Introducing our Long Term Volunteers- Part 1!

Hi everyone, my name is Clare and I am one of the Long-Term Volunteers (LTV) for the spring season. I come from a small town in Wiltshire, where I have lived all of my life. I am a student at Nottingham Trent University, currently on a placement year, gaining lots of important experience that will improve my chances of getting a job after university. I study Wildlife Conservation and in September will go back to do my final year.

 

A photo of me getting ready to take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch earlier this year.

 Skomer is my third and final placement of the year, before this I volunteered in Italy for three months (Sept-Nov 2018) working to help the Marsican brown bears, this included things like setting up camera traps, looking for bear signs of presence and involved lots and lots of mountain hiking. After Italy I did a second placement, working for a local ecological consultancy, in Somerset, where I helped with surveys and report writing, which I really enjoyed. 

Hiking in the beautiful Apennine mountains in the Abruzzo region of Italy, looking over the town of Anversa Delgi Abruzzi, which was where I lived for the three months I was there.

At the top of Monte Genzana (2170m), an incredible experience which has made me want to climb many more mountains in my lifetime.

   After university I would love to do my own research. My main aim in life is to make a real difference in the world of conservation and hope that I can inspire others to love nature as much as I do. I have always had a love of wildlife and it was probably my grandma who inspired me the most, through her love of gardening and nature. My particular favourites are birds, butterflies, bees and wildflowers. As well as my love of wildlife I also have a love for photography and my camera has already been used a lot since arriving on Skomer. Hiking is also a favourite activity of mine which I have been very lucky to have done a lot of in the past year, next year I hope to do Snowdon.

One of many puffin photos I have already taken since being on Skomer.

I have been on Skomer for just over three weeks now and I am absolutely loving it. I am already driving the tractor and giving talks to guests. I am a keen birder and my favourite sightings so far have been short eared owls, hen harrier, manx shearwater and of course the puffins!

Looking over North Pond during my first week on Skomer (I’m in the middle).

 

During my time here I will also be doing my own research project, which I have already made a start on, so keep a look out for another post from me soon to find out what I’m doing 😊

Thanks for reading,

Clare (LTV)