As the summer draws to a close, the South Essex interns have finally got a chance to let you all know what they’ve been up to over the last couple of months.
So here goes...
We began our RSPB adventure this June when we joined the South Essex team ahead of an action packed summer season. As the holidays kicked off we were busy engaging with visitors in the wildlife garden & visitor centre; developing our knowledge of British wildlife from day one thanks to experienced staff and volunteers.
We were soon off to the reserves where you might have spotted us drawing nets from the ditch on the dipping platform; bug hunting amongst the grasses on Canvey’s Creepy Crawley Fun Days; or wandering around Bowers Marsh on the look out for exciting wildlife.
If you couldn’t find us out and about, we were busy in our office helping to plan events being held over the summer. We have both enjoyed working as part of a team of staff and volunteers bringing visitors onto our reserves and closer to nature (even if thunderstorms at One Wild Day at Wallasea resulted in the evacuation of the event and a very wet and muddy set down!).
We brought the rainforest to West Canvey Marsh this summer showing Rio 2 on a 50 ft outdoor cinema screen. Quite a challenge you might say but the weather pulled through and everyone had a great time – perhaps it was worth posting those 4000 leaflets through doors! No no, our job has been very varied. One day we are up to our elbows mud dipping and the next we are designing new trails for families to enjoy. The weekend of the cinema was incredibly busy as the South Essex Wildlife Garden Open Day was held on the Sunday, giving us the opportunity to work with the awesome garden team (plus lots of tea and cake!). All in all it was a brilliant weekend.
Ending our time at South Essex we’ve had the opportunity to be part of the opening of a brand new reserve, Canvey Wick, a designated SSSI for endangered invertebrates in Essex. We even get to do some moth trapping with Steve Backshall (the highlight of Dale’s summer)!
Looking back we’ve each perhaps had the most productive summer a student has ever had - and it was enjoyable too!
We would like to thank South Essex for an awesome summer,
Katherine and Dale :)