Friends of the Lake District's Flora of the Fells project is all set for it's first ever Fell Care volunteer day on Thursday.

The landscape conservation charity is organizing the ‘Fell Care Day' at Helvellyn on Thursday 29 September to highlight the huge role that volunteering plays in conserving and managing the fells. More than 20 organizations including two schools and eighty volunteers will be taking part.

The Fell Care Day will involve lots of practical conservation activities and awareness raising about the benefits the fells provide for us all. It will also highlight how the land is managed to produce good quality drinking water.

Volunteers will be undertaking a huge range of tasks on and around Helvellyn, including footpath repair work, surveying red squirrels, rebuilding a sheepfold and a red squirrel hide, tree conservation work and sky high litter picks on Swirral Edge and Striding Edge. Local schools will be taking part and making squirrel feeders, alongside other educational conservation work.

Volunteer groups from Friends of the Lake District, the Dry Stone Walling Association, Natural England, Grasmere Red Squirrel Group, 2020 Vision Project, Fix the Fells, the Lake District National Park and United Utilities, and will all be taking part, along with staff and holidaymakers from Lakelovers Cottages and Rydal's Cote Howe B&B to name but a few.

Lots of local bakeries and tea rooms are donating cakes to keep the hungry workers going, including Grasmere's Baldry, Greens and Miller Howe tea rooms, Croft Bakery, Heidis and Bilbos Cafés, Grasmere Lodge and Butharlyp Howe Youth Hostel, and at Ambleside - Nicks Kitchen, The Apple Pie Café, Café Altitude, Adventure Peaks and the Lodge in the Vale at Thirlmere.

Sue Manson, Flora of the Fells Project Officer said: ‘The Fell Care Day promises to be a great day in celebration of the Lake District Fells, all they provide for us and the immense volunteer effort that goes into helping to conserve them. 2011 is the European Year of Volunteering and the 60th birthday of the Lake District National Park, so we're very pleased to be able to celebrate with lots of people and organizations taking part in this great day caring for the fells. We've got volunteers of all ages coming along and it's not too late to join in what promises to be a really good day.'

The Heritage Skills Initiative at the North of England Civic Trust are running a free intermediate dry stone walling training activity as part of the day and there's also a free short guided walk with United Utilities' Paul Phillips about how the land around Thirlmere is managed to produce high quality water - starting at 2pm at Swirls car park Thirlmere. More info on www.floraofthefells.com or 01539 733187.