You may have caught the most recent episode of Countryfile, which featured Matt Baker spending some time with our residential volunteers at Portmore Lough (if you haven't, you can catch up here until mid-April).
The residential volunteering scheme is the result of refurbishment of the home of former warden Eddie Franklin, who sadly passed away in 2012. Eddie was the founding warden of Portmore Lough and it was his vision and hard work that has seen the site develop into the wildlife haven it is today.
Thanks to funding from the Youngman Trust and the Enkalon Foundation, we were able to refurbish the house to make it suitable for residential volunteers who would come and live there while volunteering full time at the reserve. We've talked before about important volunteers are to the RSPB, but volunteering is also a great way for young people to gain experience before taking their first steps into a career in conservation.
Our two newest residential volunteers, Julie and Heather, have been telling us all about their experience so far...
We both arrived around mid January to Portmore Lough. We plan to be here for at least six months in total!
We both came here for similar reasons, to gain more experience in order to pursue a career in conservation. Conservation is a highly competitive career field and full time volunteering is almost a necessity in order to get a look in.
We chose Portmore for its opportunities in public engagement, its diversity of habitats and large populations of bird species. It is a small site but rich in wildlife. We also have the opportunity to volunteer at other reserves, Portmore’s near central location being ideal to do so, gaining insight into the RSPB’s work across Northern Ireland.
The accommodation is particularly comfortable, especially in the winter months, being warm and cosy. It is only a ten minute walk away from the nature reserve entrance with views of the reserve visible from the kitchen window. It’s wonderful to have the nature reserve as your back garden.
On the reserve itself we have completed various tasks including the maintenance of the predator fence line (protecting wading birds, especially in the breeding months), taking part in wildlife surveys, assisting with the care of the ten konik ponies (with brand new foal!) and assisting with public events such as the World Wetlands day walk.
We also have assisted in tasks related to other reserves such as the Lower Lough Erne Islands in Fermanagh, where we strimmed grass for breeding wading birds such as the lapwing. We also have dug nettles to provide a habitat for the rare corncrake on Rathlin Island, and plan to go there on 20th March to help plant them.
In the coming spring months we will become more involved in ecological surveying and monitoring across various sites around Lough Neagh. One of these sites will be Lough Beg where we will be monitoring water levels, plants, insects and breeding birds.
Overall it’s been a wonderful experience so far and would highly recommend anyone interested in conservation to get involved.