Our team

Meet the people
that make it happen

We’re supported by so many fantastic people and groups,
take a look below to meet the team behind the charity.

team

Sandra King

CEO

Sandra King

CEO

Based in Northumberland and a regular visitor to the beaver site in Wallington, Sandra is deeply connected to both our mission and the local environment. She plays a pivotal role in supporting our team to deliver on our mission and strategic goals, ensuring a healthy balance of collaboration and challenge between staff and trustees. Sandra is an experienced charity leader, innovative thinker, and skilled convener. Sandra brings extensive experience in governance to her role. Sandra is a dedicated environmentalist, driven to take urgent action on the twin climate and ecological crises. Before joining Beaver Trust, she served as Chair of Northumberland Wildlife Trust and as Chief Philanthropy Officer and Deputy CEO at the largest Community Foundation in Europe, where she successfully brought philanthropists and grassroots charities together to achieve positive change.

Email:sandra@beavertrust.org

Dr Roisin Campbell-Palmer

Head of Restoration

Dr Roisin Campbell-Palmer

Head of Restoration

Roisin is a highly experienced field biologist and recognised beaver reintroduction specialist. She has authored over 25 peer-reviewed publications focusing mainly on beaver reintroduction, wildlife health screening, captive care and welfare. Roisin is also the lead author on the Eurasian beaver management handbook and completing her second book on beaver ecology, conservation and management. Roisin is highly experienced in animal trapping and handling, biological sample collection, remote monitoring techniques, field sign identification, data processing and translocation. Roisin advises various conservation projects across Britain, including conflict resolution, mitigation techniques and training. In 2020, she was recognised for her exceptional contributions and won the Conservation Scientist Award at the Nature of Scotland Awards.

Email:roisin@beavertrust.org

Eva Bishop

Head of Communications

Eva Bishop

Head of Communications

Eva leads our communications programme helping engage and inform the public and communities about river restoration and co-existing with beavers. Eva is a passionate environmentalist dedicated to climate action, conservation and wildlife resilience. She has worked on large scale renewable energy programmes for the UK, involving environmental impact assessments and community engagement, run carbon offset schemes abroad and founded a major wetland conservation and catchment restoration initiative. Most recently she has developed a climate action app and materials for schools eco initiatives.

Email:eva@beavertrust.org

Helen Scribbins

Finance Manager

Helen Scribbins

Finance Manager

Helen manages our internal operations and finances, and supports our governance with the management team and trustees. Helen is a financial and projects manager, interested in charity and community organisation governance. She grew up in Switzerland and Kenya, developing a love for wild places and travel. Having recovered from the culture shock of England, Helen has helped a range of clients including Taunton Women’s Aid and a renewable energy company. She is a trustee of Wiveliscombe Community Swimming Pool Club.

Email:helen@beavertrust.org

Robert Needham

Restoration Manager

Robert Needham

Restoration Manager

Rob helps coordinate on our Restoration projects. An experienced field biologist, he has worked with large carnivores in Norway and more recently, beaver related projects for over 10 years. He is currently at the write up stage of his PhD through the University of Southampton where he is investigating the interactions of beaver habitat modification on brown trout populations in Scotland. Rob is experienced in animal trapping and handling, survey techniques, data collection and analysis, electrofishing, PIT tag telemetry and GIS. He has also authored and co-authored peer-reviewed publications.

Email:rob@beavertrust.org

Sheelagh McAllister

Field Officer

Sheelagh McAllister

Field Officer

Brought up on her family‘s mixed working farm, Sheelagh developed passion and experience in animal welfare and conservation, before spending 7.5 years specialising in wildlife rehabilitation. Sheelagh has worked with most British mammal species including: beavers, otters, badgers, pine marten and red squirrels. She’s experienced in animal handling and trapping. Sheelagh’s expertise and experience in the field is respected throughout the UK and internationally. Her skillset is often sought in an advisory role for animal welfare and husbandry.

Email:sheelagh@beavertrust.org

Elliot McCandless

Communications Manager

Elliot McCandless

Communications Manager

Elliot manages our communications and education, engaging the public and key stakeholders on our work to restore rivers and help people to live alongside beavers again. Elliot was previously a Trustee of Scottish Wild Beaver Group before joining BT and is currently a Trustee of SCOTLAND: The Big Picture.

Email:elliot@beavertrust.org

Jolene Macnaughton

Fundraising Coordinator

Jolene Macnaughton

Fundraising Coordinator

Jolene is Beaver Trust’s new Fundraising Coordinator. This is the first time Beaver Trust has had a dedicated fundraiser and she will play a central role in growing the charity’s income to support vital restoration projects. Jolene is an experienced fundraiser, working in the charity sector for ten years across Salisbury, London and now Bedford.

