1997 - 1999 Stirling Conservation Volunteers, Stirling
In 1997 I joined the Stirling Conservation Volunteers and I remained a member until my third year when I went to Canada. After the Christmas of my first year at University I became a Task Leader which meant I was responsible for the organization and undertaking of the tasks I led. We undertook various tasks, often working with the local ranger service and community groups.
Examples of the practical work we conducted included tree planting, footpath restoration, dry-stone walling, stone pitching, helping to clear local wildlife areas, Rohdi bashing, digging water bars and even helping the army to repair an old stone bridge at one point!
Summer 1998: BTCV Action Break, Rochdale, England
In the Summer of 1998 I spent one week co-leading an Action Break for the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV). The work involved stone pitching some steps on a public footpath on the moors outside of Norden, a small village in Lancashire (and my home village!). We repaired the footpath and a created a set of steps leading down to a river. The stones used for the steps were found locally and at the end of the week the group had managed to complete the steps and had repaired that section of the footpath. We worked with a ranger from Northwest Water. Action Breaks are a great way to get practical conservation experience in the UK and are great fun. They are not too expensive either.
Summer 2000 Island
Of Alderney Channel
Islands
The Island of Alderney is the third largest of the Channel Islands. It is a beautiful and spectacular island with many rare species of flora and fauna. For one month, in the summer of 2000, I worked there as the Assistant Conservation Officer
My time on the island was spent conducting various tasks:
A basic bat survey, using a bat detector to determine areas of high bat activity and to identify, if possible, the different types of bat present.
An experiment to test the effectiveness of Brown-tailed moth traps. The traps were pheromone traps and aim to reduce the moth population by coating the males in female pheromone therefore making it hard for the males and females to locate each other. This reduces the population by non-lethal methods.
The creation of the Alderney Conservation Volunteer Group (ACV). The group was set up to carry out essential practical conservation maintenance that was needed on the island.
And general maintenance on the island. For example the clearance of Ragwort and Fennel from the Common, helping to gather hay from the Madonna Stone Field, footpath repair work on the cliff paths, clearance of Bracken from the cliff footpaths and recording some of the rare vegetation, for example Bee Orchids.
Summer 2001: Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme, Ethiopia
The Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme is a long running project based in the Bale Mountains in the south of Ethiopia. Its headquarters are based in the Bale Mountains National Park headquarters near a little village called Dinsho, with the nearest town, Robe, an hours drive away.
In the 1990s the Ethiopian Wolf was the most endangered canid in the world with an estimated population of only 500 individuals. It is endemic to Ethiopia with the largest populations being found in the Bale Mountains. The populations of wolves have been decimated by canine distemper, rabies, interbreeding with domestic dogs and habitat loss and are in desperate need of help to ensure they do not become extinct.
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In summer 2001, I spent two months working as a voluntary research assistant for the EWCP in the Bale Mountains. Our main job was to examine and record the demography of the wolf packs in Web Valley and Sanetti Plateau. We also conducted wildlife transects, either by car on Sanetti Plateau or by horse in Web Valley. This involved traveling along a defined transect and recording the species, position, activity and number of every animal that we saw. That included the hundreds of cattle that reside in the Web valley! However, it also included wolves, baboons, monkeys, mountain nyala, other antelope, warthogs, rock hyrax and many different species of birds.
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The EWCP are working with local people and the Ethiopian Government and it is hoped that the work they are doing will help to restore viable wolf populations, both in the Bale region and in the North.
January - June 2002: The Game Conservancy Trust, Scotland
In January 2002 I went to Crubenmore, near Kingussie, in the highlands of Scotland. I spent 6 months there working as a voluntary research assistant for the Game Conservancy Trust (GCT).
I was responsible for the dissection of Mountain hares that were brought in after being shot by the keepers. The hares body condition was assessed by recording the weight of the hares, the size of the hind foot, the gutted weight and the amount of kidney fat. The age of the hare was also determined and the stomach and small intestine were removed and frozen for gut analysis. I was also responsible for the habitat analysis of the grouse moors and some preliminary work on highland cattle in Glenshee. I also helped radio tracking grouse hens, lamping, checking nests, examining chick survival, conducting kill searches and general office work. While there I learned many skills and gained a lot of practical experience that it was not possible to gain by simply doing a degree.
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Working for the GCT was great fun and very interesting. But another attraction was living in the highlands of Scotland. I stayed in Crubenmore Cottage between Dalwhinnie and Newtonmore which is in the middle of the highlands and the scenery is simply stunning. Although Scotland does not have wildlife quite like that found in Ethiopia living at Crubenmore meant that I had the chance to see mountain hares, red deer, grouse and many other bird species, that I had never before seen at such close quarters.
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