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Water For Wildlife Jobs

By on 21/05/2013

Two vacancies now open:

Clearstreams Coordinator (CSC)
Water for Wildlife Officer (WWO)

Project Background:

Swansea Environmental Forum logoThese two posts are part of the multi-partner ‘Clear Stream Swansea’ project and are designed to deliver practical on the ground action and improvements to several water bodies and catchments in and around the City and County of Swansea (CCS).

Clear Streams Swansea is a partnership initiative aimed at ensuring Swansea’s rivers, streams, lakes and sea are clean and healthy, to be appreciated and enjoyed by everyone. We want Swansea to be known for a good quality environment that people are proud of.

Clearstreams Coordinator (CSC)

Location: The Environment Centre, Pier Street, Swansea SA1 1RY
Hours: 35 hours per week, fixed term until December 2014
Salary: £22,279 pa (pro-rata)
Employing organisation: Swansea Environmental Forum
Could you motivate the initiative’s wide range of partners, forging effective working relationships across organisational boundaries? Do you have the skills to encourage local business leaders and employees to help improve water quality? Then this role is for you.

Job description for Clearstreams Coordinator

Water for Wildlife Officer (WWO)

Location: The Environment Centre, Pier Street, Swansea SA1 1RY
Hours: 35 hours per week, fixed term until December 2014
Salary: £17,500 pa (pro-rata)
Employing organisation: Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales
Could you inspire local communities into caring about their water environment? Is engaging with, training and encouraging volunteers and community groups taking part in conservation activities, such as surveys something you would like to do? Then this role is for you.

Job Description Water for Wildlife Officer

Closing date for applications: 12pm, 07/06/2013
Further information and application forms are available from:

Jenny Edwards, at the Environment Centre, on 01792 480200 

 

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Colin’s Grove – a lasting legacy

By on 16/05/2013

Three years ago a valued and committed volunteer with the Trust sadly died. His name was Colin Vyvyan and he was very much involved in our Lavernock Point Nature Reserve. 

Peacock Butterfly Bob Coyle

Peacock Butterfly Bob Coyle

Colin was a lover of wildlife, his particular passion was butterflies, which meant that his involvement with Lavernock Point was very special as there are many butterflies to be found upon the meadow and in the glades. Purple hairstreak butterflies hide in the tree tops, whilst ringlet, meadow brown, gatekeeper, tortoiseshell, comma, red admiral and painted lady can all be seen in the two meadows.

He would, without fail, be out on the reserve on a Friday joining eight or so other committed volunteers. Their combined efforts mean this reserve is in wonderful condition, including the meadows which they cut using scythes.  His love and commitment has also been recognised by his friends, one of the groves they have created on the reserve has been named Colin’s grove.

When we met Colin his commitment shone through and his belief that wealth should not be inherited was strongly held, this is why Colin left a legacy to the Wildlife Trust. He wanted us to spend money on habitat management for butterflies and to inspire people to love wildlife in the same way he had.

True to what he has asked us to do we are now investing his legacy in butterfly habitats, in Lavernock Point (the volunteers are choosing how to spend some of the money), and on a number of projects around the Vale, east Glamorgan and the Valleys which involve people and butterflies!

If you are interested in knowing more about legacies and how to leave something lasting for wildlife please do get in touch on 01656 724100 (either Lyndsey Maiden or Jon Cooper will be able to assist)

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Lichens on Skokholm

By on 15/05/2013

Two great weeks on Skokholm Island

Stay on Skokholm Island for a week and don’t have to cook for yourself!
Just relax and chill out for the week.

Skokholm's red sandstone cliffs Lyndsey Maiden (7 of 10)

Skokholm’s red sandstone cliffs L Maiden

A special week that is fully catered (three meals a day)
Mon 29 July for a week (leaving Mon 5 August)
Still some room available £375 per person including all meals

ALSO

Lichen course, fully catered, on Skokholm Island

Mon 5 August for a week (leaving Mon 12 August)
Cost £475 per person to include course instruction and all meals

Contact Wendy on 01239 621600

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Making a World of Difference in Cardigan Bay

By on 15/05/2013

My name is Nichaela Boxall and I am one of the lucky winners of Vodafone’s World of Difference funding; winning the chance to donate myself to Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre (CBMWC) for four months to develop and run their education and activity room and get paid to do it!

Nichaela Boxall

Nichaela Boxall

I first volunteered for CBMWC for ten weeks back in 2011. After completing a degree in Zoology with Conservation from Bangor University in 2008 and taking a job in retail to save for a Masters it soon became apparent that going back to university wasn’t right for me at that time and I started to look for volunteering opportunities to try and gain experience and make me more employable. I stumbled across CBMWC in the Green Volunteers book, applied and fortunately I was successful. I had an amazing summer looking for bottlenose dolphins and the other marine life found in the Cardigan Bay SAC both from the harbour wall in New Quay and at sea.

I enjoyed my time so much that I came back in 2012 for the majority of the season and took on more responsibility such as working on the photo-ID catalogue and helping with volunteer training. It was towards the end of the year that I found out about Vodafone’s World of Difference programme where you can donate yourself to a charity and get paid for it  and I applied. Thankfully my application was successful so here I am back in New Quay and back at CBMWC.

