After nearly 3 months in my new role as the Wetlands Officer for the Solway Wetlands Partnership I thought it was about time to post something on our blog.
It has been an incredibly busy time getting out and meeting people, getting to know our sites and the team. I am very grateful that so many partners found time to see me and welcome me to the Solway.
I have come from an Ecological background starting as an Ecologist then moving across to become a Land Management Adviser at Natural England so this role seemed a perfect fit for both elements to come together. I am learning a lot already and look forward to filling in more gaps in my knowledge.
I have had lots of brilliant days in the office but of course my favorite part is going out and meeting new people and seeing what the Solway has to offer in its wonderful range of habitats and species. I had a great couple of days when I started where I went up to Campfield with Norman Horton form RSPB who showed me the entire site and where I saw a lot of Common Lizards and darters which was great. I then went the next day to Wedholme Flow with Alasdair Brock from Natural England and again that was a fantastic day finding out what sort of restoration techniques they had used there and why and then seeing an adder just before my very bouncy collie jumped on its tail (luckily I grabbed her in time).
My first work event was our Britain From Above event at Campfield and that was rather fun and I had a couple of very helpful nature explorers who kept me motivated during the marathon rice spine additions. I also rather enjoyed our spooky Halloween event at Campfield and the hedge laying training course we ran over in Kirkbride on the NNR.
It has been fascinating getting to know the sites and people I will be working with and I look forward to getting to know more and meeting more of the partners and some landowners.
There has been rather a lot happening to try and cover it all in this blog but I am very much looking forward to the rest of my time as Wetland Officer and the events we have planned for 2015.
Rhia.
