Week 1 

On my first day I had the opportunity to attend a guided walk exploring Woodwalton Fen in celebration of World Peatlands Day. It began with an engaging talk highlighting all the great projects the Wildlife Trust is involved in, aiming to restore wetlands and support biodiversity. Throughout the walk I enjoyed interacting with visitors and spotting some of the creatures that live in this unique environment.  

In my first week I was also able to get involved with a Forest School session, which was an exciting and new experience for me. I helped some of the students create reed boats to float on the water, testing how different structures float or sink and which materials are best to use. Seeing the students' progress with their ideas, with so much creativity, was a particularly rewarding experience.  

Alongside the induction training, I worked on collating information for a ‘Peat Tower’ for the Norfolk Show with the other interns. This involved researching the importance of peat soils, the formation of bog oak, and techniques used to monitor water levels, such as rust rods and dip wells. I found the investigation work very interesting and enjoyed working with Kaitlyn and Lucy towards a common goal. My first week has been particularly insightful, learning about the work being carried out by the Wildlife Trust and gaining experience working with new people. 

Week 2 

 My second week has been very varied, which has given me the opportunity to learn lots of new skills. I had a busy start to the week heading straight out to the field, with minor delays inflicted by the railway crossing, to help with a grassland survey. Whilst my botany experience is limited, I was eager to learn and happy to be outside enjoying the sunshine. Working with the other volunteers enabled me to learn from their experience and made the task less daunting as we would be working in teams. I was responsible for finding the quadrat location with the GPS device, which I was thankfully able to do with only a few wrong turns. As we progressed through the morning identifying species, such as False Oat-Grass, Yarrow and Yellow Rattle, it became gradually easier as I grew in confidence. However, there are definitely many more species I need to learn!  

I also had the chance to meet some of the conservation team and explore more of the Wildlife trust sites in the Great Fen area. Moving on from botany, I was introduced to monitoring conducted to improve biodiversity and support restoration projects. Seeing the camera traps in the field and then the videos they have captured was a really fun experience and I enjoyed seeing a technique I have studied at university in practice. Lucy and I assisted with the water vole surveys, which involved surveying rafts for droppings and feeding remains, whilst logging the exact location to aid future visits.  

The next day I was back based at Ramsey Heights to support a school visit, involving rotations between four different activities. Following the starter activity to introduce the students to the wildlife at Ramsey Heights, I assisted with pond dipping. Whilst this activity was new to many of the group, they embraced the challenge and caught a range of creatures, including water boatman and diving beetles! Then we created nature bunting, a nice memento to take home, and explored the caterpillar lifecycle with an engaging game, which the students particularly enjoyed. After lunch we began the nature walk, which started at the bird hide where we spotted a Little Grebe diving with her babies, which the students were delighted to see. On our walk we also spottled a Chinese water deer and the Great crested newts even made an appearance in the pond. After a very busy day we had a debrief to discuss the highlights of the day and to see what the students had learnt. Whilst it was a very hot and busy day, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience!