The joys of being a park ranger in winter!
19/12/25 – Greg Higby, Park Manager for Nene Park Trust
Are you sitting comfortably? Enjoy this tale of winter wonders, firewood hustles and other rangering shenanigans.
If you’ve ever wondered what park rangers get up to during the colder months, let me paint you a picture -preferably with a chainsaw in one hand, a flask of lukewarm tea in the other, and several layers of thermal PPE during the magical time when the leaves are gone, the air is crisp, the main paths are under floodwater and every job somehow involves mud – lots of mud.
While most people are sipping hot chocolate and binge-watching box sets, the Park Management Team are embracing the chill, armed with grit, thermals, and a questionable amount of enthusiasm (which tends to wane after a full day in the rain).
Winter work is a special kind of character-building thing. You haven’t truly lived until you’ve tried to dig out a frozen gate post while your radio keeps shouting “low battery”—or the Park Manager is asking, “Why is this task taking so long?”
Firewood Sales: The unexpected side hustle
Firewood sales help support extra income for maintaining the park—and keep the rangers busy whether it’s a frosty morning or a blazing 30-degree summer day.
It starts innocently enough: a few logs here, a few bookings there. Next thing you know, we’re running a full-blown firewood empire. We’ve got spreadsheets, sawdust in places it shouldn’t be, and people asking if we deliver by sleigh. (We don’t. Yet.)
Daily Tasks: felling trees & fencing like pros (sort of)
Our daily routine includes tree safety work and felling trees with the grace of lumberjack ballerinas, and erecting stock fencing that occasionally resembles abstract art. There’s nothing quite like wrestling with wire in a gale while pretending you definitely know which way up the post driver goes.
We work in all weathers—rain, frost, and that special kind of sideways wind that only seems to exist in and around Nene Park. But we do it with style (and sometimes with one glove, because the other mysteriously vanished mid-task).
Park Management team spirit & the summer payoff
Despite the chaos, there’s a strange joy in winter work. The camaraderie, the shared confusion over which tool was meant for what, and the satisfaction of seeing a job well done—even if it took three attempts and a bit of improvisation.
And here’s the best part: when visitors return in the summer, strolling through the park with ice creams and sun hats, they’re unknowingly enjoying the fruits of our winter labour. That freshly laid path? Done in a hailstorm. Those sturdy fences? Installed while dodging airborne missiles broken off from nearby trees and questioning our life choices—just another day in winter ranger work. The peaceful woodland views? Maintained by rangers who spent January knee-deep in brambles.
So next time you’re soaking up the sunshine in the park, spare a thought for the winter warriors who made it all possible—with frozen fingers, muddy boots, and a lot of determination (and tea).
