Hello everyone.
My name is Blair and I'm one of the new visitor experience interns at Loch Garten this season. If you ever see me don't be afraid to say hello.
Anyway, this is my first year working with the RSPB. I'm still currently in college in Aberdeen so I'm looking forward to the challenge of juggling work and college for the next few months. I am originally from the west coast of Scotland, but the rain and midges got a bit too much for me so I moved to Perth. From there I started studying Countryside Management at Elmwood College in Cupar. At the end of my year I was offered a position as an intern with Scottish Natural Heritage, at Tentsmuir NNR. I really enjoyed my year with SNH - Tentsmuir is a beautiful site, where you could relax and watch the kingfishers fish and red squirrels chase each other. My role at Tentsmuir was a lot different to my role here at Loch Garten. At Tentsmuir only half of my job was to build and maintain friendships with the public and locals whilst the other half was to maintain and look after the site. So you would often see me out walking around the site with a hammer, a spade and a scope trying to work and bird watch at the same time. Sadly, it was only a year contract, so my time at Tentsmuir came to an end last summer. Off I popped up to Aberdeen, to continue my studies, but I soon realised that I missed walking down the paths of Morton Lochs and talking to the public. So I started to look for visitor experience jobs. I soon found this placement at Loch Garten advertised, and 3 months later...well, here I am! This is my first time living in the Cairngorms, and I honestly don't know what took me so long to move here. The scenery is like nothing else in Britain. Already I've seen crested tits, goldeneyes and capercaillie, things I had never seen before coming here. I just feel so lucky to be able to call this wonderful nature reserve my home. If you ever see me around and about Aviemore or Abernethy, make sure to say hello and ask me whats happening.
I hope to see you soon,
Blair
Odin - My new best friend