News / Wildlife enthusiast wanted to work at ‘paradise’ Noss
A WILDLIFE enthusiast with a love of seabirds and meeting new people in a slice of Shetland “paradise” is being sought for a new job.
NatureScot is advertising for a seasonal officer at Noss Nature Reserve, who will live and work on the island for six months over the summer season.
Reserve manager Juan Brown is a former officer at Noss himself, and calls it “the best job I ever did”.
He is encouraging anyone with a love of wildlife to take the plunge and give it a go.
“You really only need three skill sets,” he told Shetland News.
“You need to be good with people, because visitor interaction is an important part of the job.
“You need some experience of boat handling, because it’s just a small inflatable ferry that you take over to Noss.
“And the final thing is monitoring – it would be good if you had a bit of bird monitoring experience.”
Journeying across to Noss is the same for the two reserve officers and visitors, with a short ferry trip across the Noss Sound from the island of Bressay.
Between May and August there are ferries every day apart from Mondays and Thursdays.
Brown said it would be good if applicants had “some sort of practical experience”, as they might have to make temporary repairs while isolated on the island.
He added they would also need to be prepared for “working in a small environment”.
But he said working in Noss was “brilliant” for the right person.
“I always say it’s the best job I ever did, and that still stands,” Brown said.
“Noss is paradise. If you’re into birds or wildlife, it’s just brilliant.”
And no two days on Noss were likely to be the same, Brown said.
“One day you’re doing the ferry, greeting visitors to the island, and the next you’re up on the banks monitoring the seabirds,” he added.
Brown said that though Noss was “famous for its internationally important sea bird populations”, such as bonxies and gannets, there was plenty of other exciting wildlife on show too.
He added you could see anything “from killer whales to otters” in Noss.
After the bird flu epidemic had a hugely detrimental effect on seabird populations around Noss, Brown said the monitoring work down by the reserve officers had become “increasingly important”.
The reserve officers work from mid-April until the end of September, with the option to continue working at Noss every summer season.
Applications must be in to NatureScot by midnight on 3 February. People can apply here.
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