Residential on Reserve (Mersehead)

RSPB

RSPB Mersehead, Dumfries & Galloway
Voluntary
Full Time
Closing on Fri, 7th Mar 2025

Conservation & WildlifeEcology


Where: Mersehead, Dumfries & Galloway

When: Early March 2025 to end September 2025

Commitment: 5 days a week for 6 months

Why We Want You:

Would you like to wake up every morning and go to work on an incredible coastal reserve with amazing views across the Solway Firth and the Galloway hills? Are you passionate about nature conservation and helping visitors to have an amazing experience with wildlife? If so, Mersehead would love to hear from you!

Under RSPB management since 1993, Mersehead contains a wide variety of habitats in breath-taking surroundings set adjacent to the wide expanses of intertidal sandflats on the Solway Firth. Large expanses of sky and seascape give a feeling of escapism, with stunning views towards the Lakeland fells and the Isle of Man, and Criffel and the Galloway hills which shelter the reserve.

We are looking for an enthusiastic residential volunteer to join our small, friendly team here at Mersehead to help with the delivery of both our practical and visitor experience work programmes. As a member of the RSPB Mersehead team, you will become fully involved in all the work required to run a nature reserve. This will include wildlife surveys, practical habitat work, working shifts at the visitor centre – where you will enthuse the public through face-to-face engagement – assisting with events such as guided walks, managing day volunteers, maintaining infrastructure . . . the list is endless! With such a variety of work required, every day is different, and you will gain a range of new skills. You will be hard working and prepared to get stuck into whatever the day brings.

What’s In It For You:

This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to wildlife conservation, bring people closer to nature and start a career in conservation. You will learn what it takes to run and manage a nature reserve and will gain a valuable insight into Europe's largest conservation charity.

Accommodation is provided in our converted farmhouse in the heart of the reserve where you will become fully immersed in the life of RSPB Mersehead. Badgers, deer, and barn owls are often sighted from the farmhouse windows in the evenings. Working alongside staff and volunteers, you will gain a range of practical, wildlife survey and people engagement skills and experience. This placement offers an opportunity to acquire a range of skills required for working on a nature reserve from land management to face to face engagement. Examples of the types of work you will be assisting with include:

  • Wildlife surveys: The Natterjack Toad, a European protected species and the UK's rarest amphibian, can only be found in Scotland along the Solway Estuary with the largest colony found at RSPB Mersehead. Nocturnal surveys in the spring see us out with torches, counting the number of toads present and assessing population dynamics by taking body length measurements. You will learn how to conduct breeding wader surveys across the wetland habitats, with energy focused on monitoring lapwing productivity. Related to this, you will be assisting with vital work to monitor and maintain the anti-predator fence for ground nesting birds. Moth trapping and butterfly transects will improve your Lepidoptera skills.
  • Habitat/Estate work: can be hard manual work, strimming and grass cutting, ragwort pulling, fencing and water trough repairs, path and hide maintenance.
  • People Engagement: Enthusing and inspiring visitors about the wildlife they can see and experience at Mersehead, as well as the wider work of the RSPB, is equally as important as the practical work to create the spectacle. Therefore, you should expect to spend time contributing to our visitor experience operations, including working shifts independently at the Visitor Centre, developing interpretation and assisting with events.

There may also be the opportunity to spend time working at other nature reserves within in the RSPB Scottish Lowlands region to gain experience of other habitats which include ancient woodland and coastal heathland with breeding seabird colonies.

We will provide support and coaching through on the job learning to enhance the skills and experiences you need to be successful in pursuing a nature conservation career.

Requirements:

We need someone who has an enthusiastic and friendly personality, works well in a team, and is keen to learn lots about conservation and wildlife. You must have good communication and people engagement skills with the confidence to talk to people from all walks of life.

You must be happy working outdoors in all weathers in what can be very challenging physical and repetitive work. Some weekend working will be necessary, but time off will be given during the week instead.

You must be over 18, and a full clean driving licence is advantageous as this will allow you to drive the reserve's vehicles.

Reasonable wildlife identification skills, an ability to use computers/software and some previous practical/people engagement experience would be beneficial but not essential. Most of all, you just need enthusiasm and a passion for developing a nature conservation career, as well as confidence in meeting and speaking to people.

Notes:

This is a remote site so your own transport would be advantageous. There is no charge to take part in the scheme. It is your responsibility to cover the cost of your transport to and from the reserve, and to provide and cover the cost of your food during your stay. The RSPB will provide accommodation, together with basic services, free of charge for the period you are volunteering, and cover any expenses incurred as a necessary part of your work on the reserve

For more information, contact:

Freya Sanders
Email: [email protected]

Please apply as soon as possible.

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About RSPB

The RSPB is a charity for the conservation of birds and nature. We bring people together who love birds and other wildlife, and who want to take action to restore the health and diversity of the natural world. We carry out conservation on a large scale, protect and restore habitats, and save species from extinction. We’re living in a nature and climate emergency, and we won’t stop whilst the threats persist. We believe our work makes a real difference to the world we live in. It takes a great team to save nature and we need a wide range of skills to make it happen. As an RSPB employee, you will be helping to save nature every time you come to work. There’s never been a more important time to protect our wildlife and wild places, so we want to make sure you feel rewarded for everything you help us to achieve. 

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