We are seeking volunteers to join our warden teams at the various sites
we maintain. As a warden you can help determine how the wild sites in
Harrow are managed to help make each site a better place for wildlife.
New volunteers would initially serve for four months, at
the end of which both parties would decide whether to continue.
Members of the warden team take time getting to know a site and then
take responsibility for its management and for interaction with the
public. Collectively the warden team for a particular site, together
with the Biodiversity Officer and the Public Realm manager from Harrow
Council and Natural England and other external bodies, create the
management strategy. Management has two strands, maintenance of the
present ecological structure (for example, by
mowing grassland to prevent succession to scrub) and
carefully planned improvements.
Specific roles and responsibilities of a warden include:
Spending time on the
site, getting to know the paths, plants and animals.
Low scale maintenance
of the site such as picking up litter and cutting back branches that
are
impeding paths.
Participation in the
creation of management plans.
Supervision of
volunteer working parties who perform jobs such as scrub clearance and
fence construction. Working parties are of two types:
Volunteers from the
British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) are accompanied by a
supervisor
who is responsible for safety, transport and refreshments, so the
warden’s role
is specifically to supervise the work done.
Local volunteers
recruited through the Harrow Nature Conservation website and other
media. The existing
wardens will usually supervise but in
time the
new volunteer would be expected to supervise occasionally. In this case
the
warden is responsible for all aspects of the event including safety.
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. Where direct
intervention would be unsafe, wardens should call from help from
the 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.
We manage sites in the green belt, north of Stanmore, and in the south
close to Rayner's Lane station. The attractions and challenges of the
various sites differ. To see more specific descriptions of
the roles for each
site, click on the yellow dot on the map or choose a site from the
list. To discuss volunteer possibilities in general, contact Steve
Bolsover on 0779 483 7302 or email admin@harrowncf.org.
