So you want to get involved but don’t have the experience?
Well look no further volunteer internships are the solution! There are practical placements and placements involving our visitor and education work.
99% of previous Residential Volunteer Interns have gone to employment in the conservation sector; with the RSPB or another conservation organisation. All our volunteering internships have a built in training programme with career coaching.
One year long Residential Volunteer Internships take place in Northern England, Eastern England, and Wales. Most are a two-site placement offering a 6 month stay at two different locations.
We also offer single site, 9 month Residential Volunteer Internships in Scotland, at Abernethy and Loch of Strathbeg.
Most Residential Volunteering internship places are advertised on the RSPB website, in CJS and in Environment Jobs in December/January each year.
Interviews take place in February and the placements begin in March.
Here’s what a three previous interns have to say:
Beki Williams said “I’m stuck in a job I don’t enjoy, in an office which has the air con on when it’s hot outside, the blinds are drawn when it’s sunny. I need a connection with the outside world, how I can escape?”
“My year as a visitor and publicity intern has been split between two reserves, the first six months at Fairburn Ings in Yorkshire and the second six months at Leighton Moss in north Lancashire. They are both excellent reserves with loads of brilliant opportunities to get the skills and experience you need to get a job in the RSPB.”
“As a result of the experiences I’ve had and skills I have developed during the internship I have been able to get a job with the RSPB; as I write this I am preparing to move to Islay, a beautiful island off the west coast of Scotland! I didn’t imagine the internship would give me such an amazing opportunity, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Mhairi Maclauchlan says “As the end of university loomed and my last exam finished I suddenly thought ...hold on what’s next! I went through school with a clear goal - GCSE’s, A-levels then University. When that came to an end I was a little bit lost.”
“I started at Blacktoft sands in 2009 and the rest as they say is history. I quickly realised that as a Residential Intern, you get out of it what you put into it. I went into it with enthusiasm and put as much effort into as I would a full time job. The rewards of this were amazing.”
“I was truly sad to leave Blacktoft at the end of my placement so when I was offered the winter contract (more reed cutting) I said yes immediately. This gave me the start I needed and following a few other work contracts one on an island in the Irish Sea and one on the coast in Northumberland I finally got a longer two year contract here at RSPB Hodbarrow in Cumbria. I’m just starting out on my career but what a start the volunteer scheme has given me! I have a feeling if I hadn’t applied I might still be sitting in my student flat wondering what to do next.”
An Interns Tale by Richard Miller
“Writing this, I am almost halfway through a year long internship with the RSPB and 4 months on, I’m really settled in. Having spent 3 months at Coombes Valley, I arrived at Leighton Moss in July and found it to be a wonderfully active and beautiful reserve. The major job when I got here was reed planting at Silverdale Moss, a very physically demanding but hugely rewarding task. I’ll be able to come back in 20 years time to find a fully fledged reed-bed teeming with bitterns and Beardies! Work here consists of many different and varied activities, depending on season, weather and what you as a volunteer want to achieve. Reed cutting takes place during the summer to provide suitable feeding areas for wildfowl and waders. More reed planting will follow in the spring, an important job to provide new habitat for the red listed Bittern. Other tasks so far have included moth trapping and identification, limestone pavement management for Butterflies such as the High Brown Fritillary, helping with guided walks and schools’ educational visits.
As my 6 month stay at Leighton progresses, my heart is set on a career in conservation. Everything about this place is fantastic! I can also say that the volunteers we work with have made my experience such a joy. Everyone is so friendly and helpful. This is very important, as the volunteers working at Leighton Moss, and at other RSPB sites across the UK, are the reason that a lot of the reserve work gets done. Residential, day, tea-room and shop volunteers all have a massive part to play in the successful running of every reserve. We could not keep running the way that we do without everyone’s vital and selfless support. A big thanks to all volunteers everywhere!
Having just passed my chainsaw assessment, I will be moving on in January to the final three months of my internship, at Fairburn Ings. I can’t wait. It keeps getting better and better!”
(update; Richard is now Assistant Warden at Leighton Moss)
No matter what you think you are, you are always and in all ways so much more!