We spend the day with the Manx Wildlife Trust's Community Ranger
Welcome to 'A Day in the Life of...', our new series here at Manx Radio in which we speak to Isle of Man residents who have, shall we say, unconventional jobs, and take a look at what their work entails.
First up is Hannah Phillips, Community Ranger for the Manx Wildlife Trust.
Originally from Bristol, she moved to the Island in May 2022, and says she got into her job in 'quite an unusual way'.
Prior to embarking on a career change, she worked freelance as a theatre stage manager for various regional productions and touring companies.
In between contracts, she'd fill her time by volunteering for wildlife and environmental charities.
She says she was 'always on the move and working away from home'.
But in 2020, the coronavirus pandemic put a stop to that.
With the theatre Hannah was working in in London closed, like many of us, she headed home to Bristol and moved back in with her parents.
Whilst there, she 'had a good old think' and realised she wanted to go down a different path and embarked on an MSc in Applied Ecology.
Qualification in hand, she started looking for jobs, spotted the post on the Island, and made the move with her partner as they both had always had a dream of living by the sea.
Now settled on the Island, she says she loves it here: "It's just such a nice way of life. I'm lucky because I've still got friends and family in Bristol, so if I want that little break and a bit of city life then there are lots of reasons to go back and see them, but I just love it.
"And working in community engagement... I mean you just couldn't ask for somewhere with such a strong community. It's really lovely.
"Being lucky enough to move here from somewhere else, that shines through to you - you do really notice the difference, which is so nice."
So, what exactly is a Community Ranger?
Well, the idea is that Hannah supports individuals and groups within local communities here with their own wildlife or environmental projects.
She can be spotted all over the Island, in any weather.
That can mean everything from helping people to establish community gardens to working with anyone from churches to businesses who have some outside space - basically any project that is independent from MWT as a whole.
Essentially, Hannah's there to encourage people to act in a more environmentally sustainable way through a whole range of brilliant schemes.
It's a post supported by Lloyds Bank International, which works in partnership with the MWT to create the position.
She gets out and about a lot to help groups with their work and have meetings (and 'drink a lot of cups of tea'!) but there's also a lot of paperwork behind the scenes involved too, so Hannah estimates she's probably in the MWT's Peel office fifty percent of the time.
But whilst no two days typically look the same, she does have some regular commitments.
Every Wednesday morning, Hannah heads to the Milntown Estate in Ramsey to help out with the Gardening Club based there.
- Milntown's vegetable garden
- The Milntown Gardening Club
- Flowers in the garden
- Wallflowers potted by the group
- Hannah at work
- The Milntown Estate
- Milntown's vegetable garden
- The greenhouse
- Plants potted by the group
- Volunteer Laura Brown
- Hands at work
- Tomatoes grown by the group
- Hannah and Clare at work*
- Hands at work
- The team in the vegetable garden
- Lettuces under protection
- The orchard in the garden
- Plants in the polytunnel
- Milntown
The group meets weekly to work largely in the vegetable garden - only really taking a break over periods like TT.
They embrace sustainable gardening practices where they can, and the majority of the veg they grow ends up in the Milntown Café!
When I joined the group, it was a beautiful sunny day back in October, but you'll find them working whatever the weather (although on particularly nasty days, I'm reliably informed there may be a quiz on the agenda in the warm comforts of the old kitchen instead).
Long-time member Clare Collister told me it's a 'such a lovely way to spend a morning'.
Along with the main vegetable garden area, the group also work in a number of polytunnels, planting seeds which down the line will make up part of the MWT's temperate rainforest project.
Once the team have put in a few hours' work, they break for a cup of tea and some food from the Milntown Café - often the fruits of their own labour!
The day I was there it was soup on the menu, but unfortunately, I was too busy enjoying the food and the company to document it...
For the second half of my day with Hannah, we headed back down the coast to Onchan, where I got to see some of the work being done at the Trust's wetland - or 'Curragh Kiondroghad'.
Once a mill pond, this small site is only two minutes’ walk from the shopping centre in the village.
It is primarily maintained by a volunteer group - the Onchan Wetlands Community Group - who meet generally every other Saturday.
The volunteers have been beautifully restoring the wetlands in an attempt to get it back to its 'original state and beauty'.
Over the last few months, they've been extremely busy working on replacing the wooden boardwalk with an aggregate mixture, ripping out old beams and restructuring the walkway to hopefully better futureproof the site.
Much like the Milntown group, all are welcome to get stuck in, with no physical or practical skills necessary.
I'd like to say I tested that promise out, but on the day I went along to the wetlands, Hannah was running a corporate session with some lovely volunteers from Leonard Curtis, and whilst I'd love to say I got stuck into the task at hand in the knee-high mud... I mostly stuck behind the camera.
The wetland is a brilliant hidden gem right in the heart of Onchan, that to be honest, you may miss if you didn't know it was there.
The work the various teams have already done there shines through, and they have plenty more plans on the horizon once the boardwalk is replaced.
So, what about the other fifty percent of Hannah's day when she's in the Peel office sorting out paperwork for various projects?
Well, we thought we'd save you the photos of Zoom calls and emails.
The rest of us generally see enough of that anyway.
The first episode of "A Day in the Life of..." will be broadcast as an Island Life programme this evening at 5:30, and a longer edition will be available as a podcast afterwards right here at the Manx Radio website, or streaming wherever you get your podcasts.
You'll be able to hear much more from Hannah as well as the brilliant volunteers and service users I met on my adventures with her.
For now, here's a sneak peek:
If you have an interesting job that you think we should cover - or you know someone with one - email siobhanfletcher@manxradio.com
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