea to make a difference!  

Visit the Marine Conservation Society here

Tuesday 11 July at 9pm

I've just switched over to watch "The British Garden:  Life and Death on your Lawn" on BBC Four.

Chris Packham and a group of experts from London's Natural History Museum  scrutinise the wildlife in gardens on a surburban street in Welwyn Garden City.  They do this for one year.

Switch on to BBC Four to watch this 90 minute special.   It shows a world full of wildlife with snails, worms, foxes, woodlice and frogs.  It asks questions such as "are lawns any good for wildlife?"  (The wild garden lawn has 3 times as much insects - even letting our lawns grow a few inches helps.) 

So to help wildlife, stop mowing all your grass and let some grow long. 

On reading my Cats Protection members' magazine last night (which is a great read, by the way, with lots of news and information about cats), I came across an appeal which I thought I'd pass on....

Cats Protection are looking for people to be volunteer cat fosterers.

Fostering, they point out, is a great way to help homeless cats and kittens.  If you can't have a cat long term, you can have one in the short term.  Fosterers take cats or kittens into their homes on a temporary basis.  They look after their every need until a new home can be found. 

Fosterers with Cats Protection are linked to a local adoption centre or volunteer-run branch, so you'll be working with other cat enthusiasts to help the cats in your area and you'll need to be comfortable working with a team of people.   Therte's training and support for anyone wanting to become a fosterer - you can see a demo of the induction here

Trouble having a think about what to type next....or, more likely, wondering what's for dinner...

There are adoption centres and volunteer-run branches all over the country.  Being a fosterer is a great way to do something practical for cats and help them, without owning a cat long term.  I volunteered for Cats Protection and it's a wonderful charity.  

Click here to discover more about fostering for Cats Protection.  And there's a leaflet you can download about it here

Miaow for now!

Do you want to help red squirrels?

The red squirrel is the UK’s only native squirrel species and was once widespread across our islands. Red squirrel populations have declined since the introduction of the grey squirrel in 1876, and it is now thought there are less than 140,000 red squirrels left in the wild.

Red Squirrels United is the biggest ever partnership of academics, practitioners and volunteers.  They are working together on a scientifically robust programme of red squirrel conservation.  They are focusing on 9 main areas of squirrel populations across Northern Ireland, England and Wales.  

Red Squirrels United need you!  

Ways they need volunteers to help...

• Put up camera traps and feeders
• Enthuse the public and school children about red squirrels and teach them how they can help
• Help monitor red squirrels by recording sightings click here. Red squirrel community groups monitor their local populations. You can help them by sharing any information on the health of the red squirrel and its location.
• Report grey squirrel sightings here.as well to help Red Squirrels United target control where necessary.  This helps protect red squirrels from competition and disease.

The National Trust has highlighted the 10 best places to see red squirrels on its properties.