Job Profile: Countryside Ranger for the Parks and Countryside Service at Durham County Council

Name: Emma Craig

Location: A number of sites across the north of County Durham including SSSI’s, country park and nature reserves.

Employer: Durham County Council

 

Job Responsibilities:

Responsible for the day to day practical and technical management of the Parks and Countryside Estate which included county parks, nature reserves, railway paths and picnic areas.

Delivering practical conservation and visitor management by arranging and carrying out practical tasks, contract management as well as managing volunteers, apprentice and casual rangers to ensure the proper management of the countryside estate.

All activities take account of biodiversity, equality and diversity and statutory considerations as well as DCC’s Climate and Ecological Emergency.

Majority of time is spent delivering the required day to day practical management of the sites, and this is dependent on the time of year to what you would be doing.

At least 80% of a working week is spent outdoors. My time is my own to manage so if I require office time to develop projects, respond to emails, liaise with contractors I just fit this into my working week and have a desk based couple of days.

Seasonal variation: Yes the summer months are busy managing grasslands, maintaining picnic areas, cutting back from paths and multi user routes. The winter season is also especially busy when we carry out scrub control. One of my sites in particular, Waldridge Fell, a lowland heath, has a large amount of scrub invasion and I could spend every day over the winter removing silver birch. The quieter period is spring when it’s bird nesting season, this is when we do larger litter picks, access improvements, fencing etc.

Qualifications needed:

I have degree in Environmental Conservation and then acquired practical experience by volunteering after my degree. Some others within the sector have entered the sector the other way round by doing an apprenticeship or a volunteer reserve officer role to give them practical experience then started higher learning courses to give them the required learning side of the job.

Additional training:

Additional training is important as it allows you to be able to carry out your role. I was lucky as the scheme I started on as a volunteer reserve officer paid for my training such as off road driving, quad bike, chainsaw, pesticides. All the qualifications that you need for managing your sites as a ranger. After that it’s entirely up to yourself as part of your personal development as to what training you would like to do. Some people enjoy the survey and ecological side of the role and acquire training for protected species surveys. Others enjoy the practical side and will pursue training such as tree climbing, pole saw use and dangerous trees.

Skills needed:

The skills needed for the role are varied. You have to be practically minded and be able to think on your feet as jobs rarely go to plan. So some ingenuity is very helpful. You have to be able to plan your workload and manage your time well.

As the role often brings you into contact with the public you need to be friendly, approachable, be able to listen and articulate yourself well. You need to be patient as members of the public may not understand your reasons for carrying out certain management and this can cause misunderstandings. Following on from this you need to be able to be firm and be aware of the local authorities policies and not take interactions personally. Sometimes members of the public don’t get the answer they are hoping for and you have to understand their reactions aren’t really directed at you.

 

Advice to anyone looking at similar roles:

Volunteer as much as possible, get experience where you can. There are so many smaller groups and species focus groups that are happy for people to shadow and gain experience for example bird ringing, Butterfly Conservation have transects to be covered over the warmer months, local ecology companies sometimes need help with bat and newt surveys in the springtime. There are many opportunities out there you just have to be proactive.

 

Find out more about the work of the Council at https://www.durham.gov.uk/countryside

If you have any queries about this role or would like to ask a question of the job holder please contact CJS by email.