The Harrow Nature Conservation Forum is seeking an assistant warden for Roxbourne Rough. The position would be initially for four months, at the end of which both parties would decide whether to continue.

Roxbourne Rough forms part of the Roxbourne Park open space, close to Rayner’s Lane in the south of Harrow. The reserve is a series of species-rich grassy meadows with a total area of 13 acres. In 1992 the London Ecology Unit wrote “the range and rarity of the species found in this rare fragment of old meadow bring it close to the quality to be regarded as site of Metropolitan importance for nature conservation, i.e. London wide significance.” Birds spotted at Roxbourne Rough include blackcap, bullfinch, chiffchaff and heron.

Members of the warden team take time getting to know the site and then take responsibility for its management and for interaction with the public. Collectively the warden team, together with the Biodiversity Officer and the Public Realm manager from Harrow Council, together with other external bodies, create the strategy for managing the site. Management has two strands, maintenance of the present ecological structure (for example, by mowing to prevent succession to scrub) and carefully planned improvements (for example, a pond in the southwest corner of the reserve that is an important breeding site for frogs has recently been deepened to improve its wildlife value).

Specific roles and responsibilities include:

• Spending time on the site, getting to know the paths, plants and animals.
• Participation in the creation of management plans.
• Attendance at and supervision of the regular volunteer working parties at the site. There is a working party every month, alternating between Saturday and Sunday, that carries out low scale maintenance of the site such as picking up litter and cutting back branches that are impeding paths. The supervising warden is responsible for all aspects of the event including safety. The chief warden, Dave Bolton, usually supervises but in time the new volunteer would be expected to supervise occasionally. The Forum has generated generic risk assessments that can be adapted for specific working party tasks.
• Contact with the public. Wardens should talk to members of the public about the site and distribute leaflets. They should encourage good behaviour and, where possible and safe, discourage bad behaviour such as lighting fires and tipping garden waste over adjoining fences. Where direct intervention would be unsafe, wardens should call from help from the Pinner South Safer Neighbourhoods Police Team or, for immediate help, call 999.
• Attendance at Harrow Nature Conservation Forum meetings, which are held three times a year, usually on Tuesday evenings at the Civic Centre, Station Road.
• Assistance with stalls at public shows and other profile raising events.

Opportunities will be provided for wardens to be trained in identification of specific plant or animal groups and in the use of horticultural equipment such as brush cutters and chain saws, leading to vocational qualifications including LANTRA and NPTC.

For more information, contact Dave Bolton on 020 8868 9517 or Stephen Bolsover on admin@harrowncf.org.