Rutland Water Nature Reserve Visitor Centre Assistant's Handbook www.rutlandwater.org.uk Volunteer Training Centre Oakham Rd, Rutland, LE15 8AD 01572 720049 1 YOUR ROLE AS A VISITOR CENTRE VOLUNTEER Your role is to assist with the day to day running of the visitor centres, ensuring all visitors are welcomed and given any information they require about the work of the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust in partnership with Anglian Water. The work you will be involved with includes: Providing an enthusiastic and warm welcome to all visitors Providing information about Rutland Water Nature Reserve, other LRWT reserves and Anglian Water Parks. Promoting a positive image of LRWT and Anglian Water and the benefits of becoming an annual permit holder or LRWT member. Serving in the visitor centre shop, operating the till and dealing with various methods of payments. Ensuring the shop is kept tidy and stock replenished. Ensuring the leaflets and notices in the centre and on external notice boards are up to date and leaflets replenished. Answering telephone calls from the public and providing information on Rutland Water Nature Reserve Skills and knowledge you will use in your role include: Having a friendly, enthusiastic and welcoming personality. Being able to talk to a wide range of people. Having a love of wildlife and wild places Having the numeracy skills needed to serve customers in the shop and a willingness to learn how to operate a till and credit card machine. Being a reliable time keeper Being able to work alongside Rutland Water Nature Reserve staff and other volunteers as well as working unsupervised. Both visitor centres host school visits and educational events so a child friendly approach is essential. 2 YOUR ROLE AS A VISITOR CENTRE VOLUNTEER Times/ days we would like you to be available: With the exception of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day the Anglian Water Birdwatching Centre is open seven days a week from 9am until 5pm from March to October and 9am until 4pm from November to February. The Lyndon Visitor Centre is open from 9am until 5pm between Mid-March and Mid-September. Each day is split into two shifts (9am-1pm/ 1pm-5pm or 9am- 12:30pm/ 12:30pm-4pm). We ask that volunteers commit to at least two shifts per month if possible. Portraying a professional image is essential It is vital to portray a professional approach by giving a friendly greeting as visitors enter the centre. Be prepared for the questions visitors might ask. Keep an eye on the RWNR websites and Facebook pages and your volunteer website. Rutland Water Nature Reserve: www.rutlandwater.org.uk Rutland Osprey Project: www.ospreys.org.uk LRWT: www.lrwt.org.uk Volunteers’ website: www.rutlandwater.org.uk/volunteers Make sure you are familiar with the reserve Make sure you are familiar with the products in the shop. Keep the desk tidy and clear. Do not place drinks on the counter top and take refreshments discreetly, out of sight of visitors. Keep newspapers and magazines out of sight and do not read in front of visitors. Do not read books or magazines for sale in the shop, unless you intend to buy them. Do not shout for assistance, instead please fetch people or pick up the phone and dial the relevant number. You will be given a fleece and t-shirt once you have registered as a volunteer. Please make sure you wear your uniform whilst volunteering for us. You are representing both AW and LRWT. Please do not comment negatively on either organisation. The staff are always on hand to help, so please don’t hesitate to ask for assistance. 3 CONSERVATION AND INDUSTRY IN PARTNERSHIP This internationally famous nature reserve is managed by the Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust in partnership with Anglian Water and provides one of the most important wildfowl sanctuaries in Great Britain, regularly holding in excess of 20,000 waterfowl. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, designated as a European Special Protection Area and internationally recognised as a globally important wetland RAMSAR site THE LEICESTERSHIRE & RUTLAND WILDLIFE TRUST The Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust is working to create a living landscape rich in wildlife, valued and enjoyed by all. We do this through: Protecting and enhancing wildlife and wild places Inspiring people about the natural world and encouraging everyone to take action for wildlife Standing up for wildlife and the natural environment. The Trust manages 32 nature reserves covering nearly 3,000 acres of valuable wildlife habitats. From woodland to meadows, wetland to heaths, our nature reserves comprise some of the most important wildlife and geological sites in the counties with 20 being Sites of Special Scientific Interest and 2 designated as National Nature Reserves. As well as containing wonderfully rich and varied animal and plant species, many extremely rare, the nature reserves are also important