Change of Scenery for Park’s New Ranger

AFTER an isolated year working with red deer on the “forbidden” Isle of Rum in the Inner Hebrides, a park ranger has returned to urban life with a new job in South Yorkshire.

Emily Goodrum, 28, has been appointed a community ranger in Phoenix Park in Thurnscoe, near Barnsley.

It will be a big change for the Aberystwyth University graduate, who has spent the last 12 months on the remote Scottish island, which is home to just 30 people.

The population lives in the village of Kinloch on the east coast, where there is a school and village shop but no church or pub.

The rest of the volcanic island is home to craggy peaks and a variety of birds and animals including sea eagles, deer, goats, otters and seals.

Rum became known as the Forbidden Isle during the 19th century, when it was run as a private shooting estate and closed to the public. As a result, the population plummeted from around 400 in the 1820s to just 22 in the 2001 census.

However, the welcome is much warmer now .

“I had a really great time and never once felt lonely,” Miss Goodrum said.

“The red deer project on the island is one of the world’s longest running large mammal studies so it was a privilege to take part.”

Before moving to Rum, she worked on eco-projects in a series of exotic locations around the globe such as Guatemala and Costa Rica, as well as closer to home in Sherwood Forest.

During her time on the island she worked on a red deer research project run by Edinburgh and Cambridge universities that looks at animal behaviour and population.

Her job will now be to organise special events, maintain leisure facilities and encourage people to use the 165-acre Phoenix Park, which was created by the Forestry Commission in 2001 at a cost of Pounds 4m following the closure of Hickleton Colliery more than a decade previously.

Miss Goodrum, originally from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, said: “I wanted to work with community groups and Phoenix Park is already a terrific resource for local people.

“I’ll be working hard to to get even more folk involved enjoying this beautiful green space.”

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