Introducing the newest member of our team...

Hello!

I'm Matthew Smith aged 23. I have been interested in wildlife since a young age but particularly birds and now moths. I also have a good knowledge on butterflies and dragonflies and damselflies. I first started out at my local RSPB reserve at Rainham Marshes in Essex where I volunteered for best part of four years to help turn an old MOD site, which was a derelict wasteland in to a fantastic nature reserve on the outskirts of central London.

When I left School, I went to Sparsholt College in Hampshire where I studied for a BTEC National Diploma in Wildlife and countryside management. After which I volunteered for many years with the RSPB moving around different nature reserves to gain experience in conservation these include; Arne in Dorset, Dungeness in Kent, Loch of Kinnordy in Angus, Exe Estuary in Devon, and Strumpshaw Fen in Norfolk and have just started a six-month residential volunteer placement at the RSPB Loch of Strathbeg.

I also went through the internship in the East of England when it was first set up in 2009 where I was an intern at RSPB Minsmere in Suffolk and RSPB Old Hall Marshes in Essex where I spent six months at each reserve where I gained lots of vital experience, training and knowledge.

In 2010, I was employed by the National Trust to work on the Farne Islands for seven months as a Farne Islands warden. This involved surveying the thousands of seabirds that nest on the Islands, as well as other wildlife such as butterflies and moths. People engagement was a big part of the job, telling people about the wildlife and the history of the Islands and gaining membership for the National Trust. I was the Youngest ever Warden on the Islands as well as gaining 94 memberships for the National Trust and writing of the moth report.

During all of this, I have met and worked with some interesting and knowledgeable people. With all this experience and knowledge behind me, I aim to become a ranger or warden in conservation within the next couple of years.

If you see me on the reserve feel free to come over and say hello...