Russell is currently a Council Member of the New Forest Association and has previously served as a Secretary of State appointed member of the New Forest National Park Authority. He is also a former editor of the Hampshire Bird Report and chair of the Seabird Group of UK and Ireland. He has previous experience of designing and delivering ambitious wildlife surveys and 'citizen science' programmes, including the SeaWatch SW programme from 2007-11 that generated 5000 hours of marine wildlife data. He has also undertaken survey work on endangered species such as Balearic Shearwater and Nightjar for UK government agencies and conservation bodies.