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Anna Allum

Thanks to Johann, who has been spending the week on work experience with us, for his guest blog and photographs

Hi, my name is Johann.

I am a fifteen-year-old nature enthusiast and I have been a frequent visitor to RSPB Pulborough Brooks for nearly two years. As a passionate wildlife photographer I have found that this nature reserve is teeming with biodiversity, with its wetlands bustling with waterbirds, its meadows home to microscopic wonders, its woodlands filled with the throng of the UK’s best loved songbirds, and its skies hosting Sussex’s White-tailed Eagles. It seemed right to choose this wildlife haven for my year 10 work experience, as there is no other place in which I would rather spend a week of work. So, here’s what I got up to over the first three days of work.

On the first day, from 10:15, I spent the morning and early afternoon with Joe, the knowledgeable warden of the reserve. He took around the heathland so that I could get to know how it is managed to protect and conserve nature. Joe said that I could feel free to use binoculars all day whilst outdoors in case of a wildlife sighting. Around noon, the two of us started checking for the culverts (drain pipes that link the ditches and allow us some control over water levels) across Amberley Wildbrooks area that the RSPB team manage. During our walk we had an incredibly close encounter with an eagle, as well as four other birds of prey within moments of each other!

For the rest of the afternoon I worked in the shop with Nichaela, where I learnt how best to organise and manage the shop as well as how to overcome some of the dangers in this kind of workspace, like how to safely move the large sacks of bird seed.

Day two was scheduled as working out at Amberley Wildbrooks all day as part of a volunteer work party all day, led by Joe and Ruth. It was incredibly thoughtful to let me be a part of such a high-profile job in order to maintain the nature reserve’s wildlife, and Joe was even kind enough to let me bring along my camera in case of another eagle sighting! The manual work involved the building of ‘easy gates’ which prevent the danger of cows falling into the ditches, as well as removing the remains of a flooded fence. During my lunch break, an eagle flew quite close above my head, giving me the chance to take some photos as it cruised elegantly past! It was hard work but our efforts were far from unnoticed as we were treated to tea and cake by the viewing platform at the end of the day!

White-tailed Eagle

Day three was perhaps the most relaxed and seemed like it was thought through with great care. Working with Anna – the visitor experience manager – my next job was identifying and recording the moths which had been caught I the moth trap overnight. It was a fantastic experience to see so many different kinds of moths, from the huge Elephant Hawkmoth to the small and colourful Canary-shouldered Thorn. After this we ventured out to one of the special reptile areas to clear the path ready for the summer events and to see if we could find any reptiles. We found several Slow Worms and an Adder, which I was able to photograph.

Female Adder

After my lunch break we did a quick butterfly survey in the sunshine, submitting our data to the national Big Butterfly Count survey. This was followed by the releasing of the moths. During this I was given the privilege to photograph many of these moths, which was amazing to be able to savour the experience even more.

Elephant Hawkmoth

Black Arches moth

Canary-shouldered Thorn

The week was incredibly eye-opening and enjoyable, and I recommend choosing here for work experience for anyone who enjoys being out in nature, managing the wildlife’s environment and even just having fun outdoors.