Tag: Nature

Are Internships Skewed Away From The Poor?

You care about the environment, are utterly infatuated with natural history and decide you wish to work in the conservation sector. What next? You leave school, hopefully in possession of good grades, graduate university and are then faced with the harsh reality of just how competitive the sector really is. You work out that the only way to get ‘ahead of the competition’ so to speak, is to gain experience through volunteer work. Volunteer work that often requires commitment for long periods of time in order to gain the experience required to further your career aspirations. So, you set your sights on a volunteer internship, residential placement or similar scheme, one that would almost certainly lead to better things in the future. The only problem is, you cannot afford to sustain yourself for such a period of time absent an income. What do you do next? Well, some are then able to acquire the necessary funds from family members and thus everything remains hunky dory. For many however, this is not an option. Many cannot afford to dedicate their time for periods of four, six or eight months absent an income. When this happens, many fall into an all too familiar trap. A merry-go-round of applications and rejections citing a “lack of applicable experience“.

The above scenario is one I fear is all too familiar to young people seeking a career in the environmental field and is certainly one that resonates with me. Volunteer work is perhaps the only sure fire way to achieve a career in conservation, and rightfully so. It highlights the dedication, passion and  the willingness to work of the person in question and has the potential to greatly bolster that individuals professional skill-set. More often than not, short-term volunteer placements do not offer the necessary level of work experience and thus people are forced to look for longer internships only to realise they cannot afford them. This alone is often enough to dissuade many people from following their dreams and I know too people people stuck in the ‘inexperience rut’ due to financial restraints. These people are no less passionate than those who have made the cut, they simply come from working-class background and cannot afford to live absent an income for long periods of time. This is a topic that, as a working-class conservationist, greatly interests me. It has lead some, including Oliver Simms (@OSimmsBirding) to question the current mentality and call for NGO’s to make such placements available to everyone, not just those from upper and middle-class backgrounds. An excellent blog by Oliver on the subject can be found here, on Mark Avery’s ‘Standing Up for Nature’ site.

Before proceeding, I feel I should give a little background on myself in this regard. As I mentioned before, I do not come from a wealthy background. This has never bothered me per say but it has meant that my family cannot afford to sustain me on my career quest. I jumped through all the hoops, good grades at school, a degree in a relevant field and small stints of volunteer work here and there. Upon graduating, I found myself presented with the aforementioned scenario, lacking the “one years work experience” requested in many job applications and thus opted to save up and delve into a volunteer internship. I was, later, lucky enough to be selected for a lengthy volunteer position with a renowned NGO and stand thoroughly grateful for the opportunity. Midway through said placement however, with a glaring student overdraft and money disappearing much faster than expected, it suddenly dawned on me that I could no longer afford to live without an income. As such, I decided to leave my ranger role and moved back home. This did not go down overly well with my “employers” who had suggested I take a weekend or evening job to sustain myself for the remaining months – something that while volunteering full time, five days a week (often including weekends), in a remote area, seemed wholly unfeasible. I would like to think opting leave early did cause others to question my dedication but I fear it did. Something that I understand but equally disagree with.

Fast forward a little over a year and things are looking brighter, I have landed my first ‘real’ job within the sector and things are certainly looking up. My situation, and the experiences of many others, have however caused me to ponder the topic in greater depth. Are careers in conservation tailored towards the wealthy? – At present I stand on the middle ground, understanding the  importance of voluntary experience and its wider benefits but slowly edging towards a resounding yes.

Please do not mistake this post for a general attack on volunteer positions – I understand how important they are. As I stated previously, they are a sure fire way to “cut your teeth” in conservation, providing you with many useful skills and working wonders for networking. Dedicating prolonged periods of time, absent pay, to any job is certainly a great way to demonstrate your dedication to the cause. Likewise, I understand that conservation bodies, most of whom rely on the good will of their members, cannot afford to offer a wage to all volunteers. I am very much of the mindset that even if you come from a low-income background, like I did, if you want something badly, you will work to get it. This explains my previous comment regarding occupying “the middle ground“. This said, it would not hurt for the playing field to be leveled somewhat and I do begrudge the fact that poorer individuals must work twice as hard to achieve their goals than those who can simply ‘buy their way into conservation’.

