Residential on Reserve: Conservation, Land & People Engagement

Where: RSPB Mersehead Nature Reserve, Dumfries & Galloway
When: February 2026 onwards (specific dates flexible)
Commitment: 5-days/week. Minimum 6-month placement
Applications close: 8th January 2026

Why We Want You

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

We are looking for an enthusiastic, hard-working residential volunteer to join our small, friendly team here at RSPB Mersehead to help with the delivery of both our practical and visitor experience work programmes. RSPB Mersehead is an extensive wetland nature reserve set within breath-taking surroundings; the wide expanses of intertidal sandflats together with the large skies and seascapes provide a feeling of escapism, with stunning views towards the Lakeland fells and the Isle of Man.

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

What’s In It For You

As a member of the RSPB Mersehead team, you will become fully immersed in all the work it takes to run a wetland nature reserve including wildlife surveys, practical land management and people engagement. Examples of the types of work you will be assisting with include:

Wildlife surveys:

• The World population of Svalbard Barnacle Geese winter on the Solway. You will take part in weekly goose counts across the reserve until they leave towards the end of April.
• Wetland Bird Surveys take place twice monthly across both RSPB Mersehead & RSPB Kirkconnell Merse.
• You will learn how to conduct lowland breeding wader surveys 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.
• Breeding wader surveys at RSPB Kirkconnell Merse will focus on Curlew, Redshank and Oystercatcher.
• 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. Day-time surveys include the recording of spawn strings and monitoring of the associated tadpoles through to the toadlet stage
• Moth trapping and butterfly transects will improve your Lepidoptera skills.
• Data collection and recording are vital on all RSPB reserves, and you will learn and take responsibility for entering and updating data on a variety of platforms, including Excel, the BTO website and the RSPB’s internal GIS system – Merlin.

Habitat/Estate work:

• Work across the SSSI sand dune habitat to remove scrub will continue until the end of the February.
• You will learn about the hydrology of the reserve so that you gain an understanding of how water control structures work.
• Throughout the breeding season and into summer, your focus will be maintaining visitor infrastructure across the reserve.
• You will be instructed in the use of electric and petrol driven strimmers including machinery maintenance and legal requirements. This will allow you to complete essential estate work including strimming the edges of footpaths, around benches and maintaining the car park. Mowing the grass in areas such as the playground, cleaning hides and weeding the gardens.
• The use of machinery and hand tools will be a daily requirement.
• You will complete trail checks to ensure quality assurance and safety across the reserve's infrastructure.
• You will have the opportunity to learn about conservation grazing. We will show you how to check and repair livestock infrastructure such as water troughs and put up temporary livestock fencing.
• You will have the opportunity to run our weekly practical volunteer work parties.

People Engagement:

• Enthusing and inspiring people about the wildlife they can see and experience at RSPB Mersehead by running the Visitor Centre where you will meet and greet visitors. This will include working with a card machine, till and running the Café Lite.
• The Visitor Centre is the focal point of the reserve where we regularly take queries and deal with issues that arise. You will be the first point of contact when running the Centre.
• You will be required to work one weekend per month on the Visitor Centre rota.
• Developing informative interpretation and activities such as self-led trails for children.
• Assisting with the planning and running of events for example guided walks, family pond dipping, moth mornings and specialist events focusing on Natterjack Toad evenings and Badger Banquets. With training and support, you will be encouraged to take a lead on some of these events yourself.

We will provide continual support and coaching through on the job learning to enable you to grow and develop within your role, enhancing your skills and experiences within the conservation sector and allowing you to complete all the tasks listed above with confidence.

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

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.

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. A willingness to work flexibly is essential as some weekend working will be required along with early morning/late nights to achieve the demanding program of wildlife surveys.

You must be over 18, and a full clean manual 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, a passion for developing skills and taking on responsibility, as well as confidence in meeting and speaking to people.

For those without a car, RSPB Mersehead can be an isolated location with limited public transport options. Please take careful consideration of this when applying. You must be happy to share the accommodation with one/two other people. Your bedroom will be private.

Notes

The RSPB will provide accommodation free of charge for the period you are volunteering. It is your responsibility to cover the cost of your transport to and from the reserve, and to provide and cover the cost of food during your stay.

Appropriate training will be provided when required and pre-arranged expenses will be reimbursed where necessary. Some weekend working will be necessary, but time off will be given in lieu.

If you would like to discuss whether this role is suitable for you or have any questions about this role including regarding accessibility, please contact Rowena for an informal chat. Please also read the candidate information pack included with the RSPB advert.

To apply please complete the online application form on the RSPB website. For more information, contact Rowena Chambers - [email protected]