Charity Insights

Finished the last week of my internship, it’s been an absolutely amazing experience, I’ve had involvement in multiple different sectors of the wildlife trust and have felt really welcomed into every different department.
This week I’ve done multiple different wildlife based things, on Monday I was invited onto a lichen course to learn more about lichen, and see how we could maybe include it into the school curriculum, it was surprisingly interesting and I think I learnt a lot.

I also did some more work with the midweek volunteers, clearing ragwort out of fields as it is poisonous to live stock.

On Thursday I worked with the wildlife trust running 2 children’s parties, den building and fire building, it was a really easy day and I really enjoyed it.

On Friday morning the Severn Trent water team took me out in the landrovers around the reservoir to clear some paths and teach me about their partnership with the wildlife trust and how they use it to improve conservation onsite, and as it was my last day they took me around the reservoir on the power boat in the afternoon, it was absolutely incredible and was such a perfect end to my internship.

I was really sad to leave, but I don’t think it will be the last time I will see my colleagues as I was invited later on over summer to go on a otter monitoring boat trip which I am really excited for.

I have thoroughly enjoyed  every part of my internship, I’ve loved spending so much time outside, especially since the weathers been so great (only one rainy day) and feel I have really improved my people skills having to deal with parents and teachers so often.

I would recommend charity insights to anyone else thinking of applying because its been such an amazing experience for me.

Read Derbyshire Wildlife Trust – Week 4 in full

Last week was another amazing week full of fantastic experiences. I’m struggling to believe my placement is almost over.
Been so busy over the past week getting involved in many different activities, as I mentioned in my last post on Saturday the 19th I went to a small mammal trapping event which was a lot of fun, we basically used traps in order to get statistical values for the numbers of small mammals in an area of woodland. It was a great experience.

Later on in the week, I worked with a few more school groups, running various activities which I now feel confident leading. I also was able to view some other activities schools can get involved with for example measuring river depths and speeds in order to see weather it’d be a suitable habitat for a water vole which is a species the wildlife trust is particularly concerned about.

On Wednesday and Thursday I was involved with working with the midweek volunteers in order to see what conservation work the wildlife trust actively does while running their nature reserves. On Wednesday we went to a woodland nature reserve to clear invasive none native species in order to allow succession of outcompeted native species and on Thursday we cleared a footpath. Although it has been good to experience other departments within the wildlife trust I have to admit I have much preferred working with the education department and raising awareness for the charity than working in hands on conservation work.

Over the weekend I was needed to help run a stall at a local event, to raise awareness for the trust by providing various activities for families to get involved with,  it was good fun and its really satisfying knowing that a lot of money and awareness is being raised for a good cause.

The first three weeks of the internship have gone so fast, I’ll be really sad to finish and say goodbye to my colleagues at the end of next week.

 

 

Read Week 3 – Derbyshire Wildlife Trust in full

Week 2 has produced some new challenges, I’ve been involved in a few different activities in comparison to last week and have also grown in confidence enough to lead a few of the activities I’ve become more comfortable with.

On Tuesday I spent the day with the rangers getting an experience of what they do, I spent most the day doing weeding, although this probably wasn’t the most exciting activity to be involved in,  they did promise me that next time I’m with them it’ll be in a more interesting line of work. I’ve also arranged a meeting to speak with a ranger who had a large involvement in the production of the water cycle exhibition which will be really useful for my project, he will be able to give me more information about the planning and production of the display.

 This week I was trusted in taking the responsibility of a mini beasting activity, which was  nerve racking at first but after seeing how much the first group children enjoyed it, I felt a lot more confident for the next groups later that day. Working with various different wildlife trust staff, I find it interesting to watch all their different teaching styles and observe the way they deal with different situations.

On Friday I had probably one of my biggest challenges so far, having to do a water filtration activity with a group of children, all with learning difficulties; trying to help them to maintain their interest, while also paying extra special attention to ensure they were supervised in order to perform safe practise was a lot more difficult than I expected.

Tomorrow I look forward to getting involved in a family event in small mammal trapping, to monitor the numbers of small mammals in the Carsington area – early morning start, have to be at work at 7:30am!

So to sum it all up its been another productive week and I’ve been working hard on planning my project, I cant believe its already the end of the second week, I’ll be sad to leave at the end of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read Week 2 – Derbyshire Wildlife trust in full

The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust is one of 47 local trusts around the UK working to promote and protect local wildlife. The trust manages 42 nature reserves (when in Derbyshire you are never more than 9 miles away from one), including moorland, wetland, woodland and wildflower meadows. The trust works with a range of different establishments such as schools, communities, local authorities and landowners to promote and protect the natural environment. I was interested in the work of the Trust because I am from the local area so obviously its protection should be important to me, but also as a biologist I thought the work I’d be involved in witvery relevant to my course.

I’ve been working in the education department of the Trust, and seeing as it’s summer time I’ve had a very large involvement in hands-on outdoorsy activities such as pond dipping. You’d think it would get boring the third day in a row, but it’s amazing how everyday you somehow manage to find a new creature you’ve not yet seen. Working with children has been really enjoyable, but they keep you on your toes, I got thrown in the deep end on my first day when a child somehow managed to fall into the pond.

As well as pond dipping I’ve also bee helping in various other activities such as an owl pellets activity, where you basically dissect owl pellets (which are the indigestible parts of an owls prey) to analyse their diet to see how the activities of humans can indirectly affect owl populations by limiting their food resources. Also a very interesting subject.

Over the course of my first week the plan for my project has changed slightly, I originally was going to make a activity booklet for school children to take home with them after a field trip to the wildlife discovery room. However upon speaking to various teachers and my colleagues, I’ve decided to instead make 2 different activity work books, to go with the water cycle and wildlife exhibitions at the Carsington water centre. I have spent several  hours of my free time after working going around each exhibition and briefly planning what each booklet should include to get across the main information the activity centre aims families and school groups to take home with them.

Upon reflection, I don’t think I could have asked for a better first week. It has absolutely flown by; the work is really interesting, I spend most my time outside in the sun, in a gorgeous area (as seen from the picture), and to top it all off my colleague’s are really friendly and couldn’t have been more welcoming to me. I really look forward to what might happen in the weeks to come.

 

 

 

 

Read Week 1 – Derbyshire Wildlife Trust in full