Help Manchester’s wildlife thrive with just a few minutes of kindness as an RSPCA volunteer

It starts with a flutter of wings outside your window. A hedgehog rustling in the undergrowth.  The warm hum of bees on a summer afternoon.

These quiet, fleeting moments of wildlife are the heartbeat of our natural world, but they need your help.

Wildlife Friends at the RSPCA

This Volunteers’ Week (June 2nd–8th), the RSPCA is issuing a call to Greater Manchester and beyond: help protect our precious wildlife by becoming a Wildlife Friend.

The animal welfare charity is on a mission to recruit 2,500 new volunteers who will take simple, compassionate steps to create a safer, kinder environment for the creatures who share our communities.

Forget the idea that volunteering requires endless hours or a career break. As a Wildlife Friend, you’ll join a growing movement of everyday people doing extraordinary things: right from their gardens, balconies, and local green spaces.

Want to make a difference? Build a bug hotel with your kids on a Sunday afternoon. Pop a shallow dish of water in your garden during heat waves for thirsty bees and birds. Or do something as simple as putting away football netting at dusk to prevent foxes from getting entangled.

These small acts,  quick, easy, and meaningful, give wild animals the chance to thrive in the spaces we share. And in turn, they free up the RSPCA’s frontline teams to respond to urgent cases of cruelty and neglect.

RSPCA’s incredible volunteers

In Rotherham, Carl Bunting took on every task in the RSPCA’s Wildlife Friends menu, from crafting hedgehog highways to campaigning for better animal protection laws.

“This year I put up nest boxes which successfully fledged three Blue Tit chicks and I have created a hedgehog highway – hedgehogs are regular visitors to my garden,” said Carl.

“I have spring cleaned bird feeders and made an apple seed bird feeder, planted wildlife-friendly plants and made a bug hotel. I also volunteered for Great British Spring Clean and No Mow May, and I’ve been active on campaigning issues by completing surveys and writing to my MP, while I’ve also taken part in the RSPCA’s Big Conversation on Animal Futures.

“My favourite task is litter picking, which my dog Finn helps me with, as well as making hedgehog houses and bird boxes. It has been fabulous to see wildlife up close in my garden. I would recommend this type of volunteering to anyone as it gives busy people the opportunity to get involved and make a contribution.”

“the perfect balance between her work, family life, and her passion for animals”

For Chantal, Wildlife Friends offered the perfect balance between her work, family life, and her passion for animals.

“I found out about Wildlife Friends when I was volunteering with the RSPCA as a Super Campaigner,” said Chantal. “I’d started making my garden bird-friendly by growing shrubs and brambles, but being a Wildlife Friend reminded me of the importance of cleaning bird feeders, while I also love litter picking.

“I enjoy learning new tasks I may not have otherwise thought about, such as adding a stone to water baths for insects or building butterfly feeders. I have work and family commitments, and it isn’t possible for me to volunteer at an animal centre, so being part of Wildlife Friends is a great way of helping wildlife in a flexible way and being part of a like-minded group of people.”

Rehabilitating animals

At the centres, volunteer wildlife assistants play an important role in helping the painstaking rehabilitation of animals so they can be released back to the wild. Volunteer Carole Reece has spent more than 10 years caring for the hedgehogs who pass through RSPCA Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre in Cheshire.

Carole, from Haslington, near Sandbach, said: “Stapeley is really busy in summer and there is plenty of work to do cleaning, weighing and feeding the animals. I quite often release hedgehogs in my own garden when they can’t be released where they were found. I have a night camera to watch them, which is fascinating as they move so quickly.”

Carole, who received a long-service certificate (pictured) from the wildlife centre last year, added: “I enjoy volunteering so much because it is a privilege to see wildlife up close that you’d only see in a book. When we get sick or injured animals brought to the centre, it’s wonderful you can be part of the team that helps their rehabilitation.”

How you can help the RSPCA

Last year alone, the RSPCA received over 40,000 calls about wild animals in distress. Their wildlife centres took in more than 10,200 creatures: a 35% increase in just one year. Hedgehogs, pigeons, gulls, ducks, animals we all know and love, are facing growing threats from urban life, extreme weather, and loss of habitat.

“Wildlife is struggling,” says Sherry Flanagan, RSPCA Volunteer Experience Partner. “But the good news is that we can all be part of the solution. Whether you’ve got a window box or a big garden, you can take simple steps to protect animals this summer. A little kindness goes a long way.”

Volunteers’ Week, which is organised by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), is an annual celebration of the efforts made by millions of volunteers who offer their time and skills in unpaid roles.

Volunteers make a unique contribution to the work of the RSPCA, from those who help out at the charity’s wildlife centres and animal centres, to microvolunteers, like Wildlife Friends

Becoming a Wildlife Friend is free, simple and entirely on your terms. After signing up on the RSPCA’s website, you’ll get access to their dedicated app, Assemble, where you can choose from a menu of wildlife-friendly tasks, complete with step-by-step video guides.

Some of the summer’s most popular tasks include:

Butterfly Cafés – Attract pollinators with nectar-rich fruit feeders.

Bee Drinking Stations – Help flying insects stay hydrated during hot spells.

Froggy Havens – Create shady spots for frogs and toads to rest and cool down.

Hedgehog Highways – Cut small gaps in fences to give hedgehogs freedom to roam safely.

Each completed task can be logged, shared, and celebrated.  Every single one contributes to a growing national network of people building a better, wilder world.

Volunteering with the RSPCA

The RSPCA has a variety of other roles currently available, including for volunteer gardeners, cat fosterers, animal rescue volunteers (ARVs), charity shop assistants and community fundraisers, and they can all be found at the charity’s website by clicking here

RSPCA Head of Volunteering Brian Reeves added: “All our volunteers are amazing and make a huge difference to animal welfare through the kind gift of their time, skills and energy. We have a variety of roles for anyone interested in devoting some of their time to our work, including those involving working with and nurturing wildlife. We know animals are facing huge challenges and need our help more than ever, and we want to inspire everyone to create a better world for every animal

“Our Wildlife Friends volunteering scheme is great for anyone who can spare even just a few minutes, or a couple of hours, to create a better and kinder world for every animal. By becoming an RSPCA Wildlife Friend, animal lovers can join with their community to make a safe space for the animals. We all share our neighbourhoods with wonderful wildlife, and we need to protect it.”