A career in conservation takes flight for Marie, just like her osprey
Days out in the countryside with her dad led to a love of wildlife for 24-year-old Marie Dipple.
Marie, who lives in Oakham, is Osprey Project Officer for the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust at Manton on the edge of Rutland Water.
Here, Marie works with other staff and volunteers on a project to restore the fortunes of a once endangered bird, happily reporting success and their numbers rising.
Marie studied biology at Birmingham University, specialising in sea birds for her dissertation.
This led to a variety of roles with the RSPB and the Wildfown and Wetlands trusts.
A focus was the Little Tern project, a nationwide scheme to help save one of the UK’s smallest seabirds.
Marie explained: “I really want to make a difference. This is something I have been interested in since an early age.
“It was Dad and David Attenborough showing me interesting stuff. My dad Jeff would take me walking and climbing to places where we could see a lot of wildlife.”
Marie’s favourite spots are North Wales, including Snowdonia, and Dorset, where she again worked with Little Terns.
Her work with the RSPB on Chesil Beach in 2016 was a Little Tern recovery project she had to protect the birds at night from nocturnal predators, a job that involved chasing foxes away from the bird nests at night.
Before that, Marie was involved in another Little Tern Project in Denbighshire, North Wales.
This was a daytime job which focussed on protecting the birds from kestrels as well as talking to people about the terns that live on the beach.
The Welsh project also included scripting and making a film about the area, which was narrated by Iolo Williams, a Welsh tv presenter and conservationist.
After such projects, Marie felt ready for more responsibility, especially in project management, leading her to come to the Lyndon Nature Reserve in February this year.
Marie explained: “It’s the first time I have worked with ospreys and in this part of the world. It’s a great opportunity to see how conservation projects work at this level. I manage the volunteers who monitor the osprey like what i did before with terns.
“I also do a lot of social media work, such as Facebook and websites. It’s really important to engage with people and spread the word and get them to learn about conservation and wildlife.”
“This project here is really fantastic to be involved in. It’s longstanding and has been here since the 1980s.”
After a re-introduction of a few osprey, their numbers have increased to 23 in the Rutland area.
Marie said: “It’s a real showcase of how effective conservation projects can be. It was a bird that had really gone from England. This was the first place in England where they were re-introduced and the first place where a fledgeling returned to, the first for 150 years.”
Now, there are other osprey projects in Northumberland, Cumbria, Essex, Poole Harbour and across Scotland.
Marie continued: “We want to try and improve communication between the projects and share knowledge and best practice, see what works.”
Osprey are what Marie calls a “beautiful and fantastic bird”, who migrate to West Africa and can live for up to 25 years, so tagged examples can deliver much information.
“They have become the flagship species for wild bird introduction in the UK. They are brilliant at fishing, fantastic to look at. They have bounced back so well.”
Red Kites, Marie continued, are another species that have bounced back, with them now common around Rutland.
“We are hoping the ospreys get like that.”
The Lyndon Nature Reserve is proving fertile ground for birdlife, with it having water which is beloved by migrating wildfowl who then winter over its wetland ecosystem.
The spring and summer sees the reserve habited by warblers and black caps.
The reserve is also famous for its tree sparrows, who enjoy the feeders behind the osprey centre.
“We get a lot of other songbirds. We have a great mixture of meadow, woodland and grassland.”
As to the future, Marie says she will carry on what she is doing, hoping to attract more visitors to the centre on Lyndon Road, which is funded by Anglian Water.
But in time she hopes to undertake a PHD in bird migration at Bangor University, which will involve research work in Austria.
“I hope to stay in conservation work for the rest of my days, work I am more than happy with.”
But it’s a competitive industry and Marie advises people should not be daunted about how long it might take before getting a paid position.
Placements and volunteer work has proved invaluable in her own experience.
Marie added: “It’s just showing you are keen and interested. It helps you get spotted for jobs in the future. And don’t be afraid of bad weather!”
