Freya Playford, the 2017 Learning Assistant intern at RSPB Scotland Loch Leven, writes about her experiences on the reserve this summer.

Hello there! My name is Freya Playford and for the past five months I have been the Learning Assistant Intern at RSPB Scotland Loch Leven as part of my university placement. As my time here sadly comes to a close, I have been asked to share some of my experiences with you lovely people and I must start by saying that if you are looking to gain valuable experience, and love working outdoors with an amazing team then honestly look no further because an RSPB internship is the option for you (and no they haven’t paid me to say that!).

I am a third year festival and events student at Edinburgh Napier University and the time came when the dreaded placement hunt was upon us and we needed to find somewhere to take us in and show us how our textbook theories fitted in to the real world. After months of applying to various suggested organisations, I decided to take a look at an organisation I had experience of volunteering with before; the RSPB. After a quick enquiry on site, I was emailed by the lovely Craig Leitch who after several emails kindly offered me an interview. Not going to lie, interviews terrify me and after being asked how I would describe myself within my friends group and answering with ‘the crazy one’, I thought I may have blown my chances but luckily I was not alone and was welcomed into the madhouse that I very quickly fell in love with.

As part of my role, from March to June I was involved in running around after a class full of children helping to connect them to nature (some of which took a bit too literally with the amount of children who decided to take a dip in the pond! Pond dipping apparently meant something else to them!) Connections to Nature is an RSPB scheme which looks at developing an empathy and love towards nature by giving them an opportunity to get involved in activities which may not ordinarily be available to them. This concept was of real interest to me as having grown up where green spaces where available to me and with parents who were keen to get me and my sister outdoors, I was inspired to be a part of helping others to get involved especially in a world where nowadays nothing can be seen unless it is through a phone screen. 

If you have looked into an internship like this before but were worried you did not know enough to be able to teach others or worried that you would be asked a question you couldn’t answer then allow me to put your worries at ease. I can assure you that before taking this internship that was one of my biggest concerns, I had the RSPB pocket bird guide out and everything hoping that if I studied it every night I would eventually become an expert. However, you are not expected to know everything as nobody possibly could and it is actually so much more interesting for the children if you learn things together rather than just simply giving them the answer. The staff here are not looking to see you fail, they want you to get as much from the internship as possible so will not only teach you the ropes but teach you weird and wonderful facts like water beetle larva inject an enzyme into their prey to make an internal soup for them to drink up rather than having to chew...sounds yummy right?

For the Learning Assistant Internship role I had in particular, the main focus was on helping to deliver the education sessions during term time, however with RSPB internships they are flexible in helping you to learn about what you are specifically interested in as well. As I was doing the internship in relations to my university course, I was able to get involved with the various events that are available on the reserve all year round including Woodland Warriors and The Big Wild Sleep Out.

Woodland Warriors is a great weekday event in the summer holidays for children aged 8-12 to learn new wilderness skills such as fire lighting and den building and to freely explore in a safe environment. It is also an event to test how many marshmallows you can eat over several days without making yourself ill!

The Big Wild Sleep Out is also a family event and does exactly as it says on the tin. The event allows access to camping on the reserve for one weekend in the summer for those who are brave enough to battle the wonderful Scottish weather with various activities lead by staff and a massive campfire in the evening complete with marshmallows (again!) and songs.

In addition to these events, RSPB Loch Leven reserve celebrates their 50th Anniversary this year and as a result I was able to help with various extra events such as the Kinross 50 Challenge. This event challenged local high school students to come and complete 50 activities in a day! And if you think that is a lot you should have seen the amount of kit that I had to collect!

But before I go into university essay writing mode, allow me to introduce you to Pinky my office companion. Just a usual day at the office!

This internship was honestly the best experience I could have asked for. I learned so much and the team here are amazingly supportive (especially when you decide to start experimenting with different cheesecakes for them to try!)

So last but not least... thank you guys for everything!!!