My passion for nature stems from Mum taking me to local nature reserves throughout my childhood. While my love for the outdoors came about through joining Dad on walks along the Gower peninsular come rain or shine.
My Work Placement with The Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales
Over Easter I was excited to spend two weeks on placement with The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales. Growing up in Swansea, my home has always been in South Wales. I completed my biology degree at Cardiff University, and I’m now studying towards my Master’s in Global Ecology and Conservation.
I was interested in doing my placement with The Wildlife Trusts as they play a big role in protecting nature, working towards making Wales wilder. It’s also an organisation where community engagement with wildlife is prioritised. I had an amazing time throughout my two weeks, placed with lots of different teams across the trust. Grassland surveying helped me to improve my plant identification capabilities. Practical work parties gave me the chance to develop land management skills such as path maintenance. I also joined activities connecting people to nature, which inspires appreciation of the natural world.
My personal highlights from this experience were seeing blue and great tit eggs and chicks during nest box monitoring. Along with spotting bottlenose dolphins off the New Quay coast while conducting marine mammal surveys.
Although I’m still exploring different career paths, I aspire to find a role where I can help the natural world to thrive. Perhaps through species conservation work, habitat restoration, engagement and education, or research.