Let me desire and wish well the life
these trees may live when I
no longer rise in the mornings
to be pleased with the green of them
shining, and their shadows on the ground,
and the sound of the wind in them.
-  Wendell Berry, Planting Trees

If you want to get out and help there are volunteer groups throughout the country, which offer a variety of satisfying projects led by skilled Task Leaders. Training is provided as part of the work; skills can often be developed during the work. Safety is an important part of the leadership.

Professionals such as Countryside Rangers, ecologists or botanists often lead the tasks. Some manual labour is often a great way to ease the strain of staring at a computer screen all day; each task has an assortment of people from all types of backgrounds and there are plenty of opportunities outside the task to socialise.

Volunteers also effectively become employees for each day they work, and are therefore covered by accident and third party insurances.

You can get an idea of how some of these groups operate at the following sites:

http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/

http://www.hcv.org.uk

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/

http://btcv.org.uk