THE wildlife charity responsible for Bystock Nature Reserve is looking for volunteers to help run its new helpdesk.

THE wildlife charity responsible for Bystock Nature Reserve is looking for volunteers to help run its new helpdesk.

Devon Wildlife Trust is looking for 10 people to help staff the helpdesk in Exeter with the aim of giving advice to people about a range of wildlife issues.

The organisation gets hundreds of calls each year and has run an ad hoc helpdesk for the past few years.

But now with a new �10,000 grant from the Big Lottery Fund they want to provide a better service to the public, including the creation of a drop in facility for people in the local area in search of advice.

Verity Hunt DWT’s Administration Officer said: ”We get many calls on a wide range of issues such as planning, animal welfare, wildlife gardening and identification. It is clearly a very popular and important service we are running but it’s been crying out for more funding and more volunteers to help.

“It’s fantastic to get this extra support which should help us maintain, improve and expand the service so we can respond more efficiently to people’s requests for information and advice, therefore enabling us to respond to a higher number of wildlife queries.”

The money will help pay for volunteer training and new IT equipment along with more interpretation to fit out the new helpdesk.

Volunteers do not need vast amounts of wildlife knowledge, just enthusiasm and a willingness to commit to a day a week. Anyone wishing to help out should call 01392 279244 or email volunteering@devonwildlifetrust.org