In his blog, Oliver calls for conservation NGO’s to offer bursaries to individuals from less privileged backgrounds, awarded once the applicant has achieved the position in question. This is something I fully agree with and I would personally like to see certain organisations, particularly those with large memberships and a lot of money, step up the the plate. Equally I would be happy if a student loan style scheme was set up by the powers that be to boost peoples career prospects though, given the nature of our government, I would have more luck extracting water from fragment of volcanic rock. Some may claim, that by offering bursaries based on income, conservation bodies would only be increasing the divide between classes but to me, it seems like a jolly good idea.

One of the other things I have seen touched upon, both by Oliver and others elsewhere, is the lack of attention centered on this issue. You would think that with many people likely missing out due to a lack of funds, more of a clamor would have been raised but alas, tumbleweed. After all, conservation and raising a fuss more often than not come hand in hand, it’s practically in the job description. The only reason I can think of for this is that those who have already made it and those with the financial stability not to worry about such things simply do not care. In the future I would love to see high profile members of our community taking this on board and making a difference and likewise, would like to those involved in the ‘youth conservation movement’ speaking out a lot more. Many, it seems, are vocal in private but fall silent when the issue is raised mainstream. This has to change, only with numerous voices calling for change will the issue be heard.

Of course, there is one glaring question associated with such change. Why would NGO’s bother to splash out funding poor individuals while wealthier people are tripping over themselves to fill the gaps? Well, Oliver again pretty much hits the nail on the head in the previously mentioned blog post. Not only would it increase equality within the workforce, it would allow more overtly passionate young people to contribute to the ‘good causes’ championed by such organisations. These people are equally capable, equally dedicated and who knows, if given the chance could develop into the next ‘big names’ speaking out to protect our wildlife. A win win situation if ever there was one is it not?

Guest Blog: Influences – Natalie Welden

My next “influences” blog post comes from the lovely Natalie Welden (@NatalieACWelden), someone I was lucky enough to meet for the first time on a twitch in Aberdeenshire last year. Natalie is a research associate at SEI York, an OPAL community scientist and a dedicated academic, currently studying the effects of micro-plastics on the marine environment. Here she touches upon her influences and why she ended up in her current position. Enjoy and if you would like to contribute to this series of guest blogs do drop me a message.

When I was little we had a rubbish T.V, it was small, and black and white, and I’m probably letting on too much about my age. Thankfully we had a very big picture window and a pond in the garden; both of which were much more interesting. When the weather was nice I would haunt the garden, turning over the compost heap or searching for the hedgehogs that snuffled under the buddleia. Frogs were my gate way to a new world, and I would lie on my stomach for hours and peer into their cool, deep homes.

On the weekends my mum and dad volunteered as canoeing instructors. When I wasn’t in a boat I would hang over the bank, my face as close to the water as possible, looking for minnows and damselfly larvae; or I would climb the large sycamore tree just outside the campsite. Later I graduated to a pink fishing rod and could sit for hours staring at a float. My cousins and I used a boat filled with water as a paddling pool; and this doubled as a keep-net for my catch. On a good day the sight of a little blonde girl with a quarter length fishing rod and a fibreglass boat full of perch would drive the local anglers to distraction.
I remember the first time I saw a peregrine falcon. My family and I had been on a camping holiday in Wales. I don’t remember much, on one of the evenings we had walked in the woods in search of calling tawny owls, it was the trip home that proved momentous. We paused on the drive home for a walk around Symond’s Yat. We wandered through wooded slopes (if I’m remembering correctly) to the viewpoint, and there I met birders. RSPB birders, monitoring the nest to protect it from thieves.

