A day in the life of a National Trust Ranger

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Ed Fursdon (Lead Ranger. Buckland Abbey, National Trust)

A person with a large beard and a green beanie smiles in front of trees in plastic bags ready to be planted — Ed Fursdon

I work for the National Trust. Cut me open and little oak leaves come out (embarrassingly used this analogy in a few job interviews). Suffice to say after 10 years in team NT, I couldn’t be prouder of both the charity and the person I/they have become.

Truth be told it’s not all plain sailing. Wading through many opportunities I have worked from the ground up starting my career as a Volunteer before embarking on every position; Seasonal Ranger, Assistant Ranger, Ranger, Area Ranger and now Lead Ranger. Our job market is competitive, blessed with candidates who are like minded, hard working and ambitious - there is an ebb and flow of desirable and essential requirements for roles. I used CJS to my advantage, as a service and tool to support my professional development i.e.; search/apply for jobs, get turned down, learn what experience I needed, search for training opportunities and go whole heartedly into the next opportunity – for that, I thank you CJS.

So, what do I get up to?

I lead a team of staff and volunteers in the heart of the Tamar Valley National Landscape (above Plymouth and West of Dartmoor) at Buckland Abbey. It’s a 400 acre site comprising of farmland, PAWS, SANW, waymarked trails and of course the usual Team Trusty commercial offer. is

My day starts at 7:30am. At this time of year [late winter] I’m taking tree whips out to site as the frosts here can be lethal. I then head back to the office to turn the laptop on and most importantly the kettle. Staff and volunteers are all onsite by 9, a quick de-brief and we are out the door.

The success of NT’s Land, Outdoors and Nature strategy saw the creation of 25,000ha of priority habitat in 10 years of which 5000ha were in the South West. Like most I feel the weight of climate anxiety and the loss of biodiversity however time and time again the ambition and pace of the charity I work for is rewarding. Even on the not so sunny days in Devon I can confidently get my head down and push myself and my team forwards. In 2025 my focus is...

Tree planting

As part of NT’s 20million trees by 2030 objective. I embarked on a deep dive in the cultural, historic and nature heritage of Buckland Abbey (800 years of history takes time…). Through consultation, I had the pleasure of designing a tree planting scheme that reimagines the spirit of the landscape drawing inspiration from a pre and post medieval estate.
31,000 trees will be planted creating almost 50ha of new woodland and hedgerows and a whopping 4ha traditional orchard replanted on a site rumoured to be one of the first in Devon.
Since January 2025 we have already engaged with over 500 people which is immensely rewarding to hear why people want to plant a tree, take climate action or simply want to be outdoors more.

A yellow wildflower meadow in summer — Resting fields from grazing, watching the seedbank flourish (E. Fursdon)

Lowland meadow restoration

3 years ago I had a meadow re-sown with green hay from a wildflower rich donor site on Dartmoor. The careful balance of grazing, monitoring, cut and collect and more grazing has established a rich site here too. This year we will be carefully harvesting seed and starting the process of moving it onwards onto new sites. The goal is to restore 50ha of lowland meadow.
It’s been a joy to lead on this, shutting up land, resting fields and allowing the seed bank to flourish into a bloom of yellows, reds and whites. For me it was the return of swallows, butterflies and skylark that was a real delight.

Bread and butter (and sometimes beans on toast)

And then there’s the core work, the 9 to 5; managing volunteers, fencing, footpaths, litter picking, balsam bashing, walling, hedge laying, machinery maintenance, helping other teams – the list goes on.
I manage 200 acres of woodland. A mix of broadleaf, Plantation on Ancient Woodland (PAWS) and wonderful areas of wet woodland at its heart the river Tavy. We are currently developing our new woodland management plan which is extremely exciting as it links up with NT’s new strategy ‘People and Nature thriving’.
Not to mention survey work. In recent times this often gets overlooked. But it’s at the heart of what we do. From contracting out soil and habitat surveys to working with local partners to deliver landscape scale monitoring of priority species, to managing volunteers who survey birds and butterflies there’s occasionally time to do some of this ourselves…

Life as a ranger is a varied job but it’s all encompassing and certainly a job that puts a smile on your face and wrinkles on your brow. My advice is find your niche, whether it be a solid woodworking, lichen enthusiast or a great people manager. Be prepared to work to outside in all weathers, get yourself a good flask and always pack some biscuits.

Find out more about working for the National Trust here

See roles currently advertised with CJS here