Happy 25th Birthday to CJS: enter their photo competition

Any botanist or ecologist who has looked for a job in the sector in the past quarter of a century will know the initials CJS: Countryside Jobs Service has become the first stop for anyone wanting to know what vacancies are available. 

BSBI has also used the excellent (free) CJS service in recent years to advertise voluntary positions and surveys, such as Atlas 2020, the New Year Plant Hunt... projects we run with partners, such as the National Plant Monitoring Scheme, have also been advertised in CJS online. 

So when the CJS team got in touch recently to tell us about their plans to celebrate their 25th birthday, we were keen to get involved! Read on to find out more, not just about the excellent service CJS has built up over the years, but also to discover what BSBI and CJS are doing to celebrate this achievement. There's an opportunity for all of you to get involved and there's a prize on offer!

The verge at Westleigh in Devon in full flower;
this illustrates a feature article written for us
 by Tom Whitlock, ecologist, about
their pilot project Life on the Verge
Image: Tom Hynes 

Over to Kerryn from CJS:      

"In 1994 a little newsletter for countryside rangers was first posted out. In the 25 years since, Countryside Jobs Service or CJS has grown to become the countryside, conservation, ecology and wildlife sectors' leading source of information, news and job adverts for both paid and voluntary roles, reaching around 100,000 readers across the country in all sectors every month.

"One thing that has remained unchanged across all the years is that CJS is unique in offering free advertising for just about everything relating to our sector. What has changed is that Countryside Jobs Service now advertises much more than countryside jobs. Our range has expanded to include ecology, wildlife, animal care, community involvement, rural and urban sites, fundraising, admin support, visitor management, arboriculture, environmental and outdoor education and today we publish a lot more than 'just' jobs, advertising voluntary roles and recruitment days, apprenticeships and intern placements, citizen science projects, training courses, professional events, a full news round up service and a vast array of in depth information and articles providing insights and help to establish professional and new starters alike. 

The winner of our Photography Competition
 in August is this lovely image of
the Bothy at Harris on Isle of Rum
taken by Isabelle Miles whilst volunteering.
The grassland at Harris glens kept grazed
by highland cattle, rum ponies and feral goats,
encouraging a variety flowers and plants,
such as marsh orchid and pillwort

"CJS is an ethical small business publishing free & low cost information to promote countryside careers in the UK & environmental conservation worldwide, aiming to support as many conservation organisations in as many ways as we can.

"As part of our 25th Birthday Celebrations CJS is running a Photography Competition. We're not necessarily looking for the most perfect, most technically accurate image (although nice clear pictures are usually better than fuzzy ones!) but those that reflect our glorious countryside and all that goes with working in the management of landscapes, with wildlife, in education, everything that is part and parcel of daily life. 

"We want to encourage people to go out, take time to look for the unexpected, the hidden and the lovely and in so doing reconnect with the natural world all around us. In keeping with the CJS ethos of "promoting UK countryside careers and environmental conservation worldwide" we see the competition as an opportunity to share your photographs with a wider audience, introducing you to new audiences, bringing new visitors to your site, increasing interest in your project.

"Find out more about our photography competition, see some of the entries, read about the amazing prizes we have on offer - including a year's free membership of BSBI! - and how to enter your photos here".

BSBI is delighted to help our friends at CJS celebrate their 25th birthday! We really appreciate the service they offer to us and to other organisations and societies in the sector, so we are happy to offer a year's free membership of BSBI (currently £30pa) to the winner of this month's photo competition, the theme of which is 'Plants and Botany'. Already a BSBI member? There are other prizes on offer, although obviously nothing is quite as good as BSBI membership ;-) But we hope our members will take part anyway just for the fun of it.

A very happy 25th birthday to Kerryn, Amy and all our friends at CJS!