Many apologies for the dearth of blogging of late. Again this was in no way born of a lack of newsworthy material but simply a case of too little time. I hasten to add that previous periods of prolific blogging were seldom a case of the devil finding work for idle hands!
By a distance the biggest news over recent weeks (or months or years) has been the departure of Nick T who has taken up the position of Kingcombe Centre Manager with the Wildlife Trust. It is strange to think of Nick as our erstwhile boss but perhaps it's best to focus on his list of improvement that he has made to the RSPB sites in Weymouth during his years in the hot seat. Suffice to say Nick's achievements were considerable and too numerous to mention here. When Nick took over, Radipole’s conservation status (as judged by Natural England against a set of site specific objectives) was ‘Unfavourable Declining’ which is the lowliest category that a SSSI can inhabit. Earlier this year, after years of striving, the reserve was adjudged to be in favourable condition – the best conservation status that a SSSI can achieve due, in no small part to Nick T’s dedication and persistence.
Mr T.
As previously revealed in blog-form. Anne too has left but remains within the RSPB as part of RSPB Ecological Services (née DHP). Geoff has left the VC after seventeen years and Pam is soon to depart after two… so all change in Weymouth RSPB.
Above: Anne's last stand with Martyn Foster RSPB London manager centre. Thanks to Pete Clinch for the picture.
Allan Neilson, thankfully has been as active as ever across the whole gamut of what he does for us, from butterfly transects and bird surveys to the painstaking compilation our excellent, all encompassing Weymouth Reserves Natural History Report – the 2010 edition of which is now available (for a trifling sum) in the V.C. Get yours while stocks last!
Allan, I am grateful to say, also provides us with photographs of such quality that to not blog them would be a crime. I am sure that the recent examples following will provide sufficient evidence to support this last statement…
The world still turns and Weymouth Wetlands still turns up some amazing wildlife. Thanks Allan for the photo's - to say the very least!
Sooty, I too am only a humble volunteer and have been for more than 3 years. I have no axe to grind with any staff members. At the risk of repeating myself, good luck to everyone!
Steady on Sooty! I'm not criticising the new management, just lamenting the loss of an exceptional crew who transformed our Reserves into the first class sites you see today. As far as I know the remaining staff are as optimistic and enthusiastic as they ever were.
You'll be pleased to know that I am only an opinionated volunteer and have no influence whatsoever over here. My trepidation comes from the fact that such a tumultuous change in key personnel and the shift of on-site management to Arne, does leave me disappointed and disillusioned about the importance the hierarchy attach to this unique area.
It is done, we've had our say, it's time to get on with it.
Seize the day!
Sure everywhere has something different and the saying no one is indispensable comes to mind.One friend always said cometh the hour cometh the man and my guess is from experience of how he looked after at visitors at Arne you already have him.Think it would be nice if WW looked at a glass half full not half empty.Surely no one starting a new job should have doubters it means that he is under needless pressure to prove himself.We at Arne I assure you were quite happy with the status quo and feel we have lost a valuable person who helped everyone and was particularly good with children.
Of course the Arne management are first class Sooty, I don't doubt that but we did have something special here and now we've lost three of the key people who made it special (albeit two have moved to Arne), plus the managerial emphasis has moved to another site, how can we expect standards to remain as high as we were used to? You can't take out such a chunk of commitment and expertise and expect a 'business as usual' approach and especially when the new masters are nowhere to be seen!
Frank and Cookie no need for trepidation about the quality of Arne management they would be at least as good as any RSPB on mainland.The ones who will lose out will be the large numbers who Rob has looked after probably quite often doing things in his own time.You are so lucky.