Cliffe Volunteers

A message from Michael Ellison, Cliffe Pools warden

A year or so back a number of you offered your services to help with
volunteer work at Cliffe in the future. Well my poor small brain has finally
come up with something to do..... Last year many of you kindly helped out
with 'The Big Sit' for the NA@C campaign and a year later it has occurred to
me that it would be a similarly good idea to have some folk talking to the
public, showing them birds and telling them about the reserve and the
area/issues.
We would seek to have a number of volunteers registered with the RSPB and
with the local police (to make sure that there are no mixed messages or
incorrect info' given out) but what I had in mind was a pretty flexible
approach at first, merely that anyone that happened to be visiting the
reserve to do some birding could slip a volunteers badge on and chat to folk
as they bumped into them, be it on the mounds or walking around the site.
We'd give a comprehensive briefing to any volunteers which could be updated
as needed.
Understandably there are still 'types' at Cliffe that one wouldn't want to
talk to and indeed that it wouldn't be advisable to talk to wearing an RSPB
volunteer badge, at which point you could slip the badge off and walk
whistling innocently on your way to proudly re-badge yourself when any
tension had passed.
So, if you're neat, erudite and outgoing, and would like to help, please let
me know!

An additional task that folk can help with when visiting is being vigilant
to illegal/unauthorised activities.
If ANYONE visits Cliffe and sees ANYTHING illegal going on, PLEASE CALL THE
POLICE!! The Medway number is 01634 827055.
Even if they don't send someone out the calls have to be logged and it helps
build up a body of incidents to justify police operations in the future.
The reserve lies within an area whose boundaries are the Black Barn/Pickles
Way track from the bottom of Allens Hill to the seawall, the sea-wall down
to the corner of Salt Lane and the track from the corner of Salt Lane to
Pickles Way/Black Bran track below Allens Hill.
Some activities are obvious, (i.e fly-tipping and egg collecting are
offences anywhere), others are less so, i.e. NO-ONE should be using a gun
(this constitutes armed trespass, which the police treat seriously) or
running lurchers on the reserve.

Thanks,

Michael Ellison

Volunteer & Farmer Alliance

Thanks to enormous enthusiasm from both volunteers and farmers, the RSPB's Volunteer & Farmer Alliance scheme has gone from strength to strength, providing a solid base from which hundreds of farmers have been able to go on to give help to the birds on their land.

The scheme was developed to help reverse the decline of farmland bird populations by working together with conservation volunteers and farmers. Since the project began in 1999, we have undertaken nearly 2,500 surveys, with the help of more than 1,500 volunteers.

The scheme provides farmers with a confidential survey of the birds on their land, undertaken by RSPB volunteers - with the results presented on a map showing where on the farm the birds of conservation concern can be found. 

Click here for more information

Volunteering with the RSPB

Volunteers are an essential part of the RSPB. They are at the heart of what they do and achieve - and without their help, the work would be greatly diminished.

For more information on volunteering with the RSPB, click here