CJS Professional: February 2023

logo: CJS Professional

The latest edition of CJS Professional is now online, read it in full here: http://www.countryside-jobs.com/professional/  (you may need to refresh your browser)

As there are so many vacancies this month we're omitting the usual list of job titles in an attempt to prevent the contents becoming too long! There is still a huge of amount of information in this month's edition so I'm not entirely sure we've succeeded in our attempts at brevity. Were we to try to print it all my print preview tells me we'd need 194 pages.

Contents:
Click the headers to browse each section, or click on each item 

Jobs

60 adverts for posts included in this edition.
We have a wide range of vacancies this month: over a dozen countryside management focused jobs, plus two gardeners and four farm based roles, there are 18 ecology orientated roles and seven working in forestry and arboriculture.

Apprenticeship, trainees and interns
This week 6-12 February is National Apprenticeship Week. Find out more about Apprenticeships and Interns, posts available and how to advertise your vacancies here.
One advert included here: Working with Rivers Graduate Placement Scheme with NatureScot [more]

CJS Information 

A Meet the CJS Team post: 20 February 2023 is Love Your Pet Day. As you are probably aware the dogs form an integral part of the CJS Office Team, some of you even asked us for more updates about them in the last readers survey. Life is not always plain sailing when you have pets so for Love Your Pet Day we're sharing an update about Office Dog Flora.
What's your after dinner routine? Once the last plate is dried and put away I get nudged by a cold, wet, black nose saying: "It's trick training time".[more]

logo: Peoples Trust for Endangered Species

Second article from our Featured Charity: The People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES).

This time we're looking at how you can get involved with their vital work.  Citizen science, conservation and a changing world written by David Wembridge (Mammal Surveys Coordinator), Laura Bower (Conservation Officer) & Emily Sabin (Water Vole Officer).
Wildlife conservation relies on an extraordinary workforce. Across the country, tens of thousands of local experts are walking along hedgerows and waterways, in community orchards and back gardens and over Ordnance Survey grid squares they barely know, collecting data on buds and birds, butterflies and bats, and doing the groundwork of conservation. Recording species and habitats as part of ongoing surveys is at the core of conservation, providing information about how our world is changing. We need to know what we’re losing, where and how quickly, and whether efforts to save it are working. [more]

Features and In Depth Features

The elephant in the room by Nigel Jones, Project Leader at APP Studio UX
Have you really considered the environmental cost of those paper leaflets for your visitor site? When you really take a close look at a clean sheet ofpaper, on it's face it wouldn’t strike you as polluting, but it really is. There’s no two ways about it. To see the true carbon footprint of paper and how more people are opting to move to digital information for their visitors, it might shock you! [more]

 

Sustainable Communications: what is it and how do you embrace it? By Mark Sutcliffe, communications consultant at Salar Media Services
Some great ideas of how to make your communications more sustainable. Everyone is so busy and  there are so many options for promotion but are you always getting the most from your time? Work out how much time/money you are spending on digital marketing and ask yourself if you can comfortably continue carrying this overhead. If the answer is a resounding ‘no’ then it’s time to re-assess and re-prioritise. [more]

 

How Green Infrastructure Standards can deliver better placemaking By Sophie Jones, Communications and Learning Manager at Building With Nature
High-quality green infrastructure (GI) plays a critical role in placemaking, offering a nature-led design approach that delivers biodiversity gains, nature
recovery and climate resilient development, whilst also delivering healthy, inclusive communities at a neighbourhood and landscape-scale, with practical and impactful nature-based solutions. Building with Nature,the UK’s first GI benchmark, provides developers and policy-makers with an evidence-based definition of high-quality GI and how to deliver it. [more]

 

For World Wetlands Day which was on 2 February.
Wetlands, flooding, and floodplains. Arguably the most abused landscape in Britain? By Professor Neil Entwistle, Professor of River Science and Climate Resilience at University of Salford, Manchester
Did you know we're witnessing the near complete destruction of wetland habitats on floodplains across England? The University of Salford has been looking at this in a lot of detail and recent research has discovered that on the 555 UK floodplains they studied, 85% of rivers had no wetland associated with them at all, AND 25% of all wetland plants and animals are now at risk of extinction. [more]

 

24 January was the International Day of Education and we profiled the National Association for Environmental Education
Living and Working as though Nature Mattered By Professor William Scott, NAEE Chair of Trustees
The National Association for Environmental Education UK is aware that many young people who follow environmental courses and qualifications do so with a career in mind. But learning about how you  can support the planet needs to start in primary school & be built  in to everyone’s education surely? [more]

