​

Behind the Community Ecology Movement is Janine Finlay, a New Zealand/British nature lover living in the wilds of Scotland. Janine has a PDA in Ecological Surveying from the SRUC, works as a freelance dusk bat surveyor, and has Badger Surveying training (she has an eagle eye for burrows and is a fascinating person to go surveying with)!

​

What really sets Janine apart is her hands-on experience in community-based amateur ecology. As co-facilitator of her local Eco Working Group, she’s helped record hundreds of species, including protected otters, badgers, water voles, and red squirrels - records that have played a key role in supporting a formal ecological survey of a cherished biodiverse area. She’s also partnered with conservation and wildlife organisations like Buglife, Froglife, and the Loch Lomond Bat Group to offer training and outreach for the Eco group. For seven years, Janine also served on the board of a community organisation working to bring land into local ownership for the purposes of community resilience and natural restoration.

​

She’s also a BAFTA and RTS award-winning science and natural history producer and director - and camera person (credited with BBC4 'Inside the Bat Cave' and Channel5 'Secret Life of the Forest'). As a producer and director she has worked with scientists and universities all over the world to deliver onscreen studies about the natural world and people, and she had the privilege of setting up the film unit for the World Wildlife Fund, where she made critical campaign films to lobby politicians on issues such as the Common Fisheries Policy.  Now she records high quality 4K wildlife footage around Scotland of her encounters with nature - check out her instagram link in contacts or some of the clips on this website.

​

Janine also had the incredible opportunity to be the John Muir Trust Ranger at Britain's remotest beach - Sandwood Bay - where she learned seabird and marine life surveying, and ran natural engagement events.

​

Over many years, Janine has trained in a wide range of areas, including Mindfulness Facilitation, Eco-psychology, Active Hope Facilitation, Walking Leadership, and Natural Sciences.

​

Nature is at the heart of everything Janine does, and all of these diverse skills and experiences form a rich toolkit that help Janine share the wonders of the natural world with everyone.