Calling Duke of Edinburgh Volunteers!
2026 - 7
Would you like to contribute to nature recovery in Oxfordshire? And to contribute to research on nature education?
Would you like to learn new skills which will be useful in your future career? And meet others who enjoy time outside in nature?
Would you like to gather ideas and insights for your future studies and careers in a sustainable future?
If this is you, please consider applying for the Oxford Earth Academy Oxfordshire Doorstep Nature Project. We are recruiting young volunteers to help us find out more about wildlife in Oxford. Urban areas are really important, but not widely recognised as valuable for wildlife. We want to understand and show how widespread nature is all around us and where different species are living.
You can do this project mainly from home or school, as well as joining in at least half of the monthly training trips to nature reserves in Oxford over the time you are volunteering. You don’t need prior experience or any knowledge, just a bit of curiosity about exploring new things. This is for Bronze, Silver or Gold.
What does it involve?
We will be working together to build up an electronic map of where wildlife is across the city. We’ll teach you how to identify and record species for the project, and show you how the information will be used. You can use an app on a Smartphone, or an identification sheet and a paper map and pencil which we will provide.
We meet up once a month, at one of the beautiful nature reserves around Oxford, for some training and activities focused on building new skills and confidence. Venues are accessible by public transport. A bit of walking will be involved and you may need wellies and waterproofs in wet weather. We prefer that you bring family members at least initially, but thereafter parents/caregivers can sign to give you permission to come alone.
Each intervening week you will be spending an hour (all in one session, or in smaller time blocks) mapping species that you can find in your school catchment (the area from which students come from to go to the school). This can be in gardens, parks, walls, road verges (where it’s safe to look) – places you normally go but might not notice the nature around you. You can do this in groups or with your family, or on your usual activities around town. You will share your findings with the group at the next meet up. At the end of your volunteering you will have short report to complete.
There are 5 places available for each school. You can do it for three, six or twelve months. You are also welcome to try it out and switch away if it doesn’t suit you.
Training and check in days
The 2026 - 7 training days are on the following dates and times. You need to bring a parent or other chaperone, and the whole family and friends are welcome. Locations will be nature reserves in and around Oxford and will be provided to participants when they sign up and their place is confirmed.
Sunday 27th September 11:00 - 12:30.
Monday 26th October 11:00 - 12:30. This one is half term so we may add an optional extension so that we can do some more exploration and activities.
Sunday 22nd November 11:00 - 12:30.
Saturday 16th January 11:00 - 12:30.
Monday 15th February 11:00 - 12:30. This one is half term so we may add an optional extension so that we can do some more exploration and activities.
These are subject to change in case of adverse weather etc. Further dates will be posted in due course.
sign up
If you would like to sign up, please complete the form below. It needs input from the student and their parent/guardian.
Getting Started
Set yourself up
You will need a smartphone and a data allowance (and permission from the bill payer).
Download the Seek by iNaturalist app. Seek does not record any data about you or your location.
Open the iNaturalist website on a computer or download the iNaturalist app onto your phone and make an account (for 13 years old and above – otherwise an adult needs to sign up for the account). Sign into Seek and iNaturalist with the same log in to sync the accounts.
Join onto the ‘Oxfordshire Doorstep Nature Project’ on iNaturalist via the app or website, (through the Projects section). Once you have joined the project, all your observations should automatically be linked to it.
Email us with your name, school, iNaturalist username, D of E level, and start and end date of your volunteering.
Making observations
Practice making observations using Seek. When you feel confident, you can upload them to iNaturalist as you make them, using the “upload to iNaturalist” button (It only appears when you first make the observation; you may need to scroll down to see it). Or you can upload observations later from the iNaturalist app or website, from the photos stored on your phone, and add the geo location for each from the photo. You will see your observations join others on the project map in iNaturalist. We will look at them together at the monthly meet ups. You can find the same species multiple times in different locations and on different dates.
Your survey approach
You can decide how you want to do your surveys to make the project your own. You can just add what you see wherever you are, or you might want to focus on a particular area such as your garden or local park and survey it every week to see changes over time. You could focus on a set of particular species or try and find all the species in that space. You should document your approach on your activity sheet. You can change your approach through the project, as all observations are useful. Have a look at the iNaturalist map to find areas near where you live or within your school catchment that have very few sightings to get an understanding of the biodiversity. It is often the more well trodden areas that have the fewest sightings!
Final sign off and results review
Keep a record of the time you have put into the project each week, and make some notes on what you have done, and submit it for sign off when you are ready. From volunteers, we are looking for around 50 sightings per student per week.
Contact
If you have any questions please email kim.polgreen@oxfordearthacademy.org