places for people to visit and enjoy, and appreciate outstanding wildlife. ANGLIAN WATER Anglian Water supply water and water recycling services to more than six million domestic and business customers in the east of England and Hartlepool. They are the biggest water and water recycling company in England and Wales by geographic area. There are many important habitats and rare species of plants and animals that occur on Anglian Water sites or around their operations and they take their responsibilities towards protecting wildlife very seriously. It is because of this commitment that the partnership between Anglian Water and the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust works so well at Rutland Water Nature Reserve. Thanks to funding from Anglian Water, the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust deliver vital conservation management to ensure that the habitat and Rutland Water is kept in optimum condition, its wildlife is protected and members of the public can 4 enjoy their local wild places. THE STORY BEHIND CONSERVATION AND INDUSTRY IN PARTNERSHIP RUTLAND WATER NATURE RESERVE The Reserve was created in the 1970s as part of the building of the Res- ervoir. The idea that the new reservoir should have wildlife conservation value as well as amenity use and the role of water provi- sion was central to the project from the start. Rutland Water Nature Re- serve, and the Reservoir as a whole, very quickly became an important location for bird life, both native species and summer and winter visi- tors. In 1982 it was declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1992 became a Ramsar site (of international wetland importance), and was also designated a Special Protection Area (SPA) which means it has protection under European Bird-life Directives. In particular the Re- serve is internationally important for its population of Shoveler, Gadwall and some twenty thousand winter wildfowl that visit each year. Because of these important designations, the way Rutland Water Nature Reserve is managed (and indeed the whole reservoir maintained) is subject to the ultimate oversight of Natural England. Both Anglian Water and the Trust are answerable to Natural England for the way Rutland Water Nature Reserve is managed for its wildlife value. In 2002 the Trust’s management responsibilities were extended to four areas of woodland around the Reservoir: Berrybut Spinneys (on the South Shore) Hambleton and Armley Woods (on the Hambleton penin- sula) and Barnsdale Wood on the North Shore of the North Arm. Man- agement work on these sites has started to enhance their wildlife value enormously, with felling of non-native trees and coppicing work allowing woodland flora to flourish again. Wood Warbler 5 THE ANGLIAN WATER BIRDWATCHING CENTRE The Anglian Water Birdwatching Centre at Egleton is the main visitor centre. We have many facilities available here including the Wildlife Trust shop, a viewing gallery, interpretation room, wildlife garden and room hire facilities. From Egleton the Trust runs a wide range of courses and walks and we host many school visits, as well as children’s activities in the spring. The Rutland Environmental Education Centre forms part of the Anglian Water Birdwatching Centre and comprises a large multi-purpose classroom/meeting room which is available to hire. It offers unrivalled views across the nature reserve as well as the latest technology and flexible arrangements for school and education groups, meetings, workshops or social events. The exhibition and interpretation area has a range of interactive displays of interest for children and adults alike. During the summer months there is also an extensive display about the Rutland Osprey Project, with video images from an Osprey nest and volunteers on hand to provide the latest news and updates. Julia, Joelle, Dale, Sarah and Tim Appleton are all based at the AWBC. The Birdwatching Centre has a long association with “In Focus” optics suppliers, who have a shop located in the Centre. The shop manager is Mike Willis. The shop has a wide variety of gifts including: A range of bird feeders and bird seed Branded mugs and T-shirts A variety of bird books for beginners and experts alike. Gifts, souvenirs and greeting cards to suit young and old Smaller items for children to purchase All profits from the shop go to Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust. 6 THE ANGLIAN WATER BIRDWATCHING CENTRE THE LYNDON VISITOR CENTRE The Lyndon Visitor Centre where the Rutland Osprey Project is based on the South Shore of the Reserve was opened by Sir David Attenborough in 1985. The Centre is open from mid-March to mid- September (depending on weather conditions). Now in our eighteenth year, Rutland Water is home to the first Ospreys to breed in England for 150 years following a successful translocation programme from Scotland We observe them from their arrival from Africa in Spring, through to their Autumn migration.