I am currently working as a seasonal ecologist at Jacobs, based in Cardiff, where I am gaining valuable practical experience in wildlife surveys, such as UKHabs, water vole, otter, badger, great crested newt and bat emergence/re-entry. I am working on sites around the country and am learning a huge amount about the technicalities of ecology, and the wildlife that I'm surveying.

I aim to apply these skills to conservation-oriented projects in future.

I secured a place on the Up Skill, Down Dale volunteer programme  at the Yorkshire Dales National Park.  Every month (from June 2022 to May 2023) I took part in a new conservation-related activity to gain valuable practical experience and skills in a variety of areas to support the academic theory studied during my master's degree. 

https://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/park-authority/looking-after/volunteering/up-skill-down-dale-youth-volunteering/

During the summer of 2021, I worked for Crutchley Farms in Dorset. The owner was  enthusiastic about sustainable agricultural practice and conservation and implemented these attitudes into the way the farm and surrounding land was managed. Living out of a shepherd's hut, I assisted the landowner with maintenance tasks,  including:

• Pruning timber trees

• Installing and dismantling farm infrastructure

• Recycling forestry materials

I gained lots of experience independently driving a 4x4 off road in order to access various woodlands for pruning.  It was a great experience and I really enjoyed the rural setting and lifestyle. 

After graduating in 2020 and between Covid lockdowns, I volunteered for a number of conservation projects around Norfolk to build up my experience in the field. 

• Norfolk Wildlife Trust (in partnership with Wymondham Nature Group): mowing and clearing cuttings at a wildflower meadow in Hethel Churchyard in order to keep the soil poor to discourage grass growth and encourage wild flowers.

• Wild Hethersett: brushcutting at Beckhithe Meadow in order to create space to plant a hedge to protect the meadow from a new housing development. https://wildhethersett.wordpress.com/home/beckhithe-meadow/

• Norfolk Wildlife Trust: coppicing at Lower Wood in Ashwellthorpe to increase habitat variety and biodiversity in the wood.

• Ted Ellis Trust: replacing an old boardwalk with a sturdier, recycled plastic one at Wheatfen.

In August-September 2019, I went WWOOFing in New Zealand. I worked on three smallholdings, including Mahurangi Olives (https://www.mahurangiolives.co.nz/), looking after livestock, grounds maintenance, and operating farming machinery. 

Planting, weeding and maintaining a number of green roofs around the Columbus, OH area, including Nationwide Children's Hospital and Battelle Darby Creek Nature Centre.

https://highergroundgreenroofs.com/

Identifying and tagging trees at Chadwick Arboretum to consolidate old GIS data into a new master database 

https://chadwickarboretum.osu.edu/

I spent an incredible three months at the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary, Minnesota, a protected area for wild American black bears. Work there consisted of maintaining the grounds (strimming roads and pathways, litter picking etc), monitoring bear population health through fieldwork and communicating with the public visiting the sanctuary, providing interpretation and education.

https://www.americanbear.org/

As part of my Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award I carried out a six month long survey of Marston Marsh nature reserve recording flora and fauna and entering this into a database for the Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service (NBIS). I also volunteered weekly with the Norfolk Wildlife Trust to coppice sections of Ashwelthorpe wood to create greater habitat diversity in the wood.