Warden

Are you passionate about coastal wetland habitats? Do you crave a leading role in restoring and enhancing open landscapes-saltmarsh, shingle, wet grassland, and farmland-to help nature thrive across the south of England? If so, this may be the perfect role for you!

The RSPB’s Eastern Solent team oversees a network of highly designated coastal reserves along the West Sussex and Hampshire coast. The RSPB's Pagham Harbour Reserve includes a vast inlet of saltmarsh & mudflats, with islands and a shingle spit supporting internationally important populations of breeding shorebirds, including both Little & Sandwich Terns. Surrounding the harbour are areas of wet grassland, meadow, reedbed and the renowned Ferry Pool - a saline lagoon that attracts an impressive array of waders year-round, often hosting rarer visitors on migration. Just a stone’s throw away is Medmerry - a wild and dynamic reserve born from a pioneering managed coastal realignment project. Within its seawall, Medmerry offers a continually-evolving mosaic of developing saltmarsh, grazing marsh & lagoons meadows, with a patchwork of sensitively-farmed arable land interspersed with freshwater habitats beyond. Langstone Harbour, nestled between Portsmouth and Hayling Island, contains a scattered archipelago of saltmarsh and shingle islands - a coastal sanctuary supporting one of the largest mixed seabird colonies on England’s south coast. In winter, all of our reserves play host to huge gatherings of Brent Geese, waders, wildfowl, and other waterbirds. We’re recruiting a Warden to help lead on the day-to-day delivery of our ecological management plans - with a particular focus on wet grassland, saline lagoon, grazing marsh & wild-flower meadow habitats - while always ensuring impeccable health and safety compliance.

If successful, you’ll join a tight-knit warden team operating across the Eastern Solent reserves, occupying a co-leadership position involved in all aspects of habitat management, estate maintenance. 

In your role as Warden, you will help co-ordinate and lead the delivery of a busy but rewarding work programme. Your role will be varied - in any given week you could be supervising and developing volunteers, surveying wildlife and habitats, developing project plans, carrying out estate maintenance or delivering hands-on habitat management.

You’ll be positive, proactive, well-organised and keen to develop & deliver an ambitious work programme. With a proven track record, you will have a solid grasp of land management techniques; ecological principles; monitoring; health & safety; leading and managing staff/volunteers. 

Essential skills, knowledge and experience:

• Knowledge and experience of practical estate and habitat management.
• Relevant ecological knowledge (eg. key wet grassland, coastal, farmland species).
• Experience of a range of biological monitoring, including breeding bird surveys.
• Knowledge of health & safety applying to site management.
• Knowledge of environmental compliance requirements & record keeping.
• Experience of small to medium size project management.
• Excellent organisational, time management and prioritisation skills.
• Proven ability to work in a team and to build collaborative relationships with internal colleagues and external stakeholders.
• A full, manual driving licence that is valid in the UK.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Competent user of standard IT applications eg. Microsoft Office (Word, Outlook, Excel).
• Lantra / NPTC or equivalent qualifications in one or more of the following: brushcutter, sit-in ATV, 4x4, chainsaw, tractor, first aid at work.

Desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Experience of working with graziers and contractors.
• Knowledge & understanding of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

Additional Information:

This is a fixed-term role for 12 months, full-time for 37.5 hours per week. The RSPB reserves the right to extend or make this role permanent without further advertising dependent on business needs at the end of the contract term.

We are looking to conduct interviews for this position from week commencing 11 August 2025. For further information please contact [email protected].

As part of this application process you will be asked to complete an application form including evidence on how you meet the skills, knowledge, and experience listed above.

We are committed to developing an inclusive and diverse RSPB, in which everyone feels supported, valued, and able to be their full selves. To achieve our vision of creating a world richer in nature, we need more people, and more diverse people, on nature’s side. People of colour and disabled people are currently underrepresented across the environment, climate, sustainability, and conservation sector. If you identify as a person of colour and/or disabled, we are particularly interested in receiving your application. Contact us to discuss any additional support you may need to complete your application.

The RSPB is an equal opportunities employer. This role is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

This role is not eligible for UK Visa Sponsorship - the successful applicant will need to have a pre-existing Right to Work in the UK in order to be offered an employment contract.