Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control, there will be no conservation task in August 2023.
We will be back out on Sunday 4th September 2023 to do reed bed management at the Waterworks Nature Reserve.
Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control, there will be no conservation task in August 2023.
We will be back out on Sunday 4th September 2023 to do reed bed management at the Waterworks Nature Reserve.
Sunday 7th May nature conservationtask will be invasive species management around the Waterworks Nature Reserve
The task will help the rangers control the meadows and invasive species. The task will also exposed the dormant soil seed bank. We will have a chance to have a coronation picnic and be able to explore the nature reserve
All are welcome to join us and no experience is required. Please meet us at the Waterworks so we can provide enough tools. If You are curious about what happens on a LBCV task, one of our regular volunteers did the following live video on the October 2020 task
Please wear appropriate clothing which is long sleeves and trousers NO SHORTS as we are possibly handling bramble and wear stout footwear for the task and weather. We will be working in an area with long grass and possibly nettles and brambles, so closed shoes/boots and long trousers and sleeves would be best.
Everybody is welcome to volunteer with LBCV. No experience is required. Please wear sturdy footwear and appropriate clothing for the work and weather. We will possibly be working with brambles and nettles and sharp tools.
We are out of lockdown but some restrictions still need to apply for LBCV to safely be able to run volunteer tasks in the Lea Valley Park, with the restrictions below.
LBCV can supply wellington boots to work in, please arrive in plenty of time at the Waterworks, to select your pair.
LBCV will provide tools, training, gloves, coffee, tea and biscuits. Please bring some lunch and water.
Please arrive from 9:30am onwards at the Waterworks Centre Lammas Road, off Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London E10 7QT, for a 10am departure to collect tools and gloves. The meeting place is by the bike racks in front of the Waterworks Centre, across from the former Greyhound Public House on Lea Bridge Road. If you use what three words ///guises.manage.entry is the location.
Please lock bicycles to the stands in front of the Waterworks Centre. There is ample free car parking. Dogs are not allowed in the Nature Reserve so please do not cross the bridge with dogs or ride bicycles in the nature reserve. Dogs are still welcome on some tasks, but not this one, as we are in an closed nature reserve.
We should be finished by 4.30pm
Volunteering and doing a conservation task with LBCV in North East London, is great way to meet new people, learn new skills, use old skills, be more active, get closer to nature, make a difference and have some fun with like-minded people in the Lea Valley Regional Park.
The Sunday 2nd April 2023 nature conservation task was due to be in the scrape on Walthamstow Marshes but the area is too wet, so we will do invasive species management on Leyton Marsh near Ox-Bow Island.
The task will help the rangers control invasive species, without resorting to using chemical weedkillers. The task will allow the exposed seed bank to not have to compete with the more prolific species we are removing. It is likely to be a shorter task than usual, so we will have a chance to have a picnic and be able to explore the nature reserve.
It that time of the year so cakes are always welcome !
All are welcome to join us and no experience is required. Please meet us at the Waterworks so we can provide enough tools. If You are curious about what happens on a LBCV task, one of our regular volunteers did the following live video on the October 2020 task
Please wear appropriate clothing which is long sleeves and trousers and wear stout footwear, PLEASE NO SHORTS as we are possibly handling very hazardous plants. We will be working in an area with nettles and brambles, so closed shoes/boots and long trousers and sleeves would be safest.
Working on the Marshes Rainbow
Join Us
Everybody is welcome to volunteer with LBCV. No experience is required. Please wear sturdy waterproof footwear and appropriate clothing for the work and weather. We will possibly be working in an area with brambles and nettles and as well as suing sharp heavy tools.
We are out of lockdown but some restrictions still need to apply for LBCV to safely be able to run volunteer tasks in the Lea Valley Park, with the restrictions below.
If you are ill, feel ill or have been in contact with somebody who is self-isolating please do not volunteer.
Please take a test if you are not sure.
Please wash your hands before the task in warm water or hand sanitiser.
Wash your hands before eating or drinking in warm water or hand sanitiser
LBCV can supply wellington boots to work in, please arrive in plenty of time at the Waterworks, to select your pair. An extra pair of socks will provide protect from blisters.
LBCV will provide tools, training, gloves, coffee, tea and biscuits. Please bring some lunch and water.
Please arrive from 9:30am onwards at the Waterworks Centre Lammas Road, off Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London E10 7QT, for a 10am departure to collect tools and gloves. The meeting place is by the bike racks in front of the Waterworks Centre, across from the former Greyhound Public House on Lea Bridge Road. If you use what three words ///guises.manage.entry is the location.
Please lock bicycles to the stands in front of the Waterworks Centre. There is ample free car parking. Dogs are not allowed in the Nature Reserve so please do not cross the bridge with dogs or ride bicycles in the nature reserve. Dogs are still welcome on some tasks, inclusing this one, as we are in an open nature reserve.
We should be finished by 3pm
Volunteering and doing a conservation task with LBCV in North East London, is great way to meet new people, learn new skills, use old skills, be more active, get closer to nature, make a difference and have some fun with like-minded people in the Lea Valley Regional Park.
Sunday 11th December
Our annual coppicing task creates biodiversity in the thicket by creating different light levels via the changing the canopy cover. We will also create a valuable ecosystem of lying deadwood with the felled trunks becoming a carbon store. Standing deadwood is not possible in such a public woodland.
A walk around the thicket will enable you to see the various coups (coppiced areas) from previous years’ tasks, last year’s coup being the most verdant as the seed bank has been exposed to light for the first time in over a decade.
LBCV have been coppicing Horseshoe Thicket for over 20 years. All people (18+) are welcome to join us no experience necessary. Just turn up at the Waterworks Centre, around 9:45am, to help us move the tools to the site. We do the monthly tasks in all weathers, so please dress for the weather.

