Neil Spiers is a trainee on the Coastal Communities programme in East Lothian, where over the course of a year, eight young people develop their skills in both practical conservation (with TCV) and outdoor-based youth work (with Strive). Here, he gives us the low-down on what the group have been up to so far:
Since starting in May, we have worked on a variety of different projects, learning a whole range of new skills like fence-building and deck-laying.
One of our most recent and biggest projects so far was building a dipping platform over a pond at The Royal Botanic Gardens. The platform was built for children to safely access the pond to learn about what lives and grows there. We have also controlled sea buckthorn growth at various beaches across the East Lothian coast and have learned about the types of places it grows in and how certain plants can cause problems if they overpopulate an area.
We have also taken on a number of different conservation jobs at Levenhall Links to keep us busy throughout the year and develop our skills further.