They would have had to be determined burglars, because the nest was very high up what was – to my pre-teen eyes – a sheer insurmountable cliff. The adult birds were far too high for my binoculars (which were bought using Esso fuel tokens). It was frustrating, but then came my first magical moment. One of the locals stepped back from his eyepiece and lowered his tripod to my height, re-sighting so I could get a good view of the incubating bird. As I watched there was a change-over, one bird coming into land and the other dropping away like a stone to skim over the treeline. I can’t say if it was the catalyst for me – I had always been surrounded by wildlife – but this was a gift, a sudden closing of the gap between my world and that of the bird.

My next great epiphany came whilst studying ecology at Derby University, for about six months before I applied I wanted to be a forensic psychologist but thankfully I came to my senses in time. During my studies I continued to look to the water; for my dissertation I spent a summer paddling between outfalls on the River Trent. During the day I sampled invertebrates to test the impact of power station effluent, in the evenings I camped on the river bank with whichever friends were acting as field buddy that week.

One afternoon we watched a dragonfly larvae emerge as a full grown adult whilst resting on my drying canoeing kit. It sat pumping fluid into its wings to inflate them, before sitting in the weak sun to harden. It started to rain heavily, and before running inside I moved the shorts the soft, new dragonfly was resting on to dry ground under a bench. A simple act and one I have regretted ever since. When we came out from the shelter of the port-a-cabin the dragonfly was being swarmed by ants. The scene was gruesome and I will spare you the details, but the winged insect did not survive. I was distraught, but I learned a valuable lesson; even the most well-meaning interference can do immeasurable harm.

It was two years later that I had my greatest revelation, one that would set the tone of my weekends for years to come. As an MSc student, I went to stay at the obs. at Spurn. I already watched birds, and could identify the usual suspects, but I wasn’t a birder. I was there to monitor patterns of visitor access, tallying visitor numbers and interviewing as many people as I could. But there were birds, so many birds. And the keenness of the local birders to share this world was just as apparent as it had been with my first peregrine. I would sit at the gate and chat to the birders as they arrived or at seawatch in the evenings with a curry, enjoying the passage of terns. I would alternately join in with the twitches, feeling the buzz of the people around me, or remain entirely unmoved, once sleeping soundly through a the appearance of a citrine wagtail. The weeks I was there were a sensory overload of dull wave sound, calling sandwich terns, the smell of shoreline and sea buckthorn, and the constantly changing weather.

After I completed my master’s the new experiences rolled think and fast; the summer spent monitoring marine mammals in Cardigan Bay, moving to the Isle of Cumbrae to start my PhD, the time assisting on the field courses on Mull, my first white tailed eagle, my first self-found bird, and the evening spent alone with a beer and a pine martin. Alongside this were the people. Old friends that I had known for years suddenly revealed their own interest in birding, and I reconnected with them for trips and twitches. The stream of students, one of which would always show the inquisitiveness of a real nature lover. Or simply the people I meet whilst out and about birding.

Every new project allowed me to pick up a few like-minded people to add to my circle, and by surrounding myself with keen conservationists and a constant stream of natural phenomenon I have grown to understand why I was shown my first peregrine. There is a desire to communicate that comes along with the spectacle, an instinctive need to share the moment with others. In a time when so many people live in a world detached from nature, the work of an inspired naturalist can engage people with environmental issues over many hundreds of miles. Just look at the programmes of Sir David, the books of Rachel Carson, or the consistent ire of George Monbiot! They represent the world in a manner that inspires and motivates in equal measure; gently pressing essence of the most prescient Pratchett-ism, “Even if it’s not your fault, it’s your responsibility.”

Guest Blog: Influences – Alexandra Pearce

My next “influences” guest post comes from the fabulous Alexandra Pearce (@PearceAlex1). Alex is an environmental writer working both in communications and as part of the team at The Seal Sanctuary. Alex really is a gifted writer, currently running a series of very interesting blog posts for Conservation Jobs and is someone I have been familiar with through blogging circles for quite some time. Enjoy. – If you feel inspired to tell your story please do drop me an email.

