![]() His role is to mitigate the threats to the four species that nest there using methods he calls “disturbance management”, which can involve setting up cordons to stop walkers straying into the habitats, to distracting birds of prey. In the summer, life is very active for Duncan, whose main focus is to ensure the tern population on the nature reserve does well. You could put me in a tent and I’d be happy, I don’t need very many comforts.”ĭuncan estimates that about 5,000 seal pups are born between October and January on the reserve “There’s running water, a washing machine, showers, so it’s not too bad. “I’m comparatively comfortable ,” he reflects. Instead, he passes the time reading, chatting to his colleagues and watching Netflix, since perhaps mercifully, the mobile signal is good.īut he's quite content to live without luxury and has done similar work since 2013, swapping his home in north Wales for conservation work on the uninhabited Isle of Noss in Shetland and the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland, which he had to leave once a week to shower and wash his clothes. Similarly, if you want to pop to the pub in the evening it’s not the place for you, says Duncan, since that too is at least an hour away. Forget something at the supermarket and it’s either do without or trek to the “local” Spar in Blakeney - a two-hour walk at high tide that takes an hour on foot if the water’s out. It's a lifestyle that requires a certain disposition and skillset, including the ability to plan ahead and enjoy one's own company. In the winter months, England's largest grey seal colony takes over the point and surround the lifeboat houseĪs well as the uneven floors, his part-time home is both leaky and draughty, though he is stoic about being semi-exposed to the elements, explaining that it’s near impossible to make a building constructed from timber and tin completely weatherproof in such an extreme environment. “It slopes from one end to the other which would have made it easier to get the boat out you can be chopping at the kitchen cabinets at level on one side of the room and at the other you’re chopping at navel level.” “T his tin box has been standing here for 100-plus years - rustic is the best way to describe it,” says Duncan, who is only the 12th ranger to move in. But after just a few years of service, the build-up of shingle made it impossible to launch the vessels and in 1922, the building came into the possession of the Trust, which has employed someone to live there ever since. But it’s definitely not for everyone, you’ve got to be willing to forgo some comforts.”ĭuncan’s home has been a colourful beacon on this stretch of coast since 1898 when it was used to house lifeboats for rescue operations at sea. “I saw the job advertised and thought that would suit me fine. “Remote living is a little bit of my thing really,” says Duncan. Between March and October, he and two assistants hunker down in a former lifeboat house that's a two-hour walk at high tide to the nearest shop. ![]() The 33-year-old is one of the National Trust’s live-in rangers and a custodian of Blakeney Point and its population of nesting seabirds. For seven months of the year, Duncan Halpin lives in a blue, tin-clad box on the Norfolk dunes - leaving only to escape the bitter cold and thousands of furious seals that winter brings to this isolated stretch of land. ![]()
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