Botanical Assistant

Part-time, self-employed, Botanical Assistant Post – SUBJECT TO FUNDING

One to two days a week from ASAP in July until the end of October (approx. 30 days total) at £250 per day.

Upper Teesdale, in the North Pennines National Landscape area, is one of the UK’s five botanical ‘hotspots’, famous for its unique collection of rare and scarce plant species – the so-called ‘Teesdale Assemblage, the populations of which have declined greatly in recent decades.

Teesdale Special Flora Trust is seeking a part-time botanical assistant to support our summer work programme to conserve the rare species and reverse this population decline, subject to approval of funding from the Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) grant (which has funded our work for the last four years).

This will involve: working with the Teesdale Botany Group ‘champions’ for the arctic-alpine species; the use of a new prototype mapping App together with the Trust’s database of survey records to identify ‘hotspot’ areas for potential seed collecting; the creation/organisation of a volunteer group, and coordination of seed collectors with species from late July through August; organisation of one or two seed sowing workshops in a local village hall in October; and organisation of volunteers to care for the plants from October 2026 to October 2027, when they will planted out in management trial plots in an area linking low populations.

Comprehensive information on the flora of the area and its history can be found in the book Teesdale’s Special Flora, by Dr. Margaret Bradshaw, the founder of the Trust. Further information about the Trust can be found here.

The main sites in Upper Teesdale are quite remote, so applicants will need to:

• have a full driving license and their own vehicle
• be able to cope with days in remote locations on fairly rough terrain and in all weathers.

To express an interest, please send a CV and covering letter to info@teesdalespecialflora.uk

Closing date: Monday 29 June