As eight months comes to a close as quickly as it began, I thought it might be nice to create a blog to document my time here. My name is Amber and I arrived here back in March, just before Easter. I’ve met many people during my shifts in reception, whilst helping out with events and out on the reserve but you may also recognise my name as the photo credit for a few of the posts on the reserve social media pages.
I’ve put in a lot of hard work and effort since I got here but it's ultimately resulted in some of the most incredible experiences and maybe even some fun along the way. Some of my favourite work has been survey work, I started off doing surveys for crows across Buckham and Cantley to look at their disturbance of lapwings. Then a couple months later we were out at Sutton Fen looking for fen orchids, this rather unassuming orchid was certainly interesting to find, being green, small and in close proximity to plants with similar looking leaves like marsh orchid and bogbean. In September we were out looking for fen raft spiders, peering into ditches in the hopes of seeing this rare spider or an all important egg sac in the vegetation. And finally I’ve been helping with Wetland Bird Surveys looking at waders, waterfowl and all the other birds on Breydon Water and Berney Marshes, certainly a test for my identification skills!
Fen orchid in situ, see what I mean!!
Planning and helping with events, putting up fences (some temporary and some hopefully permanent), helping in reception and moving cut reeds around in the fen have been just some of the other things I've done. I’ve even found a strange love for brush cutting, there's something so satisfying about the continuous motion and the rows of reed you leave behind. That is until you end up in a deep hole or too close to a ditch edge and then it's just a challenge of keeping the brushcutter and you out of the wet. Another fun thing was being able to help the staff on the little tern project by joining them on a few night shifts. Sitting in the cold in their little hide at Eccles was certainly worth it to keep the precious chicks safe from disturbance for the night and for the gorgeous sunrise in the morning!
Even including the shapes of little terns <3
Events from dinosaur egg hunts to dusk walks and moth mornings to wild family days have been a blast to have been a part of! The moth mornings have been a particular favourite of mine as I’ve picked up moth trapping as a hobby whilst I’ve been at the reserve. We’ve been spoiled for choice at these events with all the traps being near enough full with giant hawk moths, fluffy friends, tiny micromoths and so many spectacles of colour and pattern. During every event I’ve been a part of I've met so many amazing people and seen so much wildlife.
Speaking of wildlife, I've seen so much that it could be a blog post all of its own! So here's some of my favourite moments:
An incredible spot by a visitor, so glad I got to see it!
Look at this awesome dude, words can’t describe how excited I was!
Not a photo from that evening but one of my favourites from the next few days when it hung around.
Onto this month's work, the extended flooding on the reserve meant the usual tasks of cutting and piling reeds was impossible for a couple weeks by anything but boat! Meaning we got the chance to complete some work that can often be forgotten in the chaos. Like spending a few days repainting, refinishing and in some cases reassembling the a-frame chalk boards that are used around the reserve during events. We’ve also managed to complete some path maintenance, odd jobs around the yard and the three of us managed to put up a gate with only a little bit of help from the warden Matt. Eventually the water receded and we’ve been able to get back to the most important task at hand! On the visitor side of things I’ve been dreaming up more social media posts, Joe has been drawing more chalkboards (enough to keep the staff happy for at least another couple months), and Alice has been helping to devise some new information to go around the reserve so keep an eye out!
And hey, it can’t all be work! I’ve enjoyed countless wanders around the reserve in my off time as well as taking folders upon folders of photos. Participated in events like the guided walk at Sutton Fen that was my first look at the reserve and an incredible fungi foray led by the Norfolk Fungi Study Group. Heard countless stories about wildlife, working, and just life itself. And relaxed in the cottage with the other residential volunteers, Alice and Joe, who I’m more the happy to call my friends.
And finally I want to say thank you. To all the visitors who've turned up in whatever weather, put a smile on my face, told me all about the wonderful things you've seen, and shown me the photos you've taken. And especially to all the staff and volunteers who make this the wonderful gem of a place that it is and who have helped me to learn and grow more than I ever thought that I could. This has been an incredible 8 months and it wouldn't have been the same without all of you! I’m sure as hell going to come back to visit!
Amber signing off, I’m going to miss this place :)