The National Trust for Scotland is recruiting a property manager for some of Scotland’s best loved islands: Iona, Staffa and a wild corner of Mull.
The new role for the conservation charity is a unique opportunity to help ensure that the islands’ heritage is managed to the highest standards and the area’s many visitors receive a warm welcome.
Essential qualifications for the advertised role include practical experience in nature conservation and land management.
Role responsibilities include managing Maol Farm on Iona and farmland on Burg, Mull.
As well as collaborating with colleagues and partners to promote the Trust’s conservation, sustainability and engagement goals and its vision of Nature, Beauty and Heritage for Everyone, the property manager will work closely with local communities, including farmers and crofters on Iona.
Positive development
Will Boyd-Wallis, National Trust for Scotland’s operations manager for the north west, said: ‘This new role is a very positive development for the area and for the National Trust for Scotland.
“It means we can achieve a lot more conservation work on the ground, more effectively interact with the many visitors to the islands and play a prominent role in the community.
He continued: “While these places are steeped in history, the requirements of the job are very 21st century!
“The successful candidate will play a key role in managing the transition of Maol Farm, on Iona, to a new system, and lead on the delivery of the Trust’s conservation goals for the machair and the now very rare corncrake.
“On Staffa, they’ll support Trust colleagues with crucial work to ensure biosecurity for seabirds such as puffins, which are seriously at risk from invasive species and avian flu.
‘It’s a fascinating and very important role, requiring someone with a diverse combination of skills.
“I’m really delighted that we have been able to create this post. I’m hopeful and confident we will find the right person for the job and that they will become a real asset for the Trust and for the area.”
Where are the islands?
Role responsibilities include the management of four Inner Hebrides sites under the National Trust for Scotland’s care: Iona, Staffa, Burg and Macquarie’s Mausoleum.
Iona: This small island off the coast of Mull, surrounded by white sandy beaches and turquoise seas, is often known as the cradle of Christianity in Scotland, since St Columba and his followers arrived on its shores in AD 563.
Among those buried at the Benedictine Abbey, under the care of Historic Environment Scotland, are early Scottish kings including Macbeth. Iona has a strong island community, including crofts with common grazings, and farms.
Staffa: Famous for its basalt columns, Fingal’s Cave, puffins, fulmars and black guillemots, Staffa attracts thousands of visitors each year.
Having come into the care of the Trust in 1986, it was made a National Nature Reserve in 2001.
The volume of visitors travelling by boat to this remote island, measuring just half-a-mile by quarter-of-a-mile, and the protection of its unique assets require careful and sensitive management.
Burg, Mull: Golden eagles, red deer and otters inhabit this remote peninsula on the island of Mull, and conservation activity includes the management of species-rich sea braes, upland habitats and associated rare species and geology, including Slender Scotch Burnet, Iceland Purslane and fossil trees – including MacCulloch’s fossil tree – a 50-million-year-old imprint of a tree trunk in the cliffs.
Macquarie’s Mausoleum, Mull: Macquarie’s Mausoleum is the resting place of Lachlan Macquarie, a prominent character in the founding of modern day Australia, born on nearby Ulva.
The mausoleum is cared for by the National Trust for Scotland on behalf of the National Trust for Australia.
Closing date for the job is February March 3.
Conversation