Hello from a new member of the RSPB West Sedgemoor Team

Hello everyone! I’m Nick and I just recently started working at West Sedgemoor as a reserves assistant. We all thought it’d be a good idea for me to post a brief blog post about my first month here.

A little bit about myself first though: I love the outdoors, Star Wars, exercise, video games, and my beautiful dog Logan. During the pandemic I moved back from London, where I was originally planning on studying at a Drama School there. However after the dust had settled, I discovered that my time in the city had left me yearning for the outdoors and whilst I still very much adore acting, a career in it wasn’t what I wanted to do. Not long after I came across this job and the rest is history.

 RSPB Staff Collection - Meeting Emilia Clarke 

Now, onto my first month working for the RSPB! In my first week I was thrown right in at the deep end with two early-morning breeding wader surveys, which were an incredible experience. I’d never seen the levels at such an early hour before and whilst I was severely underprepared for the assault on my senses known as hay fever, I still had a wonderful time learning about all the different bird species and their calls.

Since then I’ve learned how to erect and repair fences, count and herd cattle, operate and ride an ATV (which is awesome), and identify many different species of birds and their calls. I’ve also been sticking to my strict diet of antihistamine which, combined with the change in season, has helped me to manage being in the fields with the pollen. My latest enemy are horse-flies but I’ll find my way to deal with them too.

 RSPB Staff - Riding the ATV on West Sedgemoor

I have had an absolutely amazing journey so far. Meeting everyone on the site has been a pleasure - I absolutely love my new team. I also had the chance of briefly meeting Luke (our previous blog writer) whom I had an immediate connection with. I was very sad that he had to leave so early into my time here but I wish him the best of luck in his new adventures.

That’s all from me for now. I’m sure I’ll be writing here again though, so don’t worry.

Nick