So the time has come for Wendy Murray to take a well earned rest as she goes on maternity leave to wait for the arrival of her baby due in January. I know you will join me in giving her our very best wishes enjoying some special time with her baby in the months to come. We will miss Wendy but are delighted that Nicky Willner will be stepping into the role as Learning Development Officer whilst Wendy is away. We know Nicky will work hard to keep the well oiled ‘Education machine’ up and running and I am sure you will all support her in her new role.
This leaves us without a Visitor Officer but we will be recruiting in the new year so please watch this space!
We have also recruited a new warden to replace Stefan Bodnar who leaves us on 15th January. Her name is Katie Thorpe and she joins us from RSPB Old Moor on 20th January. More on Katie in our next update! We are also able to confirm the appointment of our new Community and Volunteer Development Officer. Her name is Nadia Shaikh and she also used to work at Old Moor (which seems to be a great training ground for out latest staff (Fergus was also there!). Most recently though Nadia has been working for the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust heading up the Wild About Tamworth project. I am sure that she will tell you more about that when she starts in February.
At Sandwell Valley we have also enjoyed some input from the big kit and everyone seems to be delighted with how the island and reedbed have been reworked. The new island shape (indeed islands) multiply the edge many times and anyone who has watched waders will know that this is where they spend most of the time feeding. There is still a fair bit of man hours required to get it really in prime shape for the spring passage but it is looking promising for a good year for the birds of 2014. At this point too a very big thank you for all the team who put in extra hours and days to clear the way for the machine in the reedbed. The extra efforts have really paid off and you should all be really proud of yourselves.
Nick Martin
Senior Site Manager
See you on the reserves,
Best regards,
Chris Edwards