Georgina Jarman

Conservation Breeding Officer

About me

I began my journey in animal care volunteering at Bristol Zoo Gardens. Initially, I cared for invertebrates, reptiles and small mammals as part of the Animal Encounter team. Later I worked as a volunteer Aquarium Keeper and engaged with the zoo’s conservation efforts, in particular assisting with the care of the captive bred white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes).

To pursue my interest the conservation of native UK species, I undertook a BSc in Ecology in Wildlife Conservation at the University of Reading, during which I was a Research Intern for the Sea Watch Foundation, surveying bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates) in Cardigan Bay, Wales.

In 2022, I started full-time employment at WWT Slimbridge as an aviculturist, caring for their diverse captive collection of wildfowl. However, my drive to learn more about conservation research persisted and I took on a part-time PGCert in Ecological Survey Techniques at the University of Oxford. Over two years, I balanced part-time study with full-time employment, taking modules specialising in surveying bird and fish populations - particularly relevant to wetland ecology and conservation.

Currently, I am on secondment from my role with Living Collections to assist with Godwit Futures as a Conservation Breeding Officer, putting the skills I have learned rearing wildfowl and waders in the duckery at WWT Slimbridge to use in a conservation setting.

My role

In my secondment at WWT Welney as a Conservation Breeding Officer I will be assisting with all avicultural aspects of Godwit Futures from egg collection and incubation to early stage rearing a release, with the aim of bolstering populations of black-tailed godwits (Limosa limosa) in the Fens and establishing the world’s first conservation breeding facility for a Limosa spp. I will also be involved in night surveys and husbandry for the captive breeding and release program for corncrakes (Crex crex) onto the Ouse Washes. A partnership between WWT, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, Natural England, ZSL and RSPB.

Experience and interests

• Aviculture and animal husbandry
• Incubation and rearing of wildfowl and waders
• GIS
• Bat surveys using heterodyne detectors and AudioMoth recorder