Visitor Engagement Volunteer (On Reserves) (Weekend)

The RSPB manages a big network of nature reserves which are havens for wildlife, and importantly very special places for people of all ages and abilities to visit and experience a nature rich landscape. As a wetland oasis in an urban area, RSPB Rye Meads attracts a variety of visitors, from experienced nature lovers to first-timers, families and young explorers! Our volunteers play a crucial role in sharing their wildlife enthusiasm with visitors, and ensuring the reserve is cared for and maintained to ensure a positive visitor experience.

Whether you are a keen birdwatcher, have a passion for plants, a buzz for bees or if its butterflies that make your heart flutter, sharing your knowledge and experience with our diverse visitor community will be an incredibly rewarding and enjoyable experience. Alternatively, simply walking the reserve and identifying and fixing small items of site maintenance is equally important to us!

General duties of our roving volunteers depend on the audience, the season, and the requirements around the reserve but can include:

• Providing a friendly welcome to visitors, tailoring your communication to suit their differing knowledge and interests and supporting any visitors who require assistance
• Informing new and inexperienced visitors of best practices around the reserve, use of binoculars and telescopes, and species identification
• Assisting in keeping the reserve clean and tidy as you walk the trails
• Identifying and fixing minor site maintenance issues and keeping on-site information up to date
• Listening to feedback, and communicating back to staff at the visitor centre
• Recording and reporting sightings for the day
• Optionally producing sightings blogs and photographs to support RSPB Rye Meads’ online presence
• Talking to the public about the wider work of the RSPB, what we're all about, and the benefits of RSPB membership if the conversation takes you there.

You will be working with a friendly team on a beautiful nature reserve, you will have the opportunity to make new friends and spend time outdoors. You will get to meet loads of new people in this role, enjoying conversation and helping people have a wonderful visit.

There is always the opportunity to learn new things and gain skills through volunteering, by working on a reserve, you'll naturally learn all about how nature reserves are managed and the wildlife that is found there.

For the wildlife-focused elements of volunteering with us, good knowledge of RSPB Rye Meads and/or identifying the species which can be found here through sight or sound is desired.

For more information on this role contact rye.meads@rspb.org.uk, or apply here!