Field Identification Skills Training 2025 – Applications Open for Young Naturalists and Early Career Surveyors

Thanks to the support of the Reece Foundation, this year you could be engaging in a new field identification skills programme dedicated to helping young naturalists develop skills in natural history

Thanks to the generous support of the Reece Foundation, in 2025 NHSN is continuing the success of its Field Identification Skills programme launched last year, providing local students and early-career professionals with opportunities to improve their skills, grow employability and learn from experienced local naturalists.

With training and resources provided, a total of 12 trips will take place to various sites across Tyneside and Northumberland, offering you the chance to explore new places, encounter some of our region’s most beautiful wildlife and develop your skills in identifying bees, ladybirds and wildflowers – the groups at the heart of NHSN’s three long-standing citizen science projects. Further events will bring participants together indoors at the Great North Museum: Hancock, to socialise, share experiences and celebrate their achievements as part of the programme.

Why Do You Need Field Skills?

Field skills, including identifying, surveying and recording wildlife, are a key element of many jobs in the environmental sector. Despite this, opportunities to develop these skills to the standard needed for many roles in ecology and conservation are often limited.

What Will You Get To Experience?

Between April and August 2025, 12 trips will take place to several locations across North East England. These include a mix of local urban wildlife hotspots including NHSN’s Gosforth Nature Reserve, and more remote sites including Holy Island and Hepple Estate. Transport via mini-bus will be provided from Newcastle for trips further away, and all trips will take place on weekends, ensuring trips fit around your studies and other commitments.

Each trip will focus on topics including bees, ladybirds and wildflowers, with you joining one or more experienced local naturalists to find, identify and learn about wildlife in the field. Trips will include time to ask questions, network and record wildlife yourself while contributing to NHSN’s citizen science projects in areas lacking wildlife records.

What Will You Get From Taking Part?

At the end of the course having attended five or more sessions, you will receive a certificate demonstrating your participation. You’ll also receive complimentary identification guides and your own hand lens – perfect for taking your newfound interest further in the future.

More importantly, however, you’ll receive a unique opportunity to meet and learn from experienced professionals, many of whom are recognised as experts in their particular field. By doing so, you’ll improve your CV and boost your knowledge of wildlife identification, gaining transferable skills valued by environmental employers. You’ll also meet like-minded students, have the opportunity to feature in NHSN communications and in some cases, meet with practitioners and land managers responsible for managing these unique sites.

I really enjoyed my time on the field trips, especially as they gave me an opportunity to meet like-minded people interested in developing their species identification skills and to learn about their particular interests and career aspirations. I learned a wide range of tips and tricks for identifying species and distinguishing them from closely related species and loved the opportunity to see more of Northumberland and areas surrounding Newcastle, especially places I couldn’t visit by public transport. In general I learnt so so much and would highly advise people to apply for this programme!

Katie Burns, 2024 Participant

Who Can Apply?

This course is open to anyone aged 18-35 who is unemployed, in full-time education or currently volunteering with a non-profit conservation organisation (e.g. charities, local authorities, National Parks and National Landscapes). Young people who demonstrate an enthusiasm for natural history but are not currently at university are also most welcome.

How to Apply

To apply, please email NHSN Senior Naturalist, James Common, at james.common@newcastle.ac.uk by Friday 28 February. Please provide:

  • Your name
  • Organisation or University, including the name of your course if relevant
  • A short statement expressing why you are interested in this opportunity (200 words max)

Numbers will be capped at 25 individuals and attendees for each trip confirmed on a first-come, first-serve basis. Priority will be given to those who have attended fewer trips as part of the programme. Successful applicants will be contacted by email no later than 7 March 2025.

Who is involved?

Throughout the programme, participants will have the opportunity to learn from several local naturalists with expertise in botany and invertebrates. These are:

Charlotte Rankin

Entomologist

Charlotte is a Coordinator with NHSN’s Invertebrate Group and a local naturalist interested in invertebrate conservation and species recording. She discovered her passion for pollinators during university and now works in pollinator conservation just across the border in Cumbria

Louise Hislop

Entomologist

Louise is a naturalist and entomologist with a particular interest in wild bees, solitary wasps and hoverflies.  She is the former Chair of BWARS, the national Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society,  an organiser/recorder for the North Pennines National Landscapes (formerly AONB) Special Invertebrate Sites Invertebrate Recording Group and a co-author of Bumblebees of North East England

Chris Metherell

Botanist

Chris is a current NHSN Botany Group Coordinator, vice-county recorder for North Northumberland and former president of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI). He is the national referee for Eyebrights and recently published a book on the Plants of Holy Island.

Mima Cattan

Botanist

Mima is a current NHSN Botany Group Coordinator. She coordinates the NHSN ‘Friday Botany Group’ and has conducted several botanical surveys over the years to interesting sites across the UK. She contributed to Orchids of North East England.

Gordon Port

Entomologist

Gordon is a current NHSN Invertebrate Group Coordinator and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society. He teaches Field Identification Skills at Newcastle University and has an unusual fondness for slugs.

James Common

Botanist

James works as NHSN’s Senior Naturalist and with Chris, is a vice-county recorder for North Northumberland. He is a plant verifier for South Northumberland and leads education courses and events helping people find, identify and record wildflowers. His main interest is in urban plants.