Work has been going good lately, I’m getting much more comfortable in my roles and for what I am expected to do while being here. That sounds daft I’m sure but the season is really starting up here and I came at the very end of it last year so this is my real chance to do the bulk of the work.
So far I’m hanging in there, I’m not exactly made for 5am starts which is the norm for me now. However it’s already light by then which helps. It’s not like in the heights of December when I would roll out of bed in the pitch black and it’d get light in a few hours time, it’s wake up, look out the window and everything is daylight already. That helps a lot to get me moving in the morning.
Anyway I should mention the course and get that out of the way. I wouldn’t describe myself as an insect lover but they do have their charms. It also helps that the majority of my degree featured insects in some form or other so I decided quite late to try and get on the Freshwater Invert course in Stirling. I wasn’t sure if I could get the time off for it but my boss was pretty flexible that week and I made it across. It was great to be back on my old stomping grounds and definitely good to be home again. The new apprentices were in attendance and every one of them has that trademark spark which seems to connect us all. Some people have it, some don’t and I think that is what separates the men from the boys.
It was great to finally meet my fellow apprentices, I think that’s the first time I’ve met any apprentice as an “equal”so it felt pretty good. The other apprenticeships sound interesting so I’ll be keeping an eye on those guys to see what they’re learning. I’ll say it again fellow apprentices, get out here! Kieren.Jones@rspb.org.uk and you’ve got until the end of October to do it.
What I love most about BTCV courses is the enthusiasm, I learn so much from people who are enthusiastic about what they do, Craig goes out and does survey work on his own time while still doing his normal Buglife jobs. That’s something to aspire to. It’s a real shame that even in our towns and cities that nobody looks for a lot of species, I didn’t actually realise how bad it was. I even bought myself a kick sample net that is due tomorrow so I’ll hopefully find something on Uist that is rare and make a name for myself that way.
We also had a party on the Friday after the course, safe to say I disgraced myself in true BTCV fashion! I had to show everyone how it was done and the pictures unfortunately have made it online, I won’t tell you where they are to save some face but when John says “what happens in Balallan stays in Balallan”, don’t trust him.
So anyway I came back and we did a couple more of our eagle visits, the sea eagles are looking set for another 4 or 5 chicks from 4 pairs so that’s pretty productive again, our 4 pairs are really driving on the reintroduction efforts. I just got back from doing day 1 of what I consider to be my favourite piece of work. I am going out and counting the entire male corn bunting population on South Uist and Benbecula. I walked at least 10 miles today, the unfortunate thing with the survey is that since it’s me on my own, I walk out as far as I can and then have to walk all the way back again to get my car. So far it’s not looking good but we’ll see. It’s early days yet for assessing the results.
I’m going to wrap this up now as I hate to go on and on, plus I have work to do!