A bit about me…
Hello all, I’m Rob Lee, the new Trainee Reserves Officer working for Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust. I’m writing this blog to keep you all up to date with what I’m getting up to over the year of my traineeship, and to be able to share my experiences of working across the trust’s reserves throughout the seasons. First things first, a brief background into how I got here...!
I’ve had a love for being outdoors since I was very young; growing up, my family had a small chalet on the Wreake where we’d spend time over school holidays. I have vivid memories of the bright red galls on the leaves of the enormous crack willows that lined the river, of watching shoals of minnow (‘tiddlers’ as I used to know them!) darting around the shallows being keenly eyed up by a kingfisher, and of sitting outside at night watching bats dance around our heads. Fast forwarding a few years, I found myself feeling unfulfilled in my job; I realised that this discontent was linked to the decreasing amount of time I found myself immersed in nature (in retrospect, I should have noticed sooner as I kept finding myself saying “I’m going to run away and live in the woods”…but hindsight has 20:20 vision, and probably a pair of 10 x 42 binoculars to boot).
I quit my job and decided to spend as much time outdoors as possible; I signed up as a conservation volunteer with the Bradgate Park Trust and spent about six months doing a range of practical conservation tasks. I was having the time of my life and with the mindset of ‘if I’m loving it in the cold, rain, wind, and snow, I’ll be happy any time of the year, I started looking for jobs within the conservation sector. When I saw this position advertised, I would’ve been mad not to apply and I must’ve done something right in my interview, as I got offered the role and was quick (and very excited to be able) to say yes!
Work so far…
I’ve been in post for just over two months now; most of my time consists of assisting the reserves officer with organising and managing the midweek volunteering task days. These days can take place at any of the reserves across the two counties (excluding Rutland Water), and can entail anything from pulling thistles to emergency fencing work when cattle decide to go rogue and break onto a reserve…it’s a very varied job! Additionally, I get the pleasure of meeting and working with the amazing volunteers who give their time to helping us look after the reserves. They really are a fantastic bunch and have such a huge wealth of knowledge about different types of wildlife, habitat management, and of the reserves themselves…they’re teaching me a lot and I’m extraordinarily grateful to them.
I started my traineeship at the beginning of ‘pulling season’, and there certainly hasn’t been a shortage of things to pull! Be it balsam, bracken, bramble, ragwort, or thistle, we’ve been there to uproot them – a task that at first feels somewhat drastic and heavy-handed – but seeing patches of bilberry liberated from the bracken at Charnwood Lodge, or lords-and-ladies from the invasive Himalayan balsam at Narborough bog makes it clear to see why we do it. In addition to all the pulling, there’s been plenty of cutting back, slashing, pruning, raking and tarp dragging to tackle. This all sounds quite extreme, but it’s for a good cause; clearing vegetation around young trees helps them get light and water without being swamped out by grass, slashing and pruning along paths helps with access so the reserves can really be enjoyed.
I had a good intro into fencing at Wymeswold Meadows (put to good use with those aforementioned bovine rascals at Cossington Meadows!) so I’ll quite happily pick up a knocker for a spot of post driving now, and I’ve been lucky enough to have chance to get stuck in and have a go with both a brush cutter and the flail mower at Tilton cutting for the annual mowing of the grassland…warm work, but incredibly satisfying!
Outside of task days, I’ve had the opportunity to go on both an orchid count and a butterfly walk at Cloud Wood; these have been absolutely fantastic as they’re areas that I’ve previously limited knowledge in. I feel that my eyes have been opened that bit wider, and I’m able to notice so much more around me (and my phone is rapidly filling up with photos of butterflies). I’ve regularly found myself stopping and staring up at the canopies of oaks, hoping to spot the silvery flash of purple hairstreaks, seeking out goat willows to try and catch a glimpse of a purple emperor, or scanning grass verges in the hope of finding an orchid or two.
