Reflecting on a year as a Wild Trainee

Thursday 4 August 2022

The Wild Trainees

This team of hard-working volunteers are helping to deliver nature’s recovery through practical work and more to create bigger, better and more connected landscapes for people and wildlife.

Marbled white butterfly on knapweed at Daneway Banks (c) Sophie Harris

As the first year of the Wild Traineeship comes to an end, Ella looks back on the past year and how the experiences will help moving forwards.

July is my last month working as a Wild Trainee with GWT. Taking the option of a work placement year as part of a Zoology degree with Hartpury University, my Wild Traineeship has allowed me to have the most amazing experience, where I have learnt a huge amount from my mentor and the rest of the staff at GWT. Everyone has been so keen to help and give us as much knowledge, training and hands on experience as possible.

This opportunity has given me a thorough understanding and appreciation of the work involved in the preservation, enhancement and recreation and reconnection of Gloucestershire’s wild places. I have also chosen to undertake my research project for my undergraduate dissertation whilst working for GWT and have been collecting data on wild brown hares at Coombe Hill nature reserve.

I was based with the West Team at Tidenham Chase, but we covered a number of reserves and habitats including heathlands at Woorgreens, diverse woodlands and cliffs at Lancaut, wetlands at Coombe Hill, scrub and heathlands at The Park and wildflower meadows at Clarke’s Pool Meadow.

This gave me experience and knowledge of land management of a diverse range of habitats and fauna and flora. Lancaut was my favourite reserve, due to its stunning location; set between sheer cliffs on one side where peregrine’s nest and the River Wye on the other, where you can see herons, cormorants and even seals. Although, Lancaut was the most challenging reserve to reach whilst carrying all our equipment!

Large blue butterfly open winged on moss on ground — Large blue (c) Billy Heaney (2)

July has been a typical example of how interesting and diverse the work can be. We started the month working at Daneway Banks, which is both a nature reserve and a place of ecological study. It’s home to a variety of insects and is widely regarded as one of the best places in the world to see the large blue butterfly. We spent the day with Alan, GWT’s Lead Land Manager East, who gave us a tour of the reserve after briefly chatting about how he manages the site. We were on the lookout for the large blue and were lucky enough to spot a few.

In the hot spell, Andrew, another Wild Trainee, and I spent a few days carrying out the day to day management at a couple of the wild daffodil meadow reserves, Ketford Banks and Vell Mill Daffodil Meadow, where we brush cut overgrown vegetation. The following week the team and I had to carry out some hay cuts at Gwen & Vera’s Fields, which is one of the few wild daffodil meadows left in the area known as the "golden triangle" and provides the ideal habitat for other wildflower species throughout the year. Rather than using a more traditional and less physical approach – a four-wheel tractor and topper - we used a diesel two-wheel tractor which was a little more exhausting, but just as successful and more rewarding.

After the more physical work it was great to get out of the heat and into the cool shade of the bat cave – not the caped crusader type! Stenders Quarry is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is a haven for birds and butterflies. Bats roost in a tunnel under the quarry and we were tasked with installing baffle plates to protect the bats from external interference. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet or see any bats on the day.

Finally, my last task with GWT was putting ear tags on new Highland Hereford calves. This is an essential job as it’s a legal requirement that they are registered with an ear tag number. It was great to have the hands-on experience with the calves, which was a first for me.

It has been such a privilege working for GWT, meeting and working with some amazing people who I now class as friends. I have been given an insight into the important work that the Trust undertakes on a daily basis and have a greater appreciation of the variety of work that is needed to protect our native wildlife. The moto “Bigger, Better More Joined Up” is now something I will take with me in the future, and the training I’ve received will be a huge help - especially when I complete my degree and begin applying for jobs in the conservation sector.

Although a job in land management can be physically demanding and means working in all weathers, the Traineeship has been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had, and I will certainly miss not being with the West Team next month.