Last week (30 January to 5 February) was National Storytelling Week
Writing a Sustainable Future By Denise Baden, Professor of Sustainable Practice, University of Southampton
Can we write for a sustainable future? Denise Baden, author of Habitat Man believes we can! By running the GreenStories Project, she aims to move beyond preaching to the converted to share  climate solutions using fiction. This year they have been working with Herculean Climate Solutions
and the Climate Fiction Writer’s League to compile an anthology of  climate solutions wrapped in short stories. Each story linking to where
more details on the solutions embedded in the story can be found. The  key goal is to inspire readers to take action and make it as easy as
possible for them to do so. [more]

Featured for Squirrel Appreciation Day on 21 January
Bioacoustics as a tool for red squirrel conservation By Will Cresswell, PhD candidate University of Bristol
The traditional way to monitor red squirrel populations is via manual survey methods, which are labour intensive & require experienced observers. Will, a PhD student at University of Bristol is exploring whether bioacoustics can be used to monitor squirrels, slow the spread of the grey and keep reds safely in their strongholds whilst expanding their reach. The study is supported by Mammal Society.  [more]  

As part of our Apprenticeship Week coverage we're sharing a job profile of a Trainer/Assessor – Countryside and Water Environment at Bridgwater and Taunton College. Read this one here and see more profiles here.

We also interviewed Anna: Assistant Apprentice Ranger on Countryside worker level 2 apprenticeship with the National Trust Anna had tried a number of roles, but fancied a change that would allow her to follow her passion for nature and the outdoors and this apprenticeship was the perfect fit. [more]

 CJS Editorial Assistant Emily wrote a piece for Reclaim Social Media day which was on Tuesday: Don't Feed the Trolls
If you’ve spent any real time beneath the surface of the internet you’ve probably heard the phrase ‘Don’t feed the Trolls’ and it’s probably the best piece of advice you can get, especially when it comes to social media. [more]

Ahead of World Seagrass Day on 1 March 
The importance of saving the worlds seagrass By Bethan Thomas, Communications and Engagement Lead at Proejct Seagrass
If you’ve never heard of seagrass, you’re not alone. It is the hidden wonder of the marine world. Seagrasses form a complex ecosystem that offers shelter for many diverse marine species. They also draw in vast quantities of carbon and can lock this away in their sediment for thousands of years.
The Proejct's goal is to make seagrass a familiar habitat to everyone, so it is no longer overlooked but given the attention it deserves. Get involved
with Project Seagrass this World Seagrass Day by spreading the word, attending one of our events or by going out and spotting seagrass with SeagrassSpotter. [more]

New Feature This Month
Our lovely articles deserve more than one reading and sometimes they get lost in the general noise of busy social media feeds. We're including basic details of these features and articles which have been shared for a second time across social media.
This month there are seven reshared features, see the details here.

CJS Focus

CJS Focus on Volunteering in association with The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) included in full
8 articles and 80 voluntary roles along with lots of volunteering opportunities across the UK so have a look through the regions for something you can get involved in.

 
Features from CJS Focus on Working with Wildlife in association with The Wildlife Trusts.
Careers in wildlife rehabilitation, where to start and what to expect  By: George Bethell, Learning and Engagement Officer at Secret World Wildlife Rescue who gives us a verbal tour around the Centre. More information here or read the article here.
Job Profile: Senior Zookeeper at British Wildlife Centre By: Millie Sewell.  Millie works closely with a wide range of British mammals, reptiles, and birds providing them with the best care possible enabling them to thrive within captivity. More information here or read the article here.

 

News

Several big announcement from Government this month: The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Thérèse Coffey detailed plans stating that farmers central to food production and environmental action. Joint announcement from Defra, Natural England and the Forestry Commission outlining an ambitious roadmap for a cleaner, greener country. Separately Natural England unveils new Green Infrastructure Framework. With responses from Woodland Trust, NFU, The Wildlife Trusts and CPRE. whilst the The Climate Change Committee says a lack of leadership is preventing essential investment to prepare the UK for climate change.There was a bombshell from Wildlife and Countryside Link: “An economic and environmental wrecking ball” – new figures reveal ripping up of retained EU laws could cost £82bn for the UK. The Wildlife Trusts also denounced the bill and gave the Government a list of the top 10 issues for nature’s recovery in 2023 - Northumberland Wildlife Trust.
In more cheerful news anew study finds that trees and woodlands provide over £400m each year in fight against flooding, published by Defra and the Forestry Commission. Red Squirrel Appreciation Day was a couple of weeks ago and of course that meant squirrel news! Red squirrel release at Castle Ward sparks fresh hope say Ulster Wildlife and from Squirrel Accord a new action plan to save England’s red squirrels. There was fabulous news for Britain’s loneliest old bat too as the Greater mouse-eared bat population doubles - to 2! “This is a hugely important discovery” said Bat Conservation Trust.

 

Training

Calendar of events and short courses occurring in April plus additions made over the past month.

 

The next edition of CJS Professional will be published on:  9 March

Got something to share or want to advertise? The deadline is: 5pm Monday 6 March 

Contact us by email: ranger@countryside-jobs.com