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As part of ARC’s commitment towards maintaining and developing a working environment that is welcoming to people from all backgrounds and abilities, we have recently embarked on a development programme with the National Centre for Diversity (NDC). As a first step we aim to collate your views via a survey that will enable you to “have your say” on how we are doing in terms of FREDIE: Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement. From your feedback we will develop support and training from recommendations given by NCD. Your responses will remain confidential and ARC staff will not be party to individual responses, giving you the opportunity to be open and honest in your views. The survey forms part of a wider ARC Equality Diversity Inclusion programme, in partnership with the ReThink Nature partnership, Wildlife and Countryside LINK and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. A separate FREDIE volunteer survey has also been issued (https:// tinyurl.com/FREDIEvols) allowing us to assess the volunteer experience and how we can improve on removing barriers for engagement. Please do take the opportunity to complete the survey, which should take no more than 15-20 minutes, to have your say and give us a solid starting point to take this programme forward. THIS SURVEY CLOSES ON DECEMBER 31ST 2021.
Take the survey here: https://tinyurl.com/
FREDIEsurvey
Dressed for success!
By Angela Reynolds - Editor
This winter, ARC staff and volunteers will be kitted out in a range of new clothing provided by our Corporate Supporters Hotline - Dorset based supplier of promotional products & branded merchandise.
With our staff and volunteer numbers growing country wide, we have even more opportunities to maintain a visible presence to the general public, partners and stakeholders and promote our brand and activities year round.
We have two new products to add to our current range of polo shirts and fleeces – a beanie hat and an outdoor jacket to keep our field based staff warm and waterproof in our good old British weather!
The volunteer polo shirts have been rebranded and will be issued to our regular volunteers along with a beanie hat to say thank you for their commitment and highly valued hard work, week after week, in all weathers.
Beanies will be available from the ARC online shop to buy at a discounted price for our ARC members www.arc-trust.org/
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Photos: ARC’s Rachael & Gary and ARC volunteer David © ARC
New ARC Children's story book ‘In Search of Old Uncle Blue’ - Available now!
By Owain Masters - Snakes in the Heather Public Engagement and Education Officer
Sophie thinks she might be a snake, but she isn’t sure... Full of eager curiosity to find out about herself and others like her, Sophie sets off on an adventure to find her family. This educational storybook, with a readership level of 4-10 years, is beautifully illustrated with hand-painted artwork and teaches the reader about our fascinating wildlife, especially reptiles, and the habitats that can be found on our doorstep - a great gift for children at Christmas! You can get a sneak preview from our Patron Chris Packham here: https://tinyurl.com/CPackham-ISOOUB-reading
What’s new with the ARC crew?
By Angela Reynolds - Editor
I have been very busy on the HR front since the last edition of Hop Gossip!
Back in August we said goodbye to Bryony Davison, our Weald Field Officer. Bryony was a very popular member of staff both with colleagues and volunteers. She relocated to Cheshire to work for the National Trust and to be closer to her partner Ralph Connolly, who left ARC earlier in the year. Good luck Bryony!
After a successful season, pool frog project staff are moving on. In September, Emily Jordan, Project Assistant, moved on to start a PhD studentship, and in December, Project Officer, Ben King, will be moving on to the Freshwater Biological Association to work with conservation of the freshwater pearl mussel. Everyone at ARC wishes them the best in the next steps in their conservation careers.
Our new Saving Scotland’s Amphibians & Reptiles project is well underway and we hope you will extend a very warm welcome to our dynamic duo Dr Rachael Cooper-Bohannon and Janet Ullman. You can read all about what they have been up to on page 7 and our feature article.
Dr Andy Buxton has moved on from his role as South Midlands Newt Conservation Partnership Project Officer to start an exciting new career in teaching! We wish him every success with his new adventure.
And finally, we welcome the return of our Seasonal Field Officers. Up in North Wales, Mandy Cartwright will shortly be joined by Joe Franklin as our new North Wales Seasonal Field Officer. Stuart Handyside and Phil O’Keefe have returned to the Dorset field team along with newcomer Dan Parker. In the Weald we are joined by Thaddeus Coward and Jack Harper. We hope the weather will be kind to them this winter!
HWM 2022 Part 1 – Coming soon!
The ARC and ARG UK Herpetofauna Workers Meeting 2022 is due to comprise of two parts next year. The first will be a Non-native Species Symposium, held online via Zoom, on Saturday 5th February from 1:30pm – 5pm.
We have a great range of speakers lined up including survey results and latest research covering non-native reptile and amphibian species. We look forward to welcoming you to join in with our polls and Q&A sessions for what is shaping up to be an exciting afternoon.
Keep an eye on our social media channels and visit our website in the new year to book your space!
Tickets are free for ARC and ARG members and £5 for non-members. In November, ARC launched a new Membership Scheme giving our members more than ever before, including discounts in the ARC online shop and access to our new online Members Area.
Everybody already signed up to the Friendship Scheme has been automatically transferred to the new scheme. I hope you have all had a chance to activate your membership on our website, but if you haven’t, you can watch the teaser video here https://tinyurl.com/members-teaser
This new area of the ARC website, exclusively for our members includes: An online ARC Reserve Handbook An interactive reserves map A resources library – find videos, leaflets, advice notes, handbooks and more HopGossip! magazine archive News, events and offers Discounts in the ARC online shop and more coming soon!
You will continue to receive: HopGossip! members’ magazine (x2 per year) ARC eNews (x6 per year) ARC Members Day invitation Discount on ARC conference fees
We would love to hear your views and our team will continue to update the site. Contact us at members@arctrust.org. We are currently working on a new Family Membership option so stay tuned for further information early next year!
Midwife toad - introduced in to a Bedfordshire garden in the 19th century © Howard Inns (ARC).
New Membership Scheme!
By Kim Boughey - Membership & ECommunications Officer