The aim of my placement is develop and promote the educational activities offered at CBMWC. The education and activity room was opened last year following refurbishment made possible with funding from the National Lottery and Natural Resources Wales (formerly Countryside Council for Wales) but due to limited numbers of volunteers was only able to open when there were enough people on hand. With my placement dedicated to education we are now able to open every weekend and throughout the school holidays to educate visiting children about the amazing wildlife found in and around Cardigan Bay.

If you would like to keep up to date with the development of the education and activity room throughout my placement you can read my World of Difference blog or follow CBMWC on Facebook or Twitter @CBMWC.

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Roadside Verge Reserves in Ceredigion

By on 15/05/2013

A few days have been spent in Coed Maidie B Goddard. We’ve been improving the path in the woodland by building some more causeway from the wood we cut during the winter which will hopefully make it less muddy to walk through. We’ve also cleared some young blackthorn and straggly brambles from the meadow where they are encroaching.

primrosesA sunny afternoon was spent in Old Warren Hill removing the sycamore regrowth from the stumps we cut over the winter. There was a lovely display of celandine and a few patches of primroses and the first bluebells were even out in flower, soon there will be a blue carpet. Much more sunlight is reaching the woodland floor after the sycamore felling works over the winter.

The white posts that mark the Roadside Verge Reserves in the county have been put out and the road marked with paint to help the grass cutting contractors know where they are. There will be a new verge reserve in Llangeitho this year. The verge reserves have a different cutting regime than the rest of the roadside verges to help promote the wildflowers.

Tir Coed have been busy in Coed Penglanowen and Old Warren Hill over the last few weeks building a new entranceway and some benches. They will be continuing for a few more weeks yet and will include some boardwalk near the bridge they built last year where the ground has proved to be very boggy.

Thank you very much to everyone who has helped this month. If you would like to volunteer with us in Ceredigion there are work parties twice a week out on the reserves, year round, contact Em on 07980932332 or to find out more about Ceredigion reserves.

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Refurbished Visitor Centre off to Flying Start

By on 15/05/2013

Our newly refurbished visitor centre is off to a flying start with overwhelming support from the Trust’s Bridgend Group.

Over 70 members at the group’s monthly meeting , held at the centre’s Discovery Room, agreed to hold all future indoor meetings there, ending a long association with the Ogmore Labour Club.

Parc Slip Wildlife Trust Visitor CentreThe change of venue heralds a new sense of life for the Tondu based centre, to be launched at an official opening ceremony on May 25th, with Welsh Government’s First Minister, Carwyn Jones, in attendance.

After two years of planning and restoration work, the centre will open its doors to the public, offering high impact facilities and decor to promote wildlife conservation. And local organisations will use the Discovery Room for future meetings. Set in the beautiful Parc Slip Nature Reserve this is a wonderful place for both recreation and work.

Trust Conservation Manager, Rob Parry says “Completion of the centre is an exciting milestone in the history of the Wildlife Trust.

“It will serve as a hub of information on nature conservation for voluntary groups and local schools. It will also act as a base for outreach work , with the emphasis on “hands on” experience for volunteers.”

Trust Executive Officer (and long term Bridgend Group member) Diana Clark comments:

“The centre will be a focal point for the Trust’s long-term aims to promote nature conservation. We now offer first class facilities for visitors with a coffee shop and staff available to help.

“A number of local groups are already planning to use the centre for future meetings. And the Trust will run a regular programme of wildlife events.”

A vote of thanks has been extended by the Trust to quantity surveyor, Bridgend local group member and trustee Doug Fraser whose professional skill helped to steer the project both through planning and building stages. Thanks also to Nicola Cornock, Membership Officer, who will man the coffee shop.

Richard Marks, Local Group Member

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Making Steps at Melincwrt

By on 14/05/2013

Spring is finally here and with it a complete change of work programme for us. With our winter work completed in March before the bird breeding season starts, April can be a bit of a slow month while we’re waiting for the footpaths to become overgrown and need our attention. However we managed to find a few things to distract ourselves with and have been replacing steps, building fences and making charcoal.

Making Steps at Melincwrt

Making Steps at Melincwrt

The steps were at Melincwrt up the Neath Valley, probably one of our most visited sites in the Swansea Neath Port Talbot area. Melincwrt is popular as it has a spectacular waterfall. Unfortunately some of the steps had become to deteriorate and needed a bit of attention.

The job was made easier with the help of volunteers, Huw Lloyd the AONB Ranger and a power barrow, kindly lent by the National Trust staff based at Aberdulais Falls. An interpretation panel has also since been erected, to hopefully help visitors to better appreciate the site’s wildlife and special features.

We have also built a fence at Gelli Hir, using Douglas Fir that we milled from timber felled during our woodland thinning work at The Elizabeth and Rowe Harding Estate. Previously the pathway to the bird hide was exposed to the lake. This alerted all wildlife in the vicinity of the hide of any wannabe nature spotters that maybe lurking. The new fence now hides entry to the bird hide. This will hopefully allow visitors to enjoy more priceless wildlife moments.

Still at Gelli Hir are our two charcoal kilns. This past month has seen charcoal produced by the Gower Charcoal Makers to go on sale at various campsites and shops on Gower. This is a sustainable product that we are producing from our woodland management work.

This has been a really interesting project and our volunteers have been eager to get involved and learn the art of charcoal making. For most of us this has been a steep learning curve and we’re still learning best practices and discovering new techniques, however we now have several successful burns under our belt and a good stock pile of charcoal. Fingers crossed for a BBQ summer.

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