Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a residential volunteer at an RSPB reserve? I’m Annie and I’m a new residential volunteer with the RSPB Dorset reserves. Being a residential volunteer means that I both live and work in the middle of a nature reserve. If you’re anything like I was, you might not even realise that this kind of opportunity exists. It’s now been almost a month, and I wanted to write a little bit about my experience so far.
My specific role is in Visitor Experience - essentially everything that involves making sure that visitors to the reserve have an amazing time. Practically this means planning, marketing, and running the wide array of events and experiences that the RSPB offer across the Dorset reserves. One of the more unique things about the role is that a good percentage of my days are spent outdoors. I am also based across all the Dorset reserves, so I have worked at reserves including Arne, Radipole Lake, and Holton Lea.
So far, I have been involved in pumpkin carving events, school visits, full moon walks, introductory walks, an autumn trail and more. No two days are the same and plans are always changing. Anything can happen on the reserve! You might be unsuspectingly designing a poster for an event in the office, when suddenly there’s a call that the pigs are causing trouble and it’s all-hands-on deck. I have spent several days running about in the mud and weather after thinking it would be a quiet day mainly in the office, but that’s what makes it so interesting.
Living on the reserve is also a unique experience. Arne has a tiny village, but the nearest town with a shop and any facilities is around 5 miles away. Especially at night-time, you really are surrounded by the utter darkness and quiet of nature (except for snorting pigs and rutting deer, of course). The beauty of this is that outside visitor hours you have a wealth of trails, views and wildlife all to yourself. The slight downside is that every time I run out of milk, I have a 50-minute round trip on a bike to the nearest shop.
Even though I’ve only been here a month, it already feels like I am getting to know the way things work on an RSPB reserve and at the RSPB more widely. Keeping the reserve both a haven for nature and an amazing place to visit involves many interconnecting teams of people who are all extremely passionate about what they do. As a volunteer for the RSPB, you are an important part of that network, because so much of the work in every area is lead or supported by volunteers. I am already starting to take the lead on planning some new walks for next year and I’m sure there will be lots of new responsibilities to come. The next big thing will be preparing for Pull a Pine, the biggest event of the year at Arne. I think the next month is shaping up to be an exciting one!
Check out this video to get a more visual sense of the reserves and what I have been up to.
Music Credit: 'Upbeat Acoustic Ambient Guitar Background Music' by Lesfm