My interest in the natural world comes from my family: from bird lists we would write on holiday, and plant-hunting in the countryside around Bristol where I grew up. My family have been WTSWW members for many decades. My mum grew up in west Wales and so we visited every year, spending autumn half terms in Pembrokeshire. I remember wind-blown walks on Newgale, and discovering beached Goose Barnacles in Monk Haven. Staying overnight on Skomer was also a formative childhood experience for me, with that feeling of being truly enveloped in nature.
In the early 90s there were fewer safety restrictions for under 18s and I was able to go volunteering with Avon Wildlife Trust on my own when I was just 14. I was handed sharp tools, and introduced to the idea that conservation could actually be a career! So perhaps it’s no surprise I went on to study a BSc in Environmental Biology and then a PhD in mycology and ecology in Aberystwyth University before moving into the conservation sector.
Since then, I’ve done seabird research and monitoring contract work, worked as a reserves officer in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, and as Conservation Manager for the Trust. I’ve also worked for Plantlife, and I produce Natur Cymru magazine for INCC. Separately to my day job, I’m also chair of WWBIC, the Local Environmental Records Centre in west Wales.
As you can probably tell, I’m something of a generalist. My first loves were plants and birds, but I’m definitely a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. I’m a keen moth trapper, and for the last few years I’ve also been trying to teach myself how to identify mosses and liverworts. I’m not very good at it, but I really enjoy it.
Coming back to the Trust as Head of Terrestrial Nature Reserves brings together lots of things that I love: land management, survey and monitoring, and creative problem solving. Managing land is a real privilege; it’s the coalface of conservation, and land has a way of throwing the unexpected at you every day. It’s exciting!
It’s great to be back, and I’m looking forward to working with you all. Dysgwr Cymraeg dwi hefyd, a byddwn yn hapus iawn i ymarfer fy Nghymraeg gyda phobl.