A placement to remember

This blog was written by Lilli, residential volunteer at RSPB West Sedgemoor, Greylake, and Swell Wood

My 6 months in West Sedgemoor are coming to an end.
I can’t really remember what I was expecting from this placement back in November, but it exceeded my expectations. When I arrived in December it was freezing cold and a thick layer of mist covered the landscape. As always when you are somewhere new it takes a few days to settle, but after a week it felt like it was home.

I am not going to lie, in the beginning things were a bit confusing. All the names of tools and where they are kept, the looks and sounds of all the birds, the names of areas and droves were a bit overwhelming. It was hard to follow what my colleagues were talking about - but confusion changed to excitement and my life got a lot easier as I learnt the way of Sedgemoor!

Loads of good views across the reserve, sunsets and sunrises

The practical winter work was great, building steps on a muddy slope in Swell Wood, doing loads of hedge laying, coppicing hazel, and reserve maintenance. I was hoping to have a variety of tasks and that was certainly the case. Every day was different and that’s what I enjoyed the most - the unexpected changes and problem solving. Whether that’s because we forgot a tool, urgent requests that had to be prioritised or simply weather changes. That’s when problem solving plays an important role. Finding solutions while dealing with the tools and given conditions was amazing. It may not sound that enticing but discussing different options, trying things, failing and finding solution that works is such a satisfying feeling. Once Dan, the previous resi vol, and I went somewhere to replace a post, in theory a simple quick task but not if you forgot fencing pliers and need to detach an electric line from it. It took longer than we thought but eventually we developed a good working technique and changed the post. These small things where you have to be creative to solve a problem or “thinking outside the box” are the things I enjoyed most about the job.

Brush cutter Training on this super green field

It was great that we spent all day outside at the fresh air, having lunch in the middle of a forest on the ground, in the back of the pickup or in a hide watching the birds flying around.
Loads of good lunch break conversations ranged from nature and birds to quite a lot of running topics thanks to Sammy and Dan :)
Catching up with the day vols once or twice a week and being taught “relatively important English” like “pottering around" was super helpful (thanks John!).
I loved the teamwork, it made boring and tedious tasks easier, and enjoyable. I was often surprised how much we could achieve in one day with a small team when we worked together. Once we had a whole drove full of cut willow to process or a long hedge covered in thick brambles. It looked like that will take ages but it went fairly quickly.

Living on the reserve with cool housemates and having all the wildlife just in front of you was astonishing. The barn owl who lives at the farm watched me once from the garden while I was sitting in my room. Or having dinner in our garden when all the flowers were in blossom, sun was about to set, birds were singing and flying around and the cows in the field nearby came to join us.
One random Sunday an older man knocked at our door and told us he spotted a sea eagle! So we took our binoculars, drove down to the hide, and saw it sitting and flying around. All these small and cool experiences made this placement unforgettable.

Not the sea eagle but a cool photo of a swan through the binoculars

It was half a year with loads of new skills, knowledge, and fun memories. I am really thankful for this opportunity and all the people I have met!  Job done – Bosch! :)