Let me introduce myself. My name is Amber, and I am very fortunate to have been appointed as the new "Make Nature Count" Visitor Services Trainee for the South-West regions. Whilst I shall be based predominantly within the RSPB's Dorset reserves, there are possible plans afoot for me to participate with various neighbouring reserves. With this in mind, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about myself in early anticipation of possibly meeting a good few of you during the next few months...
Like most of you, I have always had a certain fascination and passion for Nature and "The Great Outdoors". I have been lucky enough to participate with various practical conservation initiatives, which culminated in my first placement with the RSPB; a 7 month residential volunteer placement at the rather idyllic Welsh nature reserve of Ynys-Hir!
This immediately led to my first paid contract with the RSPB, as a seasonal warden responsible for calculating the annual breeding success rate of a seabird colony located on a small island just off the west coast of Anglesey.
Fast-forward to a year later... :-)
Enamoured with the hugely beneficial services that the RSPB performs to ensure the survival of our precious natural heritage, and following graduation from Bangor University with a BSc (Hons) degree in Conservation, I now find myself here at the start of this interesting new venture into Visitor Services!
It seems there are lots of exciting new plans in place here for the RSPB's Radipole reserve, including the opening of the new-look visitor centre (keep your eyes peeled around mid-May time!) and the construction of a brand new family-friendly trail, which will be perfect for exploring the wonders of Radipole with the kids in tow! Having spotted many different and charismatic species here in the space of just one day, Radipole really is a wildlife haven, rather uniquely placed in the seaside town of Weymouth.
I'll be present a fair bit on Radipole (as well as Arne), and I hope that some time soon I'll have the opportunity to meet you, and to learn alongside you how together we can "Make Nature Count"!
So that's me for now.
All the best,
Amber.
There's not really a short explanation Amber but let's just say I started putting on a bit of weight and at the same time my real name came out as Pud on predictive text - it's quite boring really, just an extension of Pud to make it a name.