Week 5- Communities & Education Day!

On Friday 21^st March, I headed off to Paxton Pits nature reserve in St. Neots to meet up with the rest of the Communities and Education team of the Wildlife Trust BCN. Immediately, everyone welcomed me, and I got settled in very quickly. Before the meeting, everyone introduced themselves which helped me learn about their jobs and where they were based. Although, trying to remember people's names was very tricky!

As the meeting went on, I didn’t have much to say as I was mainly observing how everything works and learning about various agendas. I found it interesting how different everyone works and tackles certain things. Learning some handy tips and tricks helped to develop my knowledge even further, which will be useful for future opportunities. By the end of the day, I had a more comprehensive understanding about the Wildlife Trust BCN.

After a quick break, we all migrated outside to where we naturally want to be. A various selection of tools was brought out to do a quick reminder of names, what to use them for, how to use them, and of course, safety. Although I have worked with some tools before, such as using a mattock while volunteering at university, there were quite a few which I never knew what they were called, or what exactly they were used for. Now I can start calling items by their proper names and not just “thingamajig”.

My favourite part of the day was after lunch: walking around the nature reserve! I have never been to Paxton Pits before, so I was excited to get out and start learning about the wildlife here. We saw quite a few different faunae, such as Herons sitting proudly in their nests, or Great Crested Grebes cruising past. At one point when we turned a corner, a Muntjac was nibbling the plants nearby, it was so close that I thought it was a labrador at first! Debbie gave us a great tour, even mentioning some intriguing historical facts about the reserve, like the site of the old Victorian house (“Wray House”) that once stood nearby. A place I will be visiting again.

Week 6

After a busy week of admin activities and various tasks, I finished my last day of the internship with another school visit. This time it was Elm C of E reception kids that joined us, for their first ever school trip!

 Claire and I have done a few of these by now, so we decided to take a joint lead on the “Yes/No” (guessing which animals’ lives in the Great Fen). As we start and end the day with this, we both took turns leading and supporting each other. Normally, I would be incredibly nervous and anxious to stand up and talk in front of anyone, but because of the last few weeks (and months with volunteering!), I was able to stand up and talk confidently, without shaking like a leaf. I enjoyed it a lot more than expected, hearing the students shouting out the answers and teaching them some new animals.

 During this visit, they had 4 different activities: nature walk, den building, frog cycle game, and sowing seeds. The group that I was shadowing, I had a chance to take lead for the den building activity, talking them through the safety rules and encouraging them with their engineering/creativity. The sun was shining, and the birds were singing throughout the day, perfect way to end my internship.

It’s gone by so fast! The past 6 weeks has been amazing and inspiring. I felt like I have grown and learnt so much as an individual. Not only have I learnt about the education and community side of conservation, but I have also developed my wildlife identification and tracking skills, with the biggest achievement being my confidence.

If you had told me last year that I could easily stand up and engage with an audience of students (and enjoy it), I would have thought it was an April Fools joke. I even tackled my small fear of beetles during a Water beetle course with Henry Stanier where I held up one of the large diving beetles (The Wasp) ...even though my hands were shaking non-stop. All thanks to the confidence I have gained here.

 Everyone I have met, from the volunteers to the C&E team, and most importantly the staff here at Ramsey Heights, have been amazing, supporting me in various ways. I now feel like I have gained the necessary skill sets that can support me with future opportunities within the conservation sector, and I look forward to continuing my volunteer work for the Wildlife Trust BCN!