When I was younger, I would occasionally feel jealous of friends who seemed to travel to the outer reaches of the world. They would head into the classroom after the school holidays with deep tans, photos of themselves bathing in warm seas and glamorous tales of mysterious places I knew nothing about. My holidays were nothing like this. They consisted of midges, anoraks and castle ruins. We never ventured outside of the UK when I was young and you could certainly never call anything we did glamorous.

It might sound boring in comparison, but my upbringing was incredible; outings were exciting and holidays filled with exploration and it is those moments which shaped my entire future.

A lot of our time together as a family involved getting outside and into nature and I have the most wonderful memories of these experiences; collecting shells from the beach and accidentally taking home a tiny crab which I tried to keep alive in the bath; pulling up in the car somewhere that always ‘had to have a view’ in order to eat our sandwiches; building dams out of fallen branches and stones to hop across rivers; devising a book which would contain pressed leaves which would help the world with identification; trying to rescue dead jellyfish stranded on the beach; spending hours staring into the large pond in my parents garden, hunting for newts and dragonfly larvae…to us, the outside world was one big playground and the games were made through imagination.

One of my most prized possessions when I was young was a Michelin ‘Eye Spy’ Nature book; a little spotters guide and checklist. I poured over the photographs, only dreaming what it would be like to spot a fox, tick off a stag beetle from my list or figure out which cloud I was looking at. I loved animals and was fascinated with the sea; its vastness and the activity beneath the waves left me totally enchanted and all of this wonderment came through the trips we took as a family and the books my parents kept in the house. I couldn’t imagine actually seeing any of these natural wonders with my own eyes.

This excitement over the natural world has stayed with me and  has influenced my life in so many ways. My love of the sea led me to study Marine Science and take up diving. My love of animals saw me work a zoo keeper for years and take an interest in education. And the realisation that it was wildlife that truly enthralled me led me to trying to educate through words and communication. Although these days I could tick off a large majority of the things in my little Eye Spy book and I have seen things I never thought I would, my tick list has simply gotten longer as I have gotten older and that little girl, getting over excited at the sight of any wildlife, is definitely still in there (except these days her hands are firmly placed around a camera instead of a round the pages of a tiny guide). The things we did as children also help our family retain our bond; we still stare into that same pond counting newts, my brothers were told off only a few years ago in Spain for creating a dam on a beach and clambering up rocks is just a standard day out for us all.  

The truth is many children simply don’t get outside enough to experience the natural world as much as they should these days and are often given technology as a substitute. But I implore parents to get their kids outside as often as possible, because when I think of my childhood it’s not the toys I remember, but the day my brother and I swung bags filled with water at each other in the sea, the shells my mother and I found and tried to imagine the creatures that once lived in them and the fossils our family spotted together in the rocks at Lyme Regis. These are the moments that inspire children and shape them into the adults who could be the difference between harming our world and saving it.

Orca “Marine Mammal Surveyor” Training Day

Yesterday I had the pleasure to partake in a cetacean identification course hosted by Orca, a fantastic charity dedicated to researching whales, dolphins and porpoises in British waters and further afield. All in all, the day was a roaring success; engaging presentations from Orca staff and a friendly atmosphere making for a great few hours. Having now completed the course; I am delighted to say that I am now officially able to volunteer aboard Orca associated vessels and hopefully, with a little luck, will be out surveying marine mammals in the North Sea before long! Hurray!

Excited flapping aside, a few people have asked me to sum up just what the day entailed and the opportunities that come hand in hand with attending. As such, I thought I would post a brief summary here.  Following the obligatory introductions from the Orca staff and a motivational video courtesy of the great Chris Packham, the first part of the course was spent familiarizing ourselves with the species likely encountered from Orca vessels. Among these; familiar species such as Minke Whale and Harbour Porpoise and much more exotic creatures such as Cuvier’s Beaked Whale – a species I now long to see in the wild, they’re beautiful! This identification session was nothing short of enthralling; stressing the fact that ID should never be made based on one factor alone, rather a combination of numerous ones. We learnt about the shape of dorsal fins, the height of various species “blow” and various other factors such as colouration and behaviour. All of this was followed by no end of interesting stories and intriguing facts courtesy of Orca staff. For example; did you know that the characteristic scars of Risso’s Dolphins may well be inflicted as a means of identifying that animal as part of a specific pod? Sort of tribal tattoos for Dolphins, amazing!