Email:jolene@beavertrust.org

Alana Skilbeck

Restoration Project Officer

Alana Skilbeck

Restoration Project Officer

Alana is Beaver Trust’s new Restoration Project Officer. Alana is an experienced project administrator who helps to deliver all aspects of Beaver Trust’s restoration work. In her role she is currently developing efficient processes for project delivery, reporting and data handling across the restoration team’s work. Alana has previously worked for RSPB, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and most recently at Kent Wildlife Trust managing the Volunteer Programme. Alana has worked on a range of evidence led projects including the State of Nature in Kent 2021 report. She is passionate about making conservation and biological recording accessible to all.

Email:alana@beavertrust.org

Emily Bowen

Communications Officer

Emily Bowen

Communications Officer

Emily is our newest member of the Communications team, helping to reach new audiences and share our message. Eternally curious about the natural world and passionate about sharing wildlife and conservation stories, she believes that connecting people to nature is critical to it being given the chance to bounce back and to halt and reverse biodiversity declines. Emily joins us from Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, where she worked on a range of projects from website development and social media to producing a book of nature reserves cared for by the Trust.

Email:emily@beavertrust.org

Bethan Denro

Administration Support Officer

Bethan Denro

Administration Support Officer

Beth joins us as our new Administration Support Officer. With experience from other wildlife charities, she brings valuable skills to help us support our mission. Beth is passionate about nature restoration and actively participates in community conservation efforts in Somerset. Additionally, she manages a local nature network and organises community events in her village.

Email:beth@beavertrust.org

Jess Chappell

Policy Lead

Jess Chappell

Policy Lead

Jess is responsible for leading and coordinating Beaver Trust’s work to influence decision makers across Britain, in order to ensure that government policies and strategies in Scotland, England and Wales facilitate the restoration and normalisation of beavers and wetlands. Prior to working at Beaver Trust, Jess spent over ten years working in policy at the RSPB where she worked on a variety of policy areas, giving her a holistic view of what is needed to tackle the nature & climate emergency for wildlife, climate, and for people.

Email:jess@beavertrust.org

Holly Usher

Senior Education Officer

Holly Usher

Senior Education Officer

Holly is responsible for Beaver Trust's Education work, leading a programme to engage young people, community groups and the public to engage with beaver ecology, conservation and nature connection. Holly connects schools and beaver sites across Britain to provide exciting educational experiences and develops educational materials to support Beaver Trust's aims. She is passionate about helping young people to experience and connect with the wild spaces in the UK and teaching the positive impacts of beaver reintroduction on biodiversity and habitats. Holly has over 15 years experience working in education with a focus on Science and Forest Schools and has led environmental education projects alongside Essex Wildlife Trust and the RSPB.

Email:holly@beavertrust.org

Ben Morris

Senior Field Officer

Ben Morris

Senior Field Officer

Ben is our Senior Field Officer based in the Southeast of England. Previously working for the Environment Agency as one of their Beaver Technical Specialists, Ben has nearly ten years of experience working with and alongside the wild beaver population in Kent. Ben is also undertaking a part-time PhD which is looking to investigate how beavers are utilising intensively managed lowland wetland areas, some of the effects beavers may be having in existing wetland habitats, such as reed beds, and what small-scale green bank protection mitigation methods can be implemented to allow human-beaver coexistence.

Email:ben@beavertrust.org

trustees

Alasdair Harris

Chair

Alasdair Harris

Chair

Alasdair is the founder and Executive Director of Blue Ventures Conservation. He is an advisor to the United Nations Environment Programme, an honorary fellow of the University of Edinburgh School of Geosciences, Fellow of Ashoka and TED, and is widely published in peer reviewed literature and the wider media.

Victoria Heffer

Trustee

Victoria Heffer

Trustee

Victoria is head of the institutional business at Artemis Investment Management LLP. As a trustee of the Artemis Charitable Foundation, she significantly increased grant making to environmental causes. She is a committed environmentalist and enjoys putting this into practice on a hill farm in the Black Mountains. She is a trustee of food poverty charity, City Harvest.

Keith Shepherd

Trustee

Keith Shepherd

Trustee

Keith is an accountant, who has worked in investment management for large private, public and third sector funds, where he was a keen advocate of responsible investing. He is now a trustee of two grant-giving foundations, John Ellerman Foundation and Dunhill Medical Trust, where he focuses on environmental and financial issues.

Nicky Saunter

Trustee

Nicky Saunter

Trustee

Nicky supported setting up the charity and continues to advise on our strategy, programmes and fundraising. Nicky is a social entrepreneur and environmental campaigner with a particular interest in business ethics, wildlife and the rural economy. She lives in Somerset on a permaculture plot that has been undergoing re-wilding for over a decade. She runs Learning From The Land, a sustainable business consultancy, and co-founded the west country coffee chain The Boston Tea Party and the natural acoustics firm The Woolly Shepherd.

