And now the time has come……………….

Things have been mental since I last blogged, lots of invasive species have been put to death and we’ve had a breakthrough in dealing with the disappearing/reappearing/disappearing/reappearing rat problem. YAY. So luckily there will be one final massive surge of energy this winter to finally rid Rams Island of its unwelcome squatters. Also, wildfowl counts on the Island over the past breeding season show productivity has gone mad and there were little ducklings everywhere – bliss.

On the plant front it’s been slow progress, after the foul weather last summer and most of the spring this year, which made spraying very difficult, we are now faced with weather that is, gulp dare I say it, tooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sunny! So, we’ve been out on the river earning our mud, sweat and cheers badges digging out the hogweed that will flower this year. It’s hard but satisfying work that will make consecutive spraying years much easier.

My training and development has been going really well, I’ve begun giving training days on Invasive Plant Management for CVNI (BTCV in NI) and gave a very sniffly (I was full of a nasty, nasty cold!) talk at the Invasive Species Ireland Conference in Belfast this year. It went great and, even though I had the ‘slot after the slot after lunch’ I don’t think I heard any snoring!

So, my apprenticeship, has it worked? Well yesterday someone asked me what I did and I said “I’m an Invasive Species Officer” and the little voice of doubt inside my head said “Are you? Do you know enough to actually call yourself that!!!!” and for the first time in my life I said a great big confident YES YES YES! So I’d say that, yes the apprenticeship scheme has worked, not just to give me the knowledge I needed to build up my career but also the confidence to believe in myself and actually have faith in my abilities. Things haven’t always gone how we’ve planned but in the end the result is what we all hoped and as with everything in life the ups and downs are what make you a stronger person. (I was gonna say ‘well rounded’ but couldn’t type for laughing!).

So the future, well it looks relatively bright. No job to talk of yet but I have no doubt the right one wont be too far away. I still have a few conferences to attend and a bit of training to do, thanks to the guys at CVNI, and a little bit of volunteering for the RSPB on Rathlin I hope – I need my seabird fix! So I’ll be busy for the next few weeks! Also, being a bit of a workaholic, I’m sure I’ll find myself pottering around on the river, spade at the ready and murder in mind………………

It’s been a very eventful 18 months and I’ve had the best time. I’ve made some great friends and met some exceptional people. It’ll be strange leaving the welcoming arms of BTCV Scotland as I’ve come to feel like part of their big happy family over the past year and it will be even stranger leaving Natural Talent behind as we’re the coolest gang of nerds I’ve ever known! lol.

But sure, I’ll do rightly ………………………………………………………