Meet this year’s inspirational marine volunteers

Since 2014 the Marsh Volunteer Award for Marine Conservation has been awarded to recognise the amazing work Wildlife Trust volunteers carry out to help save our seas. From shark tagging to litter picking, our past winners are an inspiration to us all and this year’s winners are no different!

Vanessa Lloyd

Vanessa is the lead volunteer for Somerset Wildlife Trust’s Sea Watch surveys. Since 2018 she has been helping organise and run these monthly surveys along the Somerset coast, alongside providing training sessions throughout the year, helping to build up a skilled volunteer base.

Vanessa has helped Somerset Wildlife Trust recruit over 100 volunteers, with many of them also submitting casual sightings of marine mammals alongside the organised surveys. All this work is helping Somerset Wildlife Trust build a better picture of their resident harbour porpoise population.

Not only is Vanessa instrumental in these surveys, she also produces an annual report, is investigating how photo identification can be used for porpoise and seals, and helps keep other volunteers up to date though social media groups! What a superstar.

Somerset Shoresearch Group

Since 2019 Somerset Wildlife Trust have been carrying out Shoresearch surveys, the Wildlife Trust’s monitoring program for the intertidal zone, with over 70 volunteers collecting vital data.

Over the years a group of 15 dedicated volunteers has formed. Rain-or-shine these volunteers are on the shore improving their ID knowledge, collecting data and testing out new surveys, including a pacific oyster survey - which was set and run by one the volunteers. As well as collecting the data, this group use the Shoresearch App to upload data to an online database where it is available to experts to monitor our fragile sea life and better understand the effects of pollution, climate change and invasive species.

Before Shoresearch little was known about the marine life along Somerset’s shores, but with the dedication of this group of volunteers a real knowledge gap about the county’s coastal ecosystems has been filled.

Youth Marine Volunteer

This award is to celebrate the marine conservation work carried out by our young volunteers.

Elizabeth Pennefather

Lizzie Pennefather (16) has taken on the incredible task of walking the Cumbrian Coastal Way – a 120-mile journey from Duddon Bridge to the Esk Bridge near Gretna Green in Scotland. Lizzie is a nature enthusiast, passionate about oceans, marine life and raising awareness of the need to protect and restore our marine environments. Growing up in Africa and India, Lizzie and her family spent their summer holidays visiting the Cambrians coastline where they have many a happy memories of rock pooling, making sandcastles and sea swimming. Lizzie started this journey after finished her GSCEs and will spend her summer holiday taking this 120-mile trip over 15 days - although the temptation to look in every rock pool and at every bird may make the trip longer! As well as using this trip to raise awareness of marine issues, Lizzie is fundraising for Cumbria Wildlife Trust with a target of £2,500!

Lizzie also volunteers with the Living Seas North West team, helping out with their National Marine Week events, from coastal foraging workshops to strandline searches.