So far, I have really enjoyed everything that I have been a part of. I have also already seen some very exciting wildlife such as marsh harriers, plenty of muntjacs and Chinese water dear and even a water vole! I am really looking forward to everything that is still to come.

About me:

I have always had a passion for wildlife and the environment and wanted to make it part of my career. In 2020 I graduated from Plymouth University with a BSc in Conservation Biology. I thoroughly enjoyed my degree and had some amazing opportunities which fuelled my passion for nature. Unfortunately, I graduated into a pandemic, so conservation jobs were few and far between. This time allowed me to think about what my future looked like, so as restrictions started to ease in April 2021 I decided to move to Bristol to start work as a Primary Teaching Assistant. Quickly I learnt that I really enjoyed working in education and it solidified my desire to combine my environmental background with education. Therefore, when I saw this internship I knew it was the perfect opportunity for me, and so far it has not disappointed!

What I’ve been up to:

Further to Katharine explaining some of the things we have been up to so far I thought I would give a brief overview of what I have been involved with at Carlton in my first few weeks as an intern.

I have done a few Wild Tots sessions, the weekly toddler group that provides children with the opportunity to explore the woodland environment through hands-on (messy!) activities. It has been wonderful to see the imaginations of the little ones as they create snail cakes from mud and buses from tree branches.

Other groups also visit the reserves such as beaver and cubs groups. I have been involved with a couple of these dissecting owl pellets which was great fun seeing what little bones the children could find. Surprisingly, it was adults that were getting a bit squeamish. It was also great to have bats flying over our heads while Jo introduced the evening's activities.

Another really good day was the Learning Volunteer Training day. Volunteers are a vital part of everything that the Suffolk Wildlife Trust does so it was lovely to see everyone having fun and getting involved with the activities we do with the school groups as well as learning more about them myself. We rapidly turned back into kids and became quite competitive with what we’d found when dyke dipping or when creating our leaf crowns in the woodland. The beautiful sunshine didn’t hurt either.