The life and times of

Paul Gosling

1967-1988

Born in 1967, my first interests in wildlife came at an early age, collecting and rearing caterpillars in the coal-house at home. I soon became interested in birds and became an avid birder. I was a member of the West Midlands Bird Club and worked Sandwell Valley before the RSPB came on the scene (I think it's much better now!). As my interest in birds developed I began to ring birds under the watchful eye of Hugh MacGregor. I began an association with Gibraltar Point NNR and bird observatory that culminated in one on the happiest years employment I have had, as a seasonal warden. Prior to this I had left school and studies for an HND in Conservation Management at Farnborough College of Technology, where in addition to learning a great deal, I met a number of like minded people and started birding with them. During the final year of my HND I became president of the bird club (christened, against my will, the "Farnborough Thunderbirders"!) and enjoyed a number of birding trips with the club. Amongst the long lasting friends I made here are Richard Bedford (who may be known to some of the Cornish birding contingent) and Jeremy Halls (now an ecologist working in Buckinghamshire), both of whom are excellent company on birding trips or an evenings drinking!

1988

At Gibraltar Point (a Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust Reserve) I was fortunate enough to enjoy an excellent year learning habitat management, wildlife surveying and, above all, how to work in a team. Dave Bromwich, (who is now responsible for the Trusts reserves in Lincolnshire), Gordon Allison (now an RSPB warden in Kent) and Kevin Wilson (now Warden at Gib, whom I'd met the previous year) were all around during this time, as was Paul Troake (a megabirder from Hampshire who, amongst other things, was responsible for finding the Alpine accentor at Saltfleetby in 1994). A great deal was learned from all of these.

1989

After Gibraltar Point came the Farne Islands contract for the National Trust. Nine months of birds, seals, visitors and bombing around in little boats. More skills were learned here, especially surveying nesting seabirds (from a Zodiac, in a swell, trying to keep your breakfast down). The ornithological highlights of this year can be seen elsewhere in this website, along with pictures of the seals that we surveyed during their pupping season from October to the end of November.

1990-1991

The RSPB then employed me thanks to a chance phone call to the Lodge chasing up my application for seasonal work. On the other end of the phone was the gentleman responsible for sorting out workers for the reserves Jon Haw, an ex-Farne Islands warden! I was allocated to Arne in Dorset, a reserve I'd visited before and fallen in love with. In total I spent a year there, mainly helping with heathland restoration(woodchipping day after day interspersed with a bit of chainsawing), but also being fortunate enough to carry out CBC for Dartford warbler, and to help count nightjars. Bryan Pickess, the warden of Arne and one of the longest serving members of RSPB staff influenced me to look at things other than birds, and I began to look at dragonflies and damselflies, of which there are a good number of species at Arne.

1991

After a year at Arne it was time to move, this time to the Ouse Washes. More new experiences here, such as livestock handling, water level management and plenty of tractor driving. Birdwise it was a quiet time, although breeding ruff and black-tailed godwit were mighty fine, as was the singing golden oriole I had whilst checking the river levels at Welches Dam. During this period I decided that I wanted to return to full time education to study for a degree. So it was in October 1991 I began a three year honours degree course in Environmental Biology at Royal Holloway College, University of London.

1991-1994

The three years here went by in a flash. I met a number of influential people here, including Dr Pat Morris (of hedgehog and dormouse fame), Dr Bryan Ferry (inspirational botanist) and Professor Clive Catchpole (ornithologist in its true sense and animal behaviourist) who supervised my final year project "The differentiation of nesting habitat in three marshland bird species at Wraysbury Gravel Pits" in which I used multivariate statistics to analyse vegetation and make management recommendations. I became conservation officer and then president of the Conservation and Wildlife Society, whose membership increased under the new committee. I left university with a first class degree and contacts in the world of environmental consultancy for which I now headed.

1994-1995

This period saw a very fruitful working relationship with Jaquelin Fisher Associates, and environmental and planning consultancy. Working freelance for Jaquelin I worked as ecologist on a number of interesting projects ranging from a survey Sites of Local Nature Conservation Value for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, through to a survey of Haven Holiday Parks adjacent to proposed SCA's or SPA/Ramsar sites.

1996-1997

The need for more security led me to Land Use Consultants, also an environmental and planning consultancy founded by Max Nicholson, a leading and immense figure in the development of nature conservation in Britain. I worked here as ecologist on a wide range of projects alongside a multidisciplinary team from whom I learned a great deal. My main task was habitat survey and assessment, although during slack periods I was recruited to apply my graphics talents to help push through other projects.

1997-1999

I left LUC in May 1997. The cost of commuting into London was just too much. I also got married in May and this was a spur for me to find greater financial stability and so I left the world of ecology and nature conservation and took a job in the finance department of a local company where, ironically, without the need to pay out for rail-passes, I was bringing home more money than at LUC. I stayed here until 1999, occasionally helping out the Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust with water vole surveys or breeding wader surveys.

1999-Today

For a long time I had wanted to become a teacher and I took the opportunity to begin a PGCE course at Leicester University in October 1999, with a view to teaching secondary science. A year and a half later and I have left teaching, having found that the stress and the workload were taking over my entire life and leaving very little time for family life or hobbies.

I have now rejoined the ranks of those working in the environmental field. I am fortunate enought to be Environmental Co-ordinator for the Borough Council of Wellingborough, as well as a part-time Ranger at Irchester Country Park, and enjoy both jobs immensely. Throughout the period during which I was not working in ecology I maintained and developed my interest in ecology and especially birds. This passion took on a more worklike form when I became the County Bird Recorder for Northamptonshire, having taken over from Bob Bullock in March 2001. This is a very exciting task and I look forward to fulfilling this role in the professional manner that I try to bring to all of the work I am involved with. If you have any bird records for Northamptonshire as yet unsubmitted, please e-mail me with them