Hello! Welcome to COAST Sunderland and thank you for taking the time to visit our website. We are Becky and Sam, the new coastal officers delivering the Coast Project in Sunderland.

We thought it was about time we introduced ourselves and provided an update on some of the recent changes we have had within the team. For anyone who has engaged with the Coast Project previously, you are likely to have met Ian Graham who was the Sunderland Coast Project Officer for the last 6 years. Ian made the hard decision to retire in January and Sam and I have since taken over as the new officers. I was lucky enough to have a couple of months overlap with Ian before he left and it was fantastic to learn from him on the job. He delivered some fantastic initiatives as part of the project and we hope to follow in his footsteps and continue to make positive changes for our coastal wildlife and habitats.

You are likely to find Sam and myself out along the Sunderland coast as we conduct surveys or run event, so please stop and say hello if you see us- we are friendly I promise! We will be running a range of events over the summer months, from beach cleans to nature walks, so make sure to keep an eye out on our events page and social media for anything you might want to come along to.

About Becky

I am so excited to have joined the COAST Sunderland team and be given the opportunity to work on an environmental project within my hometown. I have a background in conservation and seabird ecology and before joining the coast team I was working at Natural England as a wildlife advisor. I am passionate about all things coastal and love nothing more than to be out and about along the coast, looking for wildlife. I am a keen birder and I feel so lucky to be in a job where bird surveys and chatting about birds are part of the 9-5!

About Sam

As someone with a life-long passionate for nature I am thrilled to be part of the COAST Sunderland team and to contribute to the efforts to promote and save local wildlife. I have a background in Herpetology, however lots of nature interests me including birds & creepy crawlies! As a local lad and a dedicated birder, I want to introduce others to the coast and inspire others to become as passionate as me.