Residential Volunteer Placement - Lake Vyrnwy (12 months)
RSPB
Available from 07/09/2026 to 27/08/2027
About Lake Vyrnwy
Lake Vyrnwy is our hidden gem. Its landscape is a rich patchwork of moorland, meadows, woodland, ffridd, farmland and forestry which supports some of Wales’s rarest wildlife, is both home and workplace for a vibrant rural community, attracts over 200,000 visitors a year, and provides drinking water for thousands more.
At the heart of the Berwyn mountains, on the southern boundary of the Snowdonia National Park, Lake Vyrnwy sits in RSPB’s North Wales Moors Priority Landscape. The 10,000-hectare Vyrnwy estate is owned by Hafren Dyfrdwy and around half is managed, in partnership, by the RSPB for the benefit of wildlife at a landscape scale.
The role
Residential placement volunteers become a member of the reserve team working alongside our wardens.
During the winter, the role will involve assisting the wardens with the habitat and estate management across the reserve. This could involve all or any of: peatland restoration, INNS control, woodland management, coppicing, tree planting and nest box maintenance, hedge planting or laying, dry stone walling, footpath maintenance, hide and infrastructure maintenance.
In spring and summertime, the role switches focus to the surveying of our priority species, and vegetation and habitat condition later in the summer. Springtime monitoring includes: Grouse counts; nests monitoring of Hen Harriers, Merlin, Peregrine and Curlew; and surveying nest boxes for Pied Flycatcher. The rest of the summer comprises a variety of botanical and habitat condition surveys throughout the reserve’s meadows, woodland, ffridd and moorland. Data collecting during these surveys is digitised, mapped, and analysed throughout the season.
Throughout the year, placement volunteers will also assist with general reserve tasks, such as maintaining trails and hides, helping lead guided walks, or routine safety checks.
On-site accommodation and utilities are provided free.
This role is an excellent opportunity to make a genuine contribution to wildlife conservation while gaining valuable insight, experience and skills that would support those wishing to pursue a career in conservation science, field biology, ecology or nature reserve management.
Who we are looking for
Essential
- Enthusiasm
- A strong interest in conservation and natural history
- Able to work in all weathers, on challenging terrain and occasionally outside normal office hours.
- Self-motivation
- Able to work as part of a varied team, and independently.
- A full UK driving licence
Desirable
- Knowledge of ecology
- Species monitoring or bird identification experience.
- Experience of practical estate / maintenance work.
- Volunteering experience.
- Relevant studies e.g. conservation, environmental sciences, geography.
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.
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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