Sunday 7 March 2021
Cancelled unless national lockdown has finished.
Nature conservation task on Walthamstow Marshes – scrub control and a bramble bash.
More details in the task reminder email.
Sunday 7 February 2021
Cancelled due to National Lockdown restrictions.
We will be back.
Conservation task working on the bed walls at the Waterworks Nature Reserve.
More details in the task reminder email after the site visit.

This is the eightth conservation task since the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown. LVRPA had stopped all volunteer activity for the volunteers’ and staff’s safety and wellbeing. Now some restrictions have lifted LBCV are able to run volunteer tasks in the Lea Valley Park, but with restrictions.
LBCV will be following Government guidelines for volunteering which permit volunteering in a Tier 4 location
In tier 4 areas, people must volunteer from home unless it is not reasonably possible for them to do so.
People can volunteer outside their home, including within a workplace, if:
Volunteers who meet in groups or with others from outside their household or support bubble should be especially careful to follow social distancing guidance, or COVID-secure guidelines if volunteering in a workplace, and observe the following key behaviours:
Where they are unable to volunteer from home, people can travel to volunteer or while volunteering in England, including between local restriction tiers. Across all tiers, they should:
More task details in the task reminder email, after the site visit.

All are welcome to join us and no experience is required. If You are curious about what happens on a LBCV task, one of our regular volunteers did the following live video on October’s task
Please wear appropriate clothing for the weather and stout footwear, for the task . We will be working in an area with bramble and nettles, so closed shoes/boots and long trousers and sleeves would be best.
Please turn up at the Waterworks so we can provide enough tools and gloves. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MEET US on site where ever it may be this month !
Everybody is welcome to volunteer with LBCV. No experience is required. LBCV will provide tools, training, gloves, hand sanitiser, tea, coffee and biscuits.
Please bring some lunch. Please wear sturdy footwear(see above) and appropriate clothing for the work and weather. It is due to be cold on Sunday morning the task will go ahead.
Please arrive from 9:30am onwards at the Waterworks Centre Lammas Road, off Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London E10 7QT, for a 10am visit to our tool storage area. The meeting place is the bike racks in front of former golf centre across from the former Greyhound Public House on Lea Bridge Road. We will leave at 10:05am for a walk to the task site with tools.
Please note LBCV’s mobile number is not operational at the moment while we wait for a new SIM to arrive, please email if you have any questions.
If any LBCV volunteer would like to volunteer directly with Lee Valley Regional Park Authority
Doing a conservation task with LBCV is great way to meet new people, learn new skills, use old skills, be more active, get closer to nature, make a difference and have some fun with likeminded people.
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UPDATE: Post task was planting a hedge to protect the tree planting 183 whips were planted and mulched by 9 volunteers while maintaining social distance !