Next came an indepth look at Orca surveying methodology, all of which seemed complicated at first but quickly became clear as we took part in a mock survey. Here, in groups of three, we alternated roles between starboard surveyor, port surveyor and scribe. The latter role involving immediate recording of everything from GPS location and the angle of the animal to direction of travel and behavior. I actually found the methodology very similar to some bird surveys; the codes allocated to each species similar to the species codes issued by the BTO. The surveys themselves involve line transects on a number of set routes including Newcastle/Amsterdam and Portsmouth/Santander and seem thoroughly exciting! These take place from the bridge of the vessels in question, something which obviously involves a certain level of maturity and manners so not to disturb the ships crew. Though I doubt this would ever be a problem for those truly interested in this kind of work.

So, what next? Well based on a conversation with a lovely Orca rep things seem relatively straight forward. We wait a few weeks until the opportunities come up and apply to take part. You will then be allocated a team with a number of experienced surveyors who will be more than happy to offer advice and ensure the experience is a positive one. Once you have taken part in a localized survey or two it becomes possible to “build your Orca portfolio”, increased experience leading to more exciting survey opportunities and, in the future, the chance to take part in month long surveys to fantastic locations around the globe. Simple!

The skills to be gained from such surveys seem too numerous to count. Obviously taking part will better your ID skills associated with many species but may also present opportunities to engage with the public and enthuse others as to the majesty of cetaceans. All of this comes on top of the obvious sense of gratification gained from contributing to Orca’s vast data bank. Who knows, maybe the data you help collect could be used to set up marine conservation zones in the future? The possibilities are endless! I would advise anyone to take part, you really will not regret it. Please note; you also have to sign up as an Orca member but this is relatively cheap and can be done on the day of the surveys.

The Redpoll Triumvirate

Plenty to report on from the home county over recent days, some localized twitching throwing up a good array of birds on Friday. First up a gander up the coast with the lovely Natalie Welden (@NatalieACWelden) who had traveled up from York in an effort to catch up with the reported Black Scoter at Stag Rocks. Not long after arriving at Stag we managed to pick out a prime candidate feeding away from the main Common Scoter flock in a small group of three. This immediately lead to a lot of excited flapping as we scoured the Collins app in an effort to confirm whether or not this was indeed the American vagrant. For a good half we toyed with the idea, finally deciding it was indeed “the duck” with a little help from a birder who had been watching the individual for most of the morning. This said, we probably should have paid more attention as today photos of the bird revealed that it was in fact an aberrant Common Scoter, all be it one with a rather impressive bill! – There’s a life lesson in there somewhere I guess, don’t jump to conclusions and don’t take the word of others as law. Given our poor scopes and non-existent experience with Black Scoter however I do not feel too bad!

Alongside the aforementioned dodgy duck, Stag Rock held a good array of other interesting species. A drake Velvet Scoter heading North only my third record of the year and a total of 14 Long-Tailed Duck putting on a good show relatively close to shore. Two Red-Throated Diver were also seen here as were a number of Shag and Guillemot while a scattering of Fulmar, Kittiwake and 50 Common Scoter comprised the best of the rest. Natalie also had a presumed Little Auk heading North far out though I was rather slow off the mark on this occasion and failed to pick it up. A brief pitt-stop at Howick later produced nice views of a Brambling amid a large flock of Chaffinch and Linnet while a Merlin was noted hunting the roadside fields nearby.

