On Wednesday 11^th October, five staff members from Experian gathered for a day of environmental volunteering. Andy, David, Sharon, Geraldine and Elle, led by Jordan from Green Sefton experienced a day away from the office to give back to their local community.

The day started at Ainsdale discovery centre where the team met Jordan who explained what the morning and afternoon activities were going to be. The team grabbed a pair of shears each and made their way into Ainsdale sand dunes to start to clear invasive buckthorn.

Sea Buckthorn was first planted in the dunes in the early twentieth century to try to stabilise the dunes. Unfortunately, this was not the best course of action and now Green Sefton work to clear the prolific shrubs in order to make way for valuable open dune habitat for rare dune flora and fauna.

The team donned their protective gloves and set to work cutting back the buckthorn. There was soon a big pile building up.  Lunch time brought the chance to head back to the discovery centre to warm up, dry off and refuel.

The afternoon session saw the team move onto Ainsdale beach to take part in a litter pick. Beach cleans are a huge part of keeping the Sefton coastline looking beautiful and protecting the wildlife from pollution. Despite the wet and windy weather the team had a great time. Geraldine said:

“It was really satisfying; I enjoyed helping the local community and getting out in nature”.

Experian’s local office is in Southport but many of the team work from home since the COVID lockdowns. The volunteering was a chance for colleagues to get together in person in an ‘out of work’ setting and help make Sefton a better place to live and work whilst fulfilling Experian’s corporate social responsibility.

Green Sefton meet volunteers every Thursday from autumn to spring to clear invasive buckthorn or litter pick in Crosby, Ainsdale or Hightown. To take part contact Green Sefton.