Job Description
Job Snapshot:
This is an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated person to lead the planning, execution and biodiversity monitoring of Nattergal’s rewilding projects. The landscape ecologist will be responsible for developing and implementing biodiversity monitoring plans and strategic initiatives to help achieve Nattergal’s mission of delivering nature recovery at scale.
The Opportunity:
Nattergal are looking to appoint an experienced Ecologist to join our passionate and growing team. The appointee will play a pivotal role in driving investment into nature by working within the Natural Capital team to design, execute and monitor rewilding projects across the Nattergal portfolio as they scale from our first two sites.
About the Role:
This is an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated person to lead the planning, execution and biodiversity monitoring of Nattergal’s rewilding projects. Designing, coordinating, executing and analysing biodiversity monitoring plans will be the critical pillars of the role. These surveys are essential for Nattergal to demonstrate change on our sites, to trade ecosystem services (e.g. biodiversity credits, biodiversity net gain, carbon credits and nutrient neutrality), to tell our story, and to comply with relevant permissions required for project development.
Nattergal’s approach to nature recovery is process led: to enable natural processes to function and to shape the landscape and the ecology. The landscape ecologist will help us monitor and learn about our systems, contributing to scientific literature and shaping future acquisitions and projects.
Responsibilities
- Help to develop and oversee Nattergal’s ecological monitoring plans. Each will be unique to the site, but within the Nattergal monitoring framework, noting that Nattergal is looking to build a portfolio of projects with a range of landscapes, habitats, and ecoregions, whilst creating a collective knowledge within the central team.
- Provide technical input into site assessments for potential acquisitions as well as natural capital assessments, this a key to the blended finance plans being developed specifically for each site.
- Work with site teams to support management plan development and provide ecological advice for site specific plans, for example eco-tourism infrastructure development or river restoration plans.
- Conduct habitat and ecological surveys across new sites and plan ongoing monitoring.
- Where appropriate be responsible for carrying out appropriate surveys (e.g. PEAs) and provide training for onsite ecology teams.
- Present results and analysis in reports and presentations to colleagues and govt and eNGO partners. Engage with the public through workshops, presentations and community events.
- Lead ecological tours at our new sites and help train on site ecology teams.
- The landscape ecologist will be used to working alone but will develop strong relationships with each of Nattergal’s sites as they help on site teams set up ongoing monitoring programs. Working within the natural capital team, the landscape ecologist’s role will be to enable site level teams to conduct ongoing monitoring whilst starting new monitoring programs on our new sites.
Benefits
Salary: £40,000 - £60,000 per annum, depending on experience
Annual Leave: 25 days + 8 bank holiday
Pension Information: Company Pension Scheme
Additional Information
If you wish to apply for this role, please submit a CV and short Covering Letter explaining your motivation for applying and briefly addressing the essential criteria for the role (up to 500 words) via the Change Agents UK Careers Page. We also ask you to complete an optional Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Monitoring form; this does not form any part of the selection process but is used to help us monitor the effectiveness of our policy. See full Job Description for links and more information.
Essential Skills
- Passion for nature conservation and appreciation of the benefits of process led nature recovery - rewilding.
- Appropriate degree or post graduate level qualification.
- Relevant professional ecological experience in a broad range of habitat and species survey techniques with an excellent standard of ID skills across most taxa including bird surveying, habitat classification, butterflies and bats.
- Proficient skills in habitat classification, with experience using UK Hab, NVC and condition assessments (in accordance with the Defra Metric 4.0).
- Experience establishing multi taxa and pan species monitoring programmes.
- Experience using GIS.
- Excellent understanding of UK planning policy and wildlife legislation.
- Working knowledge of Biodiversity Net Gain, with experience of undertaking condition assessments and UKHab classification surveys training
- Strong presentational and report writing skills.
- Strong communication and interpersonal abilities.
- Effective project management skills.
- A full driving licence and use of car, with valid business insurance.
Desired Skills
- Membership of CIEEM.
- Protected species and ringing licenses.
- Experience conducting Preliminary Ecological Appraisals and working knowledge of undertaking due diligence for site acquisitions.
- Experience using R for analysing and presenting complex datasets.
- Field Identification Skills Certificates (FISC) level 4 or above.
- MoRPh water course assessment qualified.
About Company
Nattergal is a new nature restoration company with a mission to “deliver nature recovery at scale to provide vital benefits for society and sustainable financial returns”. Nattergal aims to restore degraded ecosystems at scale, initially through the purchase of ecologically degraded and unproductive land with limited employment. The company aims to return ecosystems to nature in perpetuity, thereby increasing biodiversity, sequestering carbon, and providing a local nature-based economy.
Their company values are:
- Nature comes first.
- Big problems need big solutions.
- Collaboration multiplies impact.
- Act local.
The initial focus is on lowland arable reversion projects in England, replicating the successes delivered at our sister organisation Knepp, now one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the UK. Boothby Wildland was the first Nattergal purchase for these purposes, and will be an exemplar model of nature restorative land management.
For more info please see: https://www.nattergal.co.uk/
