Team Building: Volunteering Day at Boothby Wildland
We’re proud to support landscape recovery and biodiversity net gain (BNG) initiatives across the UK, but nothing quite compares to seeing the impact of this work up close. That’s exactly what we experienced on a recent team away day at Boothby Wildland in sunny Lincolnshire, hosted by the inspiring team at Nattergal Ltd.
Our team got stuck into some hands-on volunteering, helping with fieldwork that contributes to Nattergal’s broader restoration goals. This included pulling ragwort from a carefully managed field that can’t currently be grazed. This plays a crucial role, as regularly harvesting hay helps to encourage greater floral diversity over time. Cinnabar moth caterpillars were safely relocated to a more suitable, ragwort-rich area nearby. Meanwhile, members of our BNG Finder team explored the surrounding fields dedicated to biodiversity net gain, seeing how data and our digital tool aligns with real-world conservation.
Team Accelar
What made the day even more special? We were on-site during a landmark moment: Nattergal’s Boothby Wildland was announced as the first site in England to secure Landscape Recovery implementation funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). This is an encouraging sign that comes at a vital time for the sector. By moving into the implementation phase of the Landscape Recovery scheme, the UK is taking a positive step towards meeting its target to restore and protect 30% of nature by 2030.
River Restoration
We all enjoyed our evening walk to witness the early stages of river restoration, where future plans include establishing what will be the UK’s largest beaver enclosure at around 200 hectares.
The anticipation of welcoming these ecosystem engineers was tangible!
Beyond the practical tasks, the day offered so much more. We learned about Nattergal’s vision for scaling access to nature and delivering educational opportunities for local communities, core principles we strongly align with at Accelar.
Spending time together as a team in such a powerful setting was a fantastic reminder of why we do what we do. Seeing nature recover at scale, and understanding how quickly change can occur when the right conditions are in place, certainly put our work into perspective.
The hospitality from the Nattergal team was outstanding. We were welcomed with warmth, generosity and an incredible spread of locally produced food. After a productive day, we enjoyed a barbeque overlooking the rewilded landscape and the next morning brought another highlight: opening the moth trap, where the elephant hawk moth made a star appearance!
It also reinforced the value of partnerships: working alongside organisations like Nattergal, who are leading by example in rewilding and regeneration, gives us renewed energy and insight for the projects we support every day.
We’ll be watching Boothby Wildland evolve with great interest and we can’t wait to go back.
Sunset at Boothby