What volunteering role(s) do you undertake?

I do the modified breeding bird survey. Once per month I go to Gallows Bridge Farm, and once a month I go to Leaches Farm. That covers pretty much the entirety of all the Upper Ray Meadows reserve, and I do that on a rota with another couple of volunteers.

When surveying, what are you looking for and what do you do with the information?

All the reserves have individual management plans that Debbie (Lewis, Head of Ecology) oversees, and that informs and supports the reserves teams' management work. Our role as surveyors is to give Colin (Williams, Ecology Officer, Monitoring), information which helps him understand if the plan is working or not.

We follow the same route, at roughly the same pace, every time to be consistent in our efforts. That route is divided into sections and we record all the birds we can hear and see in that section. That gets written-up and the data analysed, and at the end of the year Colin downloads it all. This, then, tells the reserves managers how the wintering and breeding populations are doing, in order for them to correlate their management with what’s happening with wildlife.

I’ve been doing this now for 17 years, and over the years you can analyse the trends to see where numbers are going up and vice versa. You can start to see the impact of all the management work to see if it’s making a difference or not, and they can tweak what they do according to the data.

What made you want to volunteer for BBOWT in the first place?

Debbie started a mentoring scheme and put out an ad for people who were interested in wildlife, and would like some training and development in order to become surveyors. So, I filled in the application, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, to be honest.

For six months, I and some others went to Chimney Meadows for a training programme, which gave me the confidence in my ID skills and helped me learn the survey methodology ropes. Once I finished, Debbie gave me a reserve to survey and I’ve never looked back.

During this time, what were you doing to earn a living?

I was working full-time with the England and Wales Cricket Board, traveling and working with clubs and county cricket boards, so the mentoring scheme was a complete antidote to work.

I also had young kids at the time, and during those couple of hours a week I had nothing to worry about. On my own in a field, at five or six o’ clock in the morning just being me. So that was a big shift. You need to be out when the birds are most active, which is just after dawn, so no-one else is really around, and the traffic is quiet, and I feel like it’s my own private world.

Do you have a job now?

I had a career change about six years ago, and I now work for the Chilterns Conservation Board on a National Lottery Heritage Funded Landscape Partnership Scheme. Ironically, I’ve set up a project in the Chilterns very similar to the one Debbie introduced me to 17 years ago.

On one hand I’m working with a number of farmers to help them do habitat restoration on their farms, and on the other I’m working with about 150 volunteers to help them develop their bird, butterfly and plant ID skills, and carry out surveys.

I guess I’ve come full circle really. Debbie is still involved in the design of the project and helps advise how we set up, so she’s been the constant throughout.

When did nature first call to you?

We lived in a little village in Surrey, and I was out all the time as a kid, mainly doing sports. I played a lot of football and cricket, and did cross-country running, so I was always out in nature, although I hadn’t really identified it as such at the time.

I also went with my dad to his allotment. But the birding part didn’t happen ‘til I was in my 20s, when I realised I was naturally identifying birds, and that’s grown into where I am now. Then I went to uni’ and was surrounded by concrete for about ten years, which was great and fun, but when I got married and had kids, we moved to Thame and it rekindled my passion for nature and wildlife.

My life has been in two chunks really; the first half in sport, and the second in wildlife. I guess I’m lucky in that I’ve had two careers that I’ve really enjoyed and am passionate about.

What do you think is the one thing we can do to help nature?

We need to help people, particularly in towns and cities, care more about wildlife. Whatever it is we’re doing, we need to look around and see things more. Because, once you do that, you are more likely to want to do something about it, and things will come from that. Whether it’s planting a few flowers in your garden, or getting involved volunteering with your local Wildlife Trust, it will be the spark for something.

The other thing where we can make a difference on scale is to better support farmers, because bigger wins for nature are going to be out there on farms. If we support and work with our farmers more, whether it’s individuals buying a pint of milk from a farm shop, or DEFRA supporting them better with funding, then they’re more likely to be able to do things to make a difference on a scale.

We also need to leave a legacy for the next generation, and there’s a project we are delivering in partnership with Chiltern Rangers called New Shoots, which is a package of species ID, habitat management and practical experience for young people aged 15-18 who might not have the opportunity to get involved in conservation work.

They do some days with BBOWT, some with National Trust, and some with Chiltern Society, and they get something which, hopefully, will kick them on to the next stage; either a degree course, or some volunteering. Something to trigger their interest. I’d love it if, in ten years’ time, one of the young people from the course came and told me that they’ve got their first job in conservation, or received their chainsaw certificate… or maybe longer down the line even became CEO of BBOWT!

As we are discussing the future, how would you like to be remembered?

I guess it would be that there’s some stuff still here because of what I did. [People might say] ‘We are still using that facility, or the birds are still breeding in that hedge because of something that he did.’ That’s maybe a bit much for a headstone. (Pause) “He made a difference”.

As told to Wayne Brown, Volunteering Administrator. With grateful thanks to Nick, and to all our wonderful volunteers.

More than 1,700 volunteers help us towards our vision of more nature everywhere, on our nature reserves, at our visitor and education centres, in our offices and more.

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