Volunteering & Events: Get Involved
Volunteering
Volunteers are vital to the work of CBDC, both in the role of volunteer recorders and helping us in the office. If you like our work and are interested in getting involved, please click the link below to find out more.
Training
Alongside running training events and courses, CBDC also offers our volunteers the opportunity to receive training in certain fields, such as GIS/digital mapping.
Please contact us for more information.
Events
We organise a small number of events each year that give our volunteers the chance to meet each other, gain new skills and practise recording.
| Annual Recorders Conference | This annual event attended by over 80 recorders provides an opportunity to find out about national and local recording activities. |
| CBDC Volunteer Recorders’ Walk | Around Christmas CBDC organises a walk for volunteer recorders. This year the walk will be around Lanercost, Tuesday 28th Feb 2020, starting and ending at the tea rooms. Come and join us for a gentle stroll. Book and read more here. |
| Training Days | Cumbria has a long tradition of highly skilled recorders across a wide range of plants and animals. CBDC provides training on Biological Recording and works with local experts to run plant and animal Identification skills. |
| Bioblitz | Each year CBDC works with local conservation organisations to run a Bioblitz. The purpose is to record as many different species in a short period of time. These events are open the public and those interested in wildlife whether an experienced recorder or just beginning. |
| Recording Days | A small programme, usually 4 days, over the summer months to visit and record wildlife sites that have not been visited for a while. These days are for experienced recorders and members of the local natural history groups and recording schemes. |
Tullie House Museum Events
Please Note: All Tullie House Museum events are advertised on their website
Curating the Spirit Collection and Stuffed Birds at Tullie House
Date: Saturday 3rd February 2019
The team involved with the Spirit Collection Work were a mix of students, a retired surgeon, an ex-museum worker, a mycologist and two members of Tullie House staff. Time was divided between cataloguing the Spirit Collection and checking the condition of the taxidermy collection for signs of infestation or damage.
Work on the Spirit Collection included recording all the information from the labels, such as when the animals were collected and where they had come from.
The team also took a look at the entomology collection of which there are hundreds of thousands of specimens in the Tullie House collection.
Read the blog about the event here.
Nature Explorers’ Weekend
Date: Saturday 28th – Sunday 29th April 2018
CBDC, conservation organisations and recorders came together in March last year to promote the Tullie House collections and the wildlife of Cumbria.
To get a taste of what to expect watch in 2018 watch. Freya Steele’s short video of the day.
