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Laura

Well... what can I say... Friday was my last day working at the reserve as some of you may already know, I’m going to work for Welcome to Yorkshire in a new role (in which I will be working with and promoting the RSPB in Yorkshire, of course!)

I wanted to say my goodbyes in a blog so that I can share some of my highlights and experiences of working here with you all and hopefully inspire you to either visit the reserve, volunteer or become a member of the RSPB.

It’s been a fantastic 3 years being firstly the Visitor Services Manager, then Site Manager for a year and finally Visitor Experience Manager where I was lucky enough to work on developing the visitor experience at St Aidan’s alongside Fairburn Ings.

Some of my highlights include having the pleasure of working with such a fantastic team of friendly and passionate people, working with the media on stories like the tennis balls for Harvest mice and the amazing long tailed tit’s and kingfishers pictures (both you can see on the images on the community page), seeing my first long-eared owl and hearing a bittern boom, getting up at 4am for a Dawn Chorus tour of the reserve and of course….. making friends with Broady the Bullfinch who was one of my all time favourites- she cheered me up no end- for those of you who never met Broady, she was a female bullfinch that landed on a visitor’s head one day and stayed at the reserve for a few months. I could go on there are so many….

Although it hasn’t been smooth sailing all the way, there were a few challenges thrown my way such as chasing the cattle across the fields in a flood with Karen shouting “grab a stick to make yourself look bigger”, standing at the top of Redshale Road carrying out a radio interview in -10 conditions last winter or constantly trying to improve the visitor experience with such a small space to work in- I’m sure this was a challenge for you too with the coffee machine in a different position every time you visited (sorry about that!).

I still live local to the reserve and will be visiting regularly and hopefully will see some of you soon. Here’s my ten favourite things to do at the reserve ….

  1. Being lucky enough to see a Kingfisher at the drop of a hat- although I was never patient enough to wait longer than 30 seconds- but with that in mind I still saw more than my fair share!
  2. Crunching the leaves in the winter on the riverbank trail on a nice walk before work- looking out for mushrooms and wildflowers on my way.
  3. Taking my dog Eddy for a walk around the trails- she loves it just as much as I do!
  4. Watching Nick build the dry stone wall was a particular favourite of mine, as we’ve been able to see it’s development over time- I especially loved it in the summer when the bright red poppies were growing against it!
  5. Bringing my brother and sister pond dipping when they were younger.
  6. Being involved in the amazing events such as Wild Wednesdays, spooky things at the Ings and learning lots of interesting facts at moth and bat nights in the summer.
  7. Going for a brisk walk in the snow when the reserve looks like a magical winter wonderland
  8. Sitting with a nice cup of tea whilst watching the many different garden birds on the feeders (we counted over 20 species in the big garden birdwatch last year)
  9. “Testing” the birds nest swing whilst doing the weekly checks- it’s back in action now so go and have a swing or play on the dragonfly!

10.  Eating the amazing homemade lemon cake- I think it would be unfair if the cake didn’t get a mention somewhere!

And my final note has to be an admission that I am still very much a  beginner to birdwatching but my passion for wildlife and nature is stronger than ever.  Although my skills have very much improved since my first month, when I reported on recent sightings that there had been a golden eagle at the reserve (much to the amusement of the work experience lad who thought it would be funny to write it in the book knowing I was just about to post them on the website)… I’ve learnt so much since then and have had some great people to teach me along the way and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!

 So no matter how little or how much you think you know about birds and wildlife- there’s always something to enjoy or learn at the reserve!