Landscape Recovery Trainee

Reports to:Landscape Recovery Project Manager
Bursary: £12,000 (£1,000/pcm) + training budget
Hours: 12-month Traineeship. Full-time (37.5 hours per week), Monday – Friday
Based at: Elm Tree Court, Devizes with some home working available

The Trust is seeking a highly motivated and personable individual to join our ambitious and successful Water Team as a Trainee to support the planning and delivery of the Wylye Chalk Stream Project, successful in Round 2 of Defra’s Landscape Recovery scheme. The Wylye Chalk Stream Project will be the first landscape-scale collaboration of its kind focused on enhancing a large stretch of chalk stream for the benefit of wildlife in Wiltshire. The project will be led by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and delivered in partnership with the Wylye Valley Farmers group and the Wessex Rivers Trust. The project aim is to restore the river’s natural relationship with its floodplain along over 20km of now under-utilised farmland.

Person Specification

We would love to hear from you if:

• You are enthusiastic about nature and wildlife, particularly freshwater habitats and species, and are willing to learn;
• You are a reliable person with excellent organisation skills and the ability to plan and prioritise;
• You are a highly motivated person with the ability to work independently to solve problems;
• You have some knowledge of UK habitats and species, plus some knowledge of rivers and the threats facing river habitats such as pollution and non-native species;
• You have a full, clean driving licence (we regret we are unable to shortlist candidates who do not hold a full licence at the time of application)

About the Traineeship

The Trainee will contribute to several aspects of the Landscape Recovery project. This is likely to involve supporting the Water Team with tasks such as:

• Conducting habitat and species surveys (training will be provided)
• Project planning (e.g. attending project meetings, writing up meeting minutes, updating project documents)
• Supporting the production of project documents (e.g. conducting desk-based research, creating/editing maps in GIS, design drawings)
• Communicating with project partners and stakeholders (e.g. circulating information, events planning and coordination) including eNGOs, farmers, angling clubs, corporate and statutory bodies.

There may also be some opportunities to support Water Team colleagues on other Water Team projects as required. This is likely to involve tasks such as:

• Delivery of practical river restoration works (e.g. in-channel works, tree planting)
• Management of invasive and non-native species (e.g. removal of Himalayan Balsam)

This role would provide the ideal background for progression into the conservation sector, working as a Project Officer (or equivalent) on projects that involve:

• River restoration and/or natural flood management
• Ecological monitoring
• Stakeholder engagement and partnership working

A full description of the Trainee role and an application pack is available to download from our website: www.wiltshirewildlife.org/jobs/landscape-recovery-trainee 

WWT is fully committed to safeguarding the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk. All WWT staff will receive safeguarding training and must ensure that they comply with WWT’s safeguarding policy.

WWT is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to developing an inclusive and diverse organisation, in which everyone feels supported, valued, and able to be their full selves. To achieve our vision of creating a world richer in nature, we need talented people, and more diverse people, on nature’s side.

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is an exemplary employer with high staff satisfaction and multiple benefits for employees. The Traineeship includes the following benefits:

• 16 days annual leave plus public holidays
• Staff discount at Dragonfly Cafe
• Free tea and coffee
• Head office in town centre with parking
• Two staff wellbeing days per annum

If you would like to discuss this opportunity informally, please contact Hannah Needham (Landscape Recovery Project Manager) on 07702802962 or HannahN@wiltshirewildlife.org.

• Closing Date: 9am on Monday 22nd April

(Successful applicants will be notified by the end of Wednesday 25th April - We regret we are unable to provide feedback to candidates who are not selected for interview)

• First round interviews: Monday 29th April – online, video call (MS Teams)
• Second round interviews: Thursday 2nd May -  In-person at a location in Wiltshire – location to be confirmed

Please submit your application to recruitment@wiltshirewildlife.org

(Please note we are only able to accept applications via our application form and when completing the form please ensure you use the ‘Motivation’ section to evidence how you believe you would benefit from this Traineeship. This information will be used in our short-listing process).

As a charity Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Ltd is committed to saving costs. Therefore, if you have not received an invitation to attend an interview within three weeks of the closing date, you should assume that your application has been unsuccessful.