Etchingham, England, United Kingdom
I am a professional conservationist and ecologist with over 23 years’ experience in a variety of fields of conservation management, wildlife ecology and research. I have a strong background in monitoring and evidence, having led these functions for projects and organisations to establish and analyse biodiversity data to inform management decisions and evidence management outcomes. I also have experience of managing the delivery of a variety of conservation projects, a broad range of practical habitat management experience, and my specialist interests in entomology, ornithology and botany, are complimented by a competent professional background in many other areas of UK wildlife. While I have spent much of my career as an ecologist developing expertise in monitoring to assess and inform site management, I have harboured an ambition to be a nature reserve manager. Having refocused my career goals around this aim I joined Sussex Wildlife Trust as Site Manager for Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, and am now Area Manager for the SWT East portfolio. I am also progressing a personal interest in deer management and exploring opportunities to apply this professionally in my own time. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paul-Tinsley-Marshall
Leading Butterfly Conservation's work across the South East region, driving effective action to meet organisational strategic goals, to maintain and enhance populations of Lepidoptera. Leading the organisations staff team in the South East. Overseeing the management of six regional nature reserves.
Promoted to a new role leading the strategic delivery of the Conservation Evidence function. I manage the Conservation Evidence Team to build and service the evidence base for conservation on our estate and in the wider landscape. Our aim is to maximise impacts of monitoring and evidence on delivery, and to position KWT as leaders in ecological monitoring within the County and beyond. Principle duties to lead on: • Strategic direction and delivery of the conservation evidence function • Managing and developing the Conservation Evidence team • Overseeing programmes of project delivery for site and landscape-scale conservation evidence • Site-based monitoring programmes • Wilder Landscapes Monitoring Programmes • Local Wildlife Sites • Data analysis, management and communication • GIS and Remote sensing policy and practice Selected projects: • Nature’s Sure Connected: evidencing landscape-scale conservation. An 18 month, £170K project developing new approaches to evidencing landscape-scale outcomes of landscape-scale conservation. • Wilder Blean: developing and overseeing a monitoring programme to evidence the use of European bison, boar, ponies and cattle to drive the reinstatement of natural processes, biodiversity and bioabundance in a wilding context. • Conservation Evidence Champions: I led the accreditation of Kent Wildlife Trust as the first Wildlife Trust to become an ‘Evidence Champion’, working closely with https://www.conservationevidence.com/. • State of Nature in Kent 2021: project managing production of County reporting. • Estates Monitoring Programme: overseeing the delivery of monitoring to assess site management objectives and inform adaptive management. • Wilder landscapes monitoring projects for species re-introductions: Chough, Wart-biter, Heath Fritillary, Turtle Dove, Pine Marten.
I was responsible for developing and coordinating the ecological monitoring and survey work of Kent Wildlife Trust across its reserves throughout Kent and in the wider landscape. By deploying new ways of working and prioritising monitoring on the most impactful aspects of delivery, I created a monitoring programme that advanced the Trusts capability to evidence and inform the outcomes of its work. I was responsible for leading monitoring programmes, and for establishing and managing volunteer Ecology Groups to assist with gathering ecological data. I conducted data analysis, interpretation and reporting, to enable evidence to be used to assess ecological change, demonstrate the efficacy of management, and to demonstrate good practice in site and landscape scale conservation. I was also responsible for instigating best practice in data management, ensuring that data were digitised and stored in suitable databases, GIS mapping, analysis and interpretation, producing reports and maps, and reporting on actions and achievements against identified targets. I also worked to engage local communities in recording wildlife, citizen science projects, BioBlitz events, family activities, and web-based data collection. This involved partnership working with a variety of organisations and Trust staff. I also supported the recruitment and training of volunteers, particularly through the Trusts Wildlife Study Day programme.
My role as a freelance botanist was to assist with vegetation monitoring of grassland and heather moorland communities to parameterise models of sheep population dynamics, and assisting with the annual sheep 'round-up'.
My role was to conduct and manage a variety of ecological projects for clients in both the conservation and development sectors, and includes ecological survey, monitoring and assessment, technical reporting and analysis, habitat management planning, and mitigation/compensation planning and implementation. I led on all bird survey work from our Cambridge offices including BBS, CBS, WeBS and VP surveys, conducted phase 1 and phase 2 (NVC) habitat surveys, great crested newt, reptile, badger, otter, dormouse, water vole, bat activity and roost inspection, invertebrate and other specialist surveys. I also carry out GIS projects (ArcGIS and QGIS) and BREEAM and CFSH assessment. I was involved in all aspects of project management including production of tenders, budgeting, subcontracting, field survey, risk assessment, reporting and analysis and client liaison, and I was the health and safety coordinator for our Cambridge office.