Not counting the Scoter, our little adventure up the coast did however produce two lifers in the form of both Cou’s Arctic Redpoll and Mealy Redpoll at Birling Carrs, Warkworth. Having dipped these on a number of occasions now it was nice to finally be able to catch up with the flock, which unlike my last visit, had positioned itself within ideal viewing range. Picking through the chattering mass of Lesser Redpoll a larger, pale bird stood out like a sore thumb as the they perched on a nearby fence. Mealy, though this almost went down as Arctic until of course the true Arctic Redpoll emerged from the game crop. I had expected picking out the bird to be somewhat difficult but this individual stood out like a beacon, considerably paler than even the Mealy that conveniently sat alongside it preening for a short while. Victory, though with all Redpoll species likely to be lumped together by the forces that be, this may be somewhat short lived.

 

 

Nabbing Whooper Swan at Warkworth and after a brief stop at Hauxley where a scan through a flock of 650+ Pink-Footed Geese failed to produce anything other than two Greylag Geese we next found ourselves at Cresswell in the hope of ‘year ticking’ the long-staying Long-Billed Dowitcher. Alas this was not to be however though a Marsh Harrier put on a fine show as it proceeded to catch, kill and pluck an unlucky Teal on the far shore. Unable to take off with its impressive catch the Harrier simply dragged the corpse around for a few minutes before relinquishing it to a pair of Carrion Crows. Eye’s bigger than its belly perhaps? Anyways, a Water Rail at Cresswell provided a rather belated year tick while the sand bar held 11 Snipe, a few hundred Lapwing and a lone Curlew. Picking through the mass of ducks here proved useless, Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck and, of course, Mallard all to be seen while c1000 Pink-Footed Geese dropped into a distant field. Departing the hide, 15 Tree Sparrow showed characteristically well in the hedgerow, this time in the company of 4 superb Yellowhammer and a scattering of Greenfinch and other common goodies.

Our final stop, QEII Country Park failed to produce the hoped for Caspian or Iceland Gulls, the best to be seen comprising a rather pale Herring Gull and a pair of showy Goldeneye. I did however manage to life tick David Dinsley (@NatureNorthEast) who helped kill the tedium of scouring the gull flock. All in all, not a bad day! The Redpoll flock was certainly nice to see, as was the ‘Black Scoter’ even if it turned out to be nothing other than an odd Common. A clear indication that I need to invest in better viewing equipment and perhaps a tad more patience!

Guest Blog: Inspiration by Gus Routledge

For the first in installment in what will hopefully be a long and prosperous series of guest blogs Gus Routledge (@PinkfootedGus) talks about his inspiration, motivation and how he ended up where he is today. Gus is a birder and botanist currently studying on a countryside management course and is someone I have been familiar with on social media for a long time. The below piece is rather good in my opinion and showcases many parallels to my own life and no doubt those of many other young naturalists . Enjoy and if you feel inspired to share your story feel free to drop me a message.

Being my age and as into conservation and the countryside as I am is widely known as being slightly unusual. In fact I think a lot of the stuff I do is regarded as slightly unusual: going out at midnight to look for a Pine Marten that is going to be very difficult to look for, hiking up into the uplands at New Year in order to see if there are any flowering plants, collecting moss at the side of the road, you get the picture.

This passion has clearly had to have come from somewhere. Where to start though… Well, as ever, I think the beginning is probably best. When I was wee my parents used to take me on walks in the Royal Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh. I’d feed the ducks, enjoy walking along logs, hide in bushes, and sit in the daffodils. There’s a video of me in Mallorca on holiday, when I was just a toddler, observing the ants and watching them go down their wee hole, carrying crumbs and such down it. In fact, now that I think about it, I was doing exactly the same thing last year when we were in Mallorca. This is why I think it’s important that children are exposed to nature. Even if they aren’t as inspired as I am, it will hopefully make them more aware of the natural world as adults, and therefore they will perhaps be more ready to protect it.

On top of all the walks and being outdoors, my gran played a big part in getting me interested in wildlife. This was primarily through introducing me to bird watching. She gave me my first ever field guide; Collins Photoguide of Britain and Ireland. She took me to my first nature reserve; Vane Farm (now RSPB Loch Leven) where I watched my first Chaffinches feeding on the feeder; and she still encourages me to pursue my career now! I don’t think I would have quite managed to get to where I am now without the inspiration my gran provided for me, whether I was 4 years old or 18 years old.

