Amaze and Discover

Meet Marion our Amazement and Discovery Ranger who has been appointed to work on the Seal Squad XP Roadshow thanks to the exciting funding awarded to us by the Postcode Local Trust (supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery).

“My partner Rick and I moved to Cornwall in March 2016 to undertake 12 months of full time volunteering with the National Trust’s ranger team in West Penwith. Special thanks go to Simon Hocking Area Ranger (at the time Community Ranger) without whom I would not be where I am today! Not only did he take us under his wing but it was he who organised for Sue (Sayer) to deliver a talk on grey seals to the team at the end of May that year.

Helping out by taking pictures of seals I would see while working along the coast instantly appealed to me and Sue was very kind to loan us a camera in order to do this. I soon started putting the photos I had taken into albums and was very excited to start doing my own IDs. I was hooked!

At the start of 2017 I began assisting Sue in the office, processing photos and confirming IDs for other sites (especially the Roseland and the Lizard), putting together resources for the stall and lending a hand at events when I could. During that time I was employed by the National Trust Lizard and Penrose team as a Membership and Visitor Welcome Assistant at Kynance. When this came to an end I spent more time at CSGRT headquarters in Hayle.

I have the utmost respect for Sue who has dedicated her last 19 years to studying grey seals in Cornwall making CSGRT what it is today by becoming a full time volunteer herself. Her passion and enthusiasm are extremely inspiring and it is no surprise that she is surrounded by an impressive number of amazing people all generously giving their time to help in her work.

I am infinitely grateful to Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust for appointing me to the role of Amazement and Discovery Ranger. The more I learn about these fascinating animals the more motivated I am to do what I can to inspire others. I am incredibly excited about sharing astonishing celebrity seal stories with the public over the coming year and I can’t wait to work with more of our amazing volunteers.

If you’d like to get in touch with me, please email [email protected].”