Laura Ross catches up with new Rye Harbour Nature Reserve Site Manager Dr Paul Tinsley-Marshall
Give us a short bio
I remember pointing out all the spider’s webs I’d found in the playground hedge to my nursery teacher. Since then, I’ve taken every opportunity to follow my interest in the natural world. I studied Zoology, completed an MSc in Entomology and then a PhD researching Red Deer management and invertebrate communities in the Scottish Highlands.
I’ve had various positions including with the Dungeness Bird Observatory, the BCN Wildlife Trust on the Great Fen; one of Europe's largest wetland restoration projects. I moved to Kent Wildlife Trust as Conservation Evidence Manager. Most recently, I was Conservation Manager for South East England at Butterfly Conservation.
Tell us a bit about the Site Manager role
I very much doubt (and hope!) there will be any such a thing as a typical week. Tasks include overseeing the brilliant Ranger team, delivering practical work on the ground and creating a site management plan. I’ll work closely with the Trust’s Senior Ecologist Alex Worsley, monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of our work. Also, developing new conservation projects, managing contractors, education and engagement activities. And working with the Head of Nature Reserves and others to contribute to wider strategic planning in relation to the role Rye Harbour Nature Reserve can play in restoring wildlife at the landscape-scale, climate resilience and adaptation.
What do you see as the biggest challenges?
To create a management plan that incorporates the needs of wildlife, people and habitat mitigation in a changing climate. Factor in the need to deliver this sustainably using traditional approaches, whilst embracing novel techniques that can help wildlife flourish with less human involvement, and it begins to look like quite a task…but I’m up for it!
What do you like best about the reserve so far?
In a relatively short walk around the site, it’s possible to go from seeing lots of people out enjoying the wildlife and landscape, to being in relative isolation, alone in nature.
What do you think are the key issues in conservation right now?
We know what’s causing the declines and what we need to do, but nature and the climate crisis are not high enough on the political agenda. Add to this the polarisation of the debate between nature, agriculture and other land-based industries, climate debate and the lack of urgent investment and we face some enormous challenges ahead.
Do you have a favourite species?
The Swallowtail Butterfly (it inspired me as a child), the Spotted Flycatcher (exquisitely smart yet understated) and the Otter (a pure joy to see).
How do you relax?
I enjoy practical projects - wood work, spoon carving, growing vegetables and keeping chickens. To really relax though, nothing beats just watching the world go by in a quiet spot in nature.
Tell us something about you that we might not know.
In contrast to my ‘outdoorsy-wildlife’ persona, I also have a passion for DJing and all sorts of electronic dance music.
This post is also available on Sussex Wildlife Trust website
