Volunteer on the Isle of Skye

Volunteer in one of Scotland’s most beautiful wild places this August - book one of our volunteer conservation days at Strathaird on Skye.

Get off the well-worn tourist trail on Skye this summer and spend a day volunteering with our team as we tackle some urgently needed practical conservation tasks. All are welcome to join us in practical conservation work that will help ensure the long-term protection of the Trust’s wild places.

Our volunteer conservation days are a great opportunity to meet other Trust volunteers, as well as learn about and contribute to our peatland and native woodland restoration projects. You will directly contribute to helping us natural processes thrive in this special wild place.

Urgent upcoming tasks include: removing Sitka spruce seedlings; mapping INNS (invasive non-native species); removing redundant fencing and joining our partners in the annual beach clean at beautiful Camasunary with its views over to the Cuillin ridge.

Why remove Sitka spruce seedlings?

As part of the commitment to our peatland and native woodland restoration projects, we need to remove competing vegetation and non-approved species such as Sitka spruce seedlings.

These growing as a result of adjacent unfelled Sitka spruce plantations and they are now significantly impacting the success of the regeneration of native species across sections of the site. In some areas, Sitka regeneration is actively suppressing the establishment and growth of native broadleaf species through shading and resource competition.

Why remove fencing?

Following the construction of a new stock-proof boundary fence between the Trust’s freehold land at Strathaird and the Elgol common grazings, the historic roadside fence adjacent to the Broadford to Elgol road no longer serves a functional livestock management purpose.

The Trust aims to remove unnecessary man-made infrastructure that impacts wild place qualities wherever practical alternatives exist.

What’s involved in the beach clean?

The annual volunteer beach cleaning operations at Camasunary are run in partnership with the Johnson family who own the bay. Each year volunteers help to gather substantial quantities of marine litter and microplastics from the coastline ready for removal.

Due to prevailing wind patterns and topography, plastic waste deposited along the Camasunary shoreline is frequently transported inland into Sligachan Glen, possibly one of the wildest glens on Skye.

• Find out more about our upcoming Skye conservation days and how to book a place.

Photo at the top by Adrian Trendall taken at last year's Camasunary beach clean - read more here.