Matthew Brady

Trustee

Matthew Brady

Trustee

Matt coordinates the accounting and administration of global programs for Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières), based in Amsterdam. His professional focus bringing finance and technology expertise to non-profits includes years of enriching field work across Africa and India. Matt is also a former music artist with Atlantic Records in New York.

Katy Barke

Trustee

Katy Barke

Trustee

Katy is the Nature Recovery Manager at Northumberland Wildlife Trust and has spent much of her career working on landscape-scale species conservation projects including red squirrels, ospreys and water voles. Katy is also a longstanding trustee of Haltwhistle Youth Club.

Jim Bliss

Trustee

Jim Bliss

Trustee

Jim is from a farming background and has lived and worked on farms his whole life. He went on to run a large environmental program on the private Lowther Estate where he led the project to reintroduce beavers into Cumbria for the first time in 400 years. He has recently embarked on a Nuffield Farming Scholarship to look at the linkages between rewilding and marginal farming and now runs his own consultancy called Blissfully Wild advising other landowners and farmers how to manage their land for the benefit environment, social and economic outcomes.

Richard Allan

Trustee

Richard Allan

Trustee

Richard is a qualified lawyer with over 20 years of experience as a FTSE General Counsel. A trained biologist, he farms a top-fruit and livestock farm, alongside wild beavers, in Wiltshire and has implemented biodiversity projects (with both Bristol Avon Catchment Market and Wiltshire Council) focussed on wetlands and wood pasture. He is a Soil Association trustee and a member of its Farmers & Growers Board.

Ambassadors

Mya-Rose Craig

Naturalist, campaigner and blogger

Mya-Rose Craig

Naturalist, campaigner and blogger

Mya-Rose Craig (aka: Birdgirl) is an 18-year-old British Bangladeshi conservationist, environmentalist, writer, speaker, race activist and diversity expert. She is youngest person to have seen half of the world’s bird species and os the founder of pioneering equality/diversity project Black to Nature.

Megan McCubbin

Zoologist and TV presenter

Megan McCubbin

Zoologist and TV presenter

Megan is a zoologist and wildlife TV presenter. She joined the Springwatch team in 2020 and is soon to publish her debut book called ‘Back To Nature,’ in which she hopes to encourage a new generation of nature lovers to connect with the wonders of the natural world.

Sean McCormack

Veterinarian and presenter

Sean McCormack

Veterinarian and presenter

Sean is a veterinarian, conservationist and presenter with a lifelong passion for nature and wildlife. He runs Ealing Wildlife Group, a community conservation group in West London who are collaborating on the first truly urban reintroduction of beavers to London. He also hosts his own podcast, Sean's Wild Life, exploring issues around rewilding, food production and traditional nature conservation.

Polly Pullar

Naturalist, writer, photographer and wildlife rehabilitator

Polly Pullar

Naturalist, writer, photographer and wildlife rehabilitator

Polly Pullar is a naturalist, writer, photographer and wildlife rehabilitator with over 35 years professional experience specialising in wildlife and countryside matters. She is the author of ten books, including – Fauna Scotica, Animals People in Scotland; A Richness of Martens – Wildlife Tales from the Highlands; The Red Squirrel – A Future in the Forest; A Scurry of Squirrels – Nurturing the Wild; The Horizontal Oak – A Life in Nature.

Maddie Moate

Presenter, YouTuber and children's author

Maddie Moate

Presenter, YouTuber and children's author

Maddie is an award winning presenter, YouTuber and children's author, best known for presenting the CBeebies science series Maddie's Do You Know? On her own YouTube channel, Maddie has been creating fun educational videos for the past ten years in the hope of encouraging a new audience to stay curious, adventurous and a love for the natural world. Her first book "Stuff", is full of mind-bursting facts and extraordinary stories of the ingenious ways people around the world, and across history, have made, used and reused the stuff around them, inspiring a curiosity and sense of wonder about a more sustainable future.

Our team

Meet the people
that make it happen

team

Sandra King

Dr Roisin Campbell-Palmer

Eva Bishop

Helen Scribbins

Robert Needham

Sheelagh McAllister

Elliot McCandless

Jolene Macnaughton

Alana Skilbeck

Emily Bowen

Bethan Denro

Jess Chappell

Holly Usher

Ben Morris

trustees

Alasdair Harris

Victoria Heffer

Keith Shepherd

Nicky Saunter

Matthew Brady

Katy Barke

Jim Bliss

Richard Allan

Ambassadors

Mya-Rose Craig

Megan McCubbin

Sean McCormack

Polly Pullar

Maddie Moate

JOIN OUR CASTOR COMMUNITY

Connect with us

Our team

Meet the people that make it happen

team

trustees

Ambassadors

JOIN OUR CASTOR COMMUNITY

Connect with us

Meet the people
that make it happen