Smiles and laughter. Muddy gloves, sweaty brows and the curious gaze of cattle, goats and sheep. For many, especially those working in office-based roles, Wild Work Days are a rare, invaluable chance to swap work screens for fresh air and feel the restorative power of nature.

What are Wild Work Days?

Wild Work Days are practical volunteering days for businesses, run by the Trust across Surrey. They’re not just a hands-on team day out, they’re a chance to reconnect with nature and make a tangible difference for Surrey’s wildlife. The Trust has run more than 40 of these sessions this past year, for companies ranging from Kia Motors to Dorking-based Chimney Fire Coffee.

After six months of managing these days come rain or shine, it’s clear their impact and importance (both for our volunteers’ wellbeing and Surrey’s wildlife) is if anything understated and deserves a closer look.

Wellbeing in the Wild

In a world where many people, particularly of working age, struggle to find time for nature, the statistics are striking:

• 15% of us experience anxiety or depression every week (NHS, Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014)
• 91% feel high levels of pressure or stress every year (Mental Health UK, TheBurnout Report 2025)

Wild Work Days offer a natural antidote. Research into volunteering more generally by the University of Essex found that 69% of volunteers with low wellbeing reported improvements after just six weeks (Volunteering: A Natural Health Service, University of Essex and the Wildlife Trusts, 2017).

E.O. Wilson coined the term biophilia, that innate love that humans have for the natural world; something I’ve seen brought to life on Wild Work Days. Beyond the endorphins from exercise, the chance to support nature recovery and reconnect with wild spaces leaves a lingering sensation of shared purpose beyond self.

Nature Recovery in Action

Scrub bashing. Tree popping. Digging scrapes. These Wild Work Day tasks replicate the natural processes once done by great grazing herds of European Bison, Aurochs, Tarpan and Wild Boar.

These large herbivores shaped open habitats like Surrey’s precious heathlands and chalk grasslands, keeping them rich in wildlife. Without people or grazing animals, they would quickly close over into uniform woodland, leaving them far less nature-rich.

Through Wild Work Days, businesses are playing a vital role in nature recovery not only across our 60-plus nature reserves, but also on partner sites such as the Bigwood Estate, planting hundreds of metres of new hedgerow habitat. It’s exactly this kind of joined-up, landscape-scale work that will make the difference in recovering nature for future generations. 

Find out more about our Wild Work Days:

Wild Work Days

Will Kelsey

SWT Corporate Partnerships Officer