Sunday 3 January 2021. Nature conservation task at the Waterworks Nature Reserve. All welcome, no experience needed.
Please dress warm for the weather in layers
LBCV will be following Government guidelines for volunteering which permit volunteering in a Tier 4 location
In tier 4 areas, people must volunteer from home unless it is not reasonably possible for them to do so.
People can volunteer outside their home, including within a workplace, if:
Volunteers who meet in groups or with others from outside their household or support bubble should be especially careful to follow social distancing guidance, or COVID-secure guidelines if volunteering in a workplace, and observe the following key behaviours:
Where they are unable to volunteer from home, people can travel to volunteer or while volunteering in England, including between local restriction tiers. Across all tiers, they should:
More task details in the task reminder email, after the site visit.
Somewhere on Walthamstow Marshes Lea Bridge Conservation Volunteers will be doing a nature conservation task, all welcome see task reminder email for more details, subribe below
Any questions please email as our mobile number is out of action waiting for a new SIM card.
Decemeber’sย 2020 task involved planting 153 tree whips from a possible 300+ tree whips, to create a new hedge.ย ย Locally felled trees were already chipped by the rangers and used as a mulch to protect the saplings from competition from weeds and retain moisture in the soil and protect the young root systems from frosts. See photo montage


This is the fifth conservation task since the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown. LVRPA had stopped all volunteer activity for the volunteers’ and staff’s safety and wellbeing. Now some restrictions have lifted LBCV are able to run volunteer tasks in the Lea Valley Park, but with restrictions.

On Sunday 1st November 2020 Lea Bridge Conservation Volunteers will be coppicing in Horseshoe Thicket on Walthamstow Marsh.
This woodland management task will involve coppicing trees, which will use the 4 cut felling method, snedding and brashing. The wood will be chipped by the rangers and used to make the paths through the thicket usable in the winter. The larger wood pieces will be used to build habitat piles, which increases the biodiversity of this urban woodland by becoming lying deadwood ecosystems.
Traditionally coppiced wood would be used in green woodworking by bodgers to make spoons, bowls, chairs etc. See below, if you would like to learn green woodworking in East London.
All are welcome to join us and no experience is required. If You are curious about what happens on a LBCV task, one of our regular volunteers did the following live video on October’s task
Please wear appropriate clothing and stout footwear for the task and weather. We will be working in an area with bramble and nettles, so closed shoes/boots and long trousers and sleeves would be best. Kneeling will also be required so if you have knee pads please bring them.
On Sunday 1 November 2020, LBCV will be helping to manage Horseshoe Thicket on Walthamstow Marshes
Everybody is welcome to volunteer with LBCV. No experience is required. LBCV will provide tools, training, gloves, hand sanitiser, tea, coffee and biscuits.
Please bring some lunch. Please wear sturdy footwear and appropriate clothing for the work and weather. It is due to rain Sunday morning the task will go ahead.
Please arrive from 9:30am onwards at the Waterworks Centre Lammas Road, off Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London E10 7QT, for a 10am visit to our tool storage area. The meeting place is the bike racks in front of former golf centre across from the former Greyhound Public House on Lea Bridge Road. We will leave at 10:05am for a walk to the task site.
If any LBCV volunteer would like to volunteer directly with Lee Valley Regional Park Authority
More details in the task reminder email.