From toddler to about my first year in senior school I always wanted to be in the countryside or managing wildlife or animals, whether this was as a vet, a farmer, a gamekeeper or a zoo keeper. For some strange reason, my interest in all things natural disappeared once I started senior school. Maybe the fact I was suddenly a teenager and such things weren’t cool, I don’t know. What I do know is that half way through fifth year I decided to watch Springwatch for old times sake and my passion was completely reignited! The only problem being that I had selected subjects in school that would help me become an engineer… Not ideal.

Towards the end of fifth year we have a work placement week. I was lucky enough to work with the Scottish Natural Heritage rangers at Loch Leven for the week, living with my gran who would give me lifts through to Kinross each day. That was probably one of the best weeks of my life. Sunny all week, doing brood counts, getting many lifers, fixing fences, digging drainage ditches, it was bliss. And that was it, I realized that was what I wanted to do.

Sixth year was really a year of setting things back to how they once were, getting back into bird watching, doing subjects that would hopefully help me get back into an outdoor career, and generally just becoming more and more enthralled in wildlife, appreciating it more since I was older and able to understand far more. Completing my John Muir Award in Holyrood Park with the help of the Historic Scotland Rangers got me outdoors every week, pushed me to learn about new things, and I got my John Muir Award at the end of it of course! Plus my biology teacher certainly helped me realise my potential to get to where I wanted to be, so where am I now?

I’m now at the Aberdeen campus of Scotland’s Rural College (used to be Scotland’s Agricultural College but not anymore!) studying Countryside Management. I actually came up here for an applicant day and one of the lecturers said something to me which pushed me over to the ecologist/ranger sort of career. After telling her that I could identify birds she told me that, “birds are good, but to really stand out to an employer you need to be capable of identifying things that others can’t.” Hence all my various tweets on mosses, flowers, trees, lichens, fungi, spiders, and still some on birds!

This course is perfect for me. We have plenty of opportunities to get some hands-on learning through field trips, voluntary work and wee experiments in class. There hasn’t been a module that I haven’t enjoyed (except IT, ugh) despite the fact they have been quite diverse, e.g. History and Archaeology, Biodiversity Conservation, Recreation and Access, and Rural Land Use in Scotland. All the lecturers are keen to push me in the right direction and the same goes for my course mates. They all have shared interests with me and it’s great being able to talk about things that interest me with people my age who are equally interested.

In fact, going back to that mention of Twitter, I’ve actually found a lot of inspiration from the people who’ve helped me online. So I have to thank you guys for that! The internet is a great tool for learning things and meeting people with the same desire to conserve the countryside and wildlife that we have in the UK and around the world (as infuriating as it may be when it doesn’t work)!

Finally, something that I couldn’t go without mentioning as a source of inspiration. As corny and cheesy and cliché as it may sound, that natural world is so huge, unexplored and unknown that it’s got to be the main thing that made me want to learn about and conserve it.

Urban Birding in Benidorm

So contrary to expectations, I managed to survive a week in Benidorm! Such places, jam packed with people, loud music and twenty-four hour nightclubs are not usually my first choice of holiday destinations, mainly because they often lack wildlife. This week found me pleasantly surprised however and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Spain. Sadly I was unable to venture out of the city during the week though this was of little importance with a great line-up of birds, butterflies and other beasties to enjoy. Urban birding has it’s perks it seems!

Starting out as ever with the feathered things and with 51 species noted amid the glaring lights and constant music I find myself unable to complain! First up the seafront and a few visits here provided a few goodies though I did receive a few odd looks prowling around, bins in toe amid the thousands of sunbathing British Grandmothers. Here Black-Headed Gull and Yellow-Legged Gull were numerous. The latter proving particularly confiding. Two tern species were also picked up though the second, a rather dainty looking bird remains unidentified due to poor views. Drat. Still, the Sandwich Terns here but on a fine show, as did the numerous Shags that fished behind the breakers. Both Little Egret & Grey Heron stalked the rocky areas here and Common Swift and Barn Swallow were picked up hawking above the beach. On a few occasions fishing boats passed by with a escort of rather nimble looking gulls, Auduoin’s perhaps but I will never know. Elsewhere the only other things to be seen along the coast comprised stacks of Feral Pigeons and an all to brief Peregrine which shot through in pursuit of one rather unlucky dove.

