Robin Searle

Robin is a skilled and well-travelled ecologist and project manager who has worked in conservation and ecology since 2000 for organisations including the RSPB, Natural Resources Wales and Cumbria Wildlife Trust. He has worked for Redwing since 2024, first as a professional surveyor and now as the operations lead on multiple large and small habitat surveys across Scotland and Ireland.

Robin grew up in the Cairngorms with a passion for nature, and especially birds, from an early age which led him to study Zoology at Aberdeen University before embarking on a career in ecology and conservation that has seen him play a key role in protecting upland habitats in the UK with many years of experience of surveying birds, flora, mammals and invertebrates. He therefore has an extensive knowledge of survey methodologies across a broad range of taxa.

Robin was involved in large scale upland SSSI, SAC and SPA notification / designations, and their subsequent management, whilst working for the Countryside Council for Wales (now Natural Resources Wales) in Snowdonia. It was during this time that he was fortunate to train and work with Ben Averis on NVC habitat surveys becoming a proficient upland NVC surveyor and developing a passion for botany. These skills were then subsequently developed further across a broader range of habitats in Cumbria including woodlands, hay meadows and calcareous grasslands.

Robin has also spent a number of years travelling, living and working in remote parts of the world including the Himalayas, the jungles of south-east Asia and East Africa. He has worked as a marine biologist on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and as a freelance bird and safari guide in both Asia and Uganda.  He also ran a successful translation and marketing start-up in Indonesia and helped to create and manage an arts and entertainment business in Uganda. Having returned to Scotland Robin now brings these other skills back to ecology and conservation.

As Redwing’s habitat operations lead Robin is responsible for all habitat operations and enquiries, including survey resources, client relations, team allocation, scheduling, recruitment, and managing and developing Redwing’s habitat survey team.