Trainee ranger

Trainee Ranger Scheme

What are the trainee rangers?

They provide voluntary support, of a professional standard, for the Stour Valley Rangers and our many partners. In return for this support, we will provide you with all the training, information and resources you require to perform this role and develop your countryside career.

Background to the trainee rangers

Bournemouth has a wide range of countryside sites and many of them are very important isolated pockets that provide essential wildlife havens, within an urban setting.  These important sites need careful conservation and this is where volunteers have a vital role to play and can make a real difference.

A wide range of opportunities for working as countryside volunteer already exists in the county; these include various 'friends' organisations and groups run by local conservation bodies. While this support is invaluable, the trainee rangers provide a distinct and more structured approach to volunteering in Bournemouth.  This will not replace existing volunteer arrangements but rather provide an enhanced, complementary service for those volunteers wishing to extend and develop their role.

Who can become a trainee ranger?

Anyone over the age of 18 - the scope of the role is wide-ranging so, whatever your interests and skills within countryside management, there should be something that suits you.

How do I become a trainee ranger?

There is a formal recruitment and selection process (as for any member of staff), which includes an informal interview. Once selected all recruits undergo an induction and core training courses, equipping them with all the basic skills needed. This can be followed by further accredited training in more specialised areas, to develop the particular interests and skills of the individual. Uniforms and appropriate equipment and tools will be provided.

What is the commitment?

In return for our investment in you as a trainee ranger we would expect a minimum time commitment from you. This can be negotiated on an individual basis but would normally be a 6 or 12 month placement.

What are the trainee ranger responsibilities?

The trainee rangers will be provided with the appropriate training to carry out the role of a paid employee, they will be provided uniform, insured to drive work vehicles, lead volunteer groups, manage the visitor centre at the Kingfisher Barn, maintain the security of vehicles and the workplace and be a valid team member.

What is the trainee ranger’s daily duties/range of duties?

The trainee ranger will join in with day to day duties with others rangers as directed, the duties will include;

• Kingfisher Barn Visitor Centre duties
• organising events and activities
• cattle checks
• moth trap
• litter picking
• dog bins
• botanical surveying
• leading volunteers tasks
• butterfly transects
• site + habitat management works
• path surveys
• maintenance
• bench surveys + maintenance
• tree surveys and removing overhanging branches
• reptile surveys
• hedge + tree planting
• people counters.

What training will be provided?

• Bournemouth: In-house driving assessment
• certificated use of machinery training in brushwood chipper, hedge cutter, pole saw, brushcutter and strimmer
• practical experience and knowledge of managing the visitor centre
• organising events and activities
• ecological surveys
• health & safety and manual handling
• butterfly transects
• bio blitz’s, fencing
• hedge laying
• coppicing, felling, mowing, flailing
• management plans
• tool care and maintenance.

Contact us (or call in to the Centre) to find out more.