Moving on, Benidorm surprised me, showcasing a number of “green areas” within the city itself. Most of my outings during the week focused on these areas and thankfully I was rewarded with a number of great birds. One of the highlights here was a delightful Hoopoe though this was followed closely by Firecrest and Sardinian Warbler, both of which were extremely numerous! The various stands of pine that held the aforementioned crests were also jam-packed with Goldcrest, Great Tit, Chiffchaff and Blackcap though good numbers of Common Crossbill were a tad more interesting. I did manage glimpse an “unknown warbler” here during one of my morning excursions though it quickly disappeared never to be seen again. Based on the overall shape, colour and rather thick bill I feel confident angling towards Melodious Warbler though as ever, when unsure, no ID was made. Black Redstarts were prolific here with over 100 seen during my stay, outnumbered only by Benidorm’s Feral pigeons! I am used to seeing these birds in ones or twos, often while freezing on the Northumberland coastline so these proved particularly enjoyable!

A few jaunts to building sites and various other wasteland sites produced yet more familiar British birds including Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Meadow Pipit, Common Starling, Collared Dove, and Woodpigeon alongside the more noteworthy additions of White Wagtail, Serin and yet more Black Redstarts. Serin was a much sought after lifer for me prior to this trip and these colourful little finches did not disappoint. Notes taken, I now stand ready to unearth one of these in the UK in the future.. I can dream can’t I? Also here a number of Spotless Starling were seen though these proved rather timid.

Benidorm is thankfully surrounded by some rather pleasant mountains and the suburban fringe where city meets sand provided an exciting change of scenery. The undisputed highlight here (and perhaps of the whole holiday) was the numerous Crag Martins zipping too and throw overhead. At least 45 of these birds were seen together at one point and made for quite a show, providing another nice lifer in the process. With them a few more interesting species including some very noisy Dartford Warblers, Raven, Stonechat, Blackbird & Song Thrush. The same area also provided the trips only Long-Tailed Tits on top of more Firecrest, Sardinian Warbler and you guessed it, Black Redstarts. On one early excursion I found the place virtually empty and opted for a quick dip in the sea in a rather secluded cove. Here various tropical fish, sea cucumbers and odd looking crabs made for a memorable encounter and another Peregrine graced me with its presence as I attempted to haul myself out of the sea upon realising a line of German tourists had assembled behind me with cameras! So much for being alone.

Heading back to Allicante airport on Friday, two Iberian Grey Shrikes and a Green Woodpecker provided nice views, the former giving me my final lifer of the trip. Not bad at all though birds were not all to be seen in and around Benidorm..

Butterflies proved a mainstay of my week with the highlight a glorious Scarce Swallowtail  (shown left) which at one point decided to use me as a perch! Clouded Yellows were numerous here, as were both Large & Small White while a few equally familiar species were observed including Wall, Painted Lady & Red Admiral. Aside from the Swallowtail the only other new species comprised a good number of Long-Tailed Blues scattered along the coastline. A real energetic gem of a butterfly and one that proved incredibly hard to photograph! My best attempt is shown below. Butterflies aside lots of interesting (and in some cases rather large) Grasshoppers also proved entertaining and a whopping great spider was revealed to be Araneus angulatus, a rather large and fearsome relative of the Garden Spider and one that is rather scarce in the UK. This one had made a meal of an unfortunate Clouded Yellow.

So as you can see, there is far more to Benidorm than just sex and Sangria! The week proved most enjoyable though now that I am back in the real world I should get back to the arduous process of conservation based job seeking *sigh*

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