Candidate Pack: Ranger, Belhus Woods Country Park

Thank you for your interest in joining Belhus Country Park.

As part of the wider group of Essex Country Parks, we care for more than 1,000 hectares of nationally important landscapes including two SSSIs, ancient woodland, coastal marshes and valuable habitats that support a rich diversity of wildlife.

These landscapes play a vital role in supporting wildlife and connecting people with nature, and our team takes pride in caring for them responsibly.

We are now recruiting a Ranger to join our team at Belhus Woods. This is a role for a skilled, self-motivated land manager who is equally at home operating a chainsaw, running a tractor or restoring a ditch, carrying out biodiversity surveys, liaising with the public and other organisations, maintaining a well presented park and undertaking health and safety compliance checks.

If you are motivated by meaningful conservation work and are looking for a role with variety in a 320 acre country park with a mix of ancient woodlands, species rich grasslands, scrub, amenity, and lake habitats, we would love to receive your application.

Gavin Leonard, Country Park Manager

The Ranger role is based at Belhus Woods Country Park situated in Aveley, roughly ten minutes drive from the Dartford Crossing.

The park consists of a network of footpaths running through ancient woodlands, species rich grasslands, amenity grasslands, scrub, secondary woodland plantation, a young wood pasture, hedgerows, a small orchard, ditches and streams, and five lakes (three for wildlife, and two for fishing).

We have over 120 species of birds on site, 30+ species of butterfly, a wide diversity of other invertebrates, good levels of reptiles and amphibians, a healthy bat population, and other mammals.

We welcome 120,000 visitors a year and maintain facilities such as toilet block, car parking, picnic areas, visitor centre, playground, fishing platforms, path networks, seasonal self guided trails, dog agility area and signage throughout the site.

The role is about maintaining a balance between the needs of the human visitors and the natural resource.

You will be part of a small, skilled team delivering a programme of seasonal land management works throughout the year, as well as responding to emergency and specialist jobs across the park as they arise.

The work is varied. On any given day you might be undertaking chainsaw operations including felling,; running a tractor with a range of mounted implements; operating a 360-degree excavator; or carrying out habitat management such as scrub clearance, ditch restoration and stock fencing.

You will sometimes work independently and sometimes alongside the other ranger and Park Operations Assistants. The land management work goes hand in hand with visitor engagement, park maintenance including cleaning and litter picking, as well as repairing infrastructure.

The ranger will also carry out biological surveying to add to our understanding of the ecosystems on the site. You will also be expected to enforce bylaws to those using the site in a harmful way.

The work you carry out feeds directly into our land management obligations and grant funding requirements. Accurate record-keeping and compliance with health and safety procedures are therefore important and a working knowledge of relevant IT systems and applications is essential.

We are looking for a self-motivated individual with experience across land-based operations and the ability to turn their hand to most practical tasks. A range of relevant National Governing Body (NGB) qualifications are required for the role for example chain saw, tractor operations, mounted implements.

Additional training will also be available, supporting your growth and professional development.

Please submit:

• Your CV

• A supporting statement demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria. 
  

  Applications can be made here.