Work Experience at Surrey Wildlife Trust
We offer a bespoke work experience programme aimed to give students the opportunity to gain a variety of skills and experience across different areas of the Trust’s work and get a taste of multiple career options within the conservation sector. Work experience students will be immersed in the Surrey Wildlife Trust team alongside fellow students on the programme for an enjoyable and inspiring week. They will gain skills and experience with different teams throughout the Trust, covering practical conservation, environmental education/outreach and wildlife surveying.
Dates
Please check back again soon for details regarding summer 2026 placements.
Programme structure
An example schedule, subject to change, would be:
- Monday: induction and group introductions, followed by wildlife surveying and citizen science activities
- Tuesday: supporting our Education Team to run a Nature Discovery Day for primary school groups at our Education Centre e.g. pond dipping and minibeast hunting
- Wednesday: habitat management tasks on one of our reserves in the West of the county, e.g. invasive plant species removal
- Thursday: habitat management tasks on one of our reserves in the East of the county, e.g. maintaining fencing and infrastructure
- Friday: habitat management tasks on one of our reserves in Central Surrey, e.g. installing hibernaculums and stumperies
Days will usually run from 10am - 3pm.
Logistics
Support: You will be accompanied throughout the week by our work experience coordinator, as well as other staff members throughout the Trust who will provide safety briefings, instructions and guidance.
Transport: We are able to collect work experience students from a suitable train station and drive them the rest of the way to site in our minibus, or students can meet us on site. Please note, sites will be varied and spread throughout the county.
Facilities: Please note, most of our reserves don’t have access to toilet facilities on site.
What to bring and wear: You should wear comfortable clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty as well as suitable shoes (e.g. walking boots or wellies). You will need to bring along your own lunch but we will provide tea, coffee and biscuits. Please also ensure you are ready for any weather (waterproofs, suncream etc.).
How to apply
Applications for summer 2025 work experience are now closed. Please check back later this year to find out more about applications for summer 2026.
I have built a stronger understanding of nature through this work experience as I am now aware of how vastly different wildlife can be in just one county and how important it all is. Before this week I felt less comfortable in nature because of animals like spiders and snakes; however, through being exposed to these animals I can now appreciate them because I understand their important role in habitats. Therefore, I am now more comfortable in nature. I also liked how different each day was as it has shown me the wide variety of jobs and roles in conservation, such as education jobs and more practical roles.
I have enjoyed learning about the different roles within the Surrey Wildlife Trust. I found it helpful to talk to the different people running each day and to find out how they got to where they are through university or previous jobs. My favourite parts of the work experience was looking at the marsh club moss and sundews and how to identify them and other plants in heathland and chalk grassland areas. I also enjoyed the identification for butterflies and looking for snakes and slow worms. It was interesting to see the different environments around Surrey. I also liked that each day was different so we can see different types of jobs and areas within conservation.
Work experience enquiries
Email volunteers@surreywt.org.uk
Call 01483 795464
Thinking about working with wildlife?
Get a flavour of what the world of work is like, whilst making a real difference to your local environment.
Our work experience placements provide a great opportunity to learn new skills, meet like-minded people and decide whether a job in the conservation sector is for you.