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Beki

You might see a few new faces around Fairburn Ings if you visit the reserve, we have three new people on our team and we thought we’d let them introduce themselves to you.

 Hi I'm Beki Williams, the new Aire Valley Visitor Officer; you might recognise me because I spent 6 months volunteering at Fairburn Ings from May to October 2011.  I had such a good time that I couldn’t resist the opportunity to come back. 

Whilst I've been away I have volunteered at another RSPB reserve in Lancashire called Leighton Moss, I spent a winter there with the visitor team pointing people in the direction of otters, bitterns and starlings.  I then moved to the Scottish island of Islay to take on the role of Community, Information and Tourism Officer with the RSPB, I spent the summer leading guided walks around the RSPB reserves, this time I was pointing out golden eagles, corncrakes and choughs to the visitors.  I had a great time there and would highly recommend visiting the island if you like wildlife and beaches; I hear the whisky is worth trying too!

So now I'm back at Fairburn Ings as the Aire Valley Visitor Officer, my role includes promoting the reserve, ensuring there are plenty of interesting events on and trying to keep people informed about what is happening on the reserve.  I'm based in the visitor centre so feel free to come and say hi.

  

Hello, I’m Emma Cuthbertson, the new assistant warden for St Aidan’s, I started my RSPB career volunteering here at Fairburn Ings in 2009 and like Beki couldn’t resist the opportunity to come back to the area!

After getting the volunteering bug, I moved down to Norfolk, where I spent a brilliant year on a trainee warden scheme at Strumpshaw Fen and Titchwell Marsh (which I couldn’t recommend enough to anyone wanting to get into conservation) and then stayed on at Titchwell for six months over the summer as reserve assistant.  Heading up to north east Scotland I spent the last two years as assistant warden at Loch of Strathbeg doing everything from habitat management work, talking to visitors about how great the reserves are, to counting thousands of geese and seabirds!

My new role at St Aidan’s involves managing the habitats for wildlife and helping plan future work on site. For the moment I’m based here at Fairburn Ings – so I’m sure you will be seeing me around the reserve!

 

Hi, I am Rob Conn, the new Community Ranger for the Aire Valley Reserves I will mostly be located at the new St Aidan’s site when it opens. I was formerly the Visitor Officer Intern, spending six months at Old Moor before moving here to Fairburn Ings in September. I have also done quite a bit of practical volunteering with the RSPB on sites such as Old Moor, Mersehead and Insh Marshes.

I previously spent 10 years working on a city farm project in Dumbarton, Scotland looking after a variety of animals and working closely with all aspects of the community.

I am a keen naturalist but in no way an expert in any particular group but birds, butterflies, moths, dragonflies and wild flowers are my favourites to observe and record.

As already mentioned I will mainly be based at St Aidan’s and will often be found either in the visitor centre or more so wandering round the trails so feel free to stop me and have a chat!