Good morning everyone. I hope you are all well.
So, welcome to the next "People at Rye Meads" blog post! You know, there is more to a nature reserve than just the nature! There are just under 100 volunteers and staff that keep this fantastic nature reserve in shape! So this is where you come to find out more! This installment of "People at Rye Meads" is an interview with Dave, who is one of our management volunteers, he's also an assistant leader for our Wildlife Explorers Club. Here we go:
So Dave, tell us what you do at Rye Meads?I started as a Tuesday volunteer, helping doing the practical conservation work out on the reserve... then I started coming along to the Thursday's practical work parties, and now I'm also an Assistant leader for the Wildlife Explorers Club and the Wacky Wildlife Adventures (the school holiday activities the reserve runs for children).
How long have you been working at Rye Meads?I've been at the reserve for over 7 years!
I came to the organisation following a difficult period in my life. I can be found digging holes, wood preserving, hedge trimming and a plethora of other physically demanding tasks around the reserve. But life hasn't always been this way, as illness has found me faced with mixed reactions in the world of work and volunteering.
I suffer from both Epilepsy and Aspergers syndrome. Epilepsy is a neurological condition that makes sufferers prone to seizures, and this change in awareness or sensation is caused by a brief electrical disturbance in the brain.Aspergers is perhaps less documented but brings similar characteristics to the better-known Autism. Physically, this doesn't have a lot of impact on Dave's daily life, but does cause less obvious side effects such as an inability to recognise body language or facial expressions.I hope that by speaking out and proving how little these conditions affect the work I do for the RSPB it may encourage others to step forward and offer their services for things they may have thought were impossible.
Why did you decide to volunteer at Rye Meads?I chose to volunteer for the RSPB because I like outdoor work and had spent several months in my house not really mixing with other people. I thought this would be a good opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy some physically demanding work whilst meeting like-minded – and hopefully not judgemental – people.
What do you enjoy most, and least about your job?I enjoy being on the reserve and seeing things that I have helped to build... or in some cases removed - knowing I've helped the reserve. Working in the rain is not much fun - but it has to be done sometime!
What's your favourite hobby?I like model building (airfix, revell etc), I also have a few radio controlled cars and helicopters. I build a full size Tardis from melamin chipboard wardrobe doors and other bits of wood, and windows from bubblewrap! In the end my Tardis was featured in three museums for big Dr Who exhibitions!
What got you into wildlife?My Mum did!
What is your favourite creature and why?Spiders! They are great, they come in all different shapes, sizes and colours - and they have such great complex webs!
Would you reccomed volunteering to others?Volunteering at the RSPB has completely changed my outlook and given me a new focus, as well as making me feel better both mentally and physically. I have a set routine; feel fitter and stronger, and most importantly happier. I would recommend that anyone who is unsure whether a health condition may affect their ability to volunteer gets in touch with the RSPB, as it really does help.
Afternoon everyone,
I hope you are all well.
Here are some of the highlights for the day (so far) - there are good numbers of wildfowl out there at the moment (including shoveler, teal, wigeon and gadwall), they are just coming out of eclipse so the ducks are looking rather smart. There was 200 lapwing from the Tern hide today, this is the most we've seen so far! Other waders have included snipe and green sandpiper. The kingfisher was around at the kingfisher hide - do look into the bushes around the waters edge, the kingfisher we saw was hiding in the vegetation, the bright blue reflection in the water gave him away! The watervoles are still showing nicely near the visitor centre - look out as you cross the first bridge for the watervole feeding stations.
Do look out for these super cute watervoles! Great picture by Alan Reynolds
Yesterday I spent my day over at the lovely Rainham marshes nature reserve.
I was over there for the day doing some face painting and talking to people.
Have you been to Rainham? It's a lovely reserve, you should head over for a visit sometime!
This picture of the visitor centre is by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
Not only do they have a lovely team of staff and volunteers (see below) but lots more too! This is a picture of a volunteer and a couple of the staff members taken yesterday when I was there... I borrowed the picture from the Rainham blog, check it out for more information (and to find out if they usually look like this!)
Their visitor centre is greats (it's even won awards), there is alot of history to discover while you enjoy a fabulous walk and you have to go and see the new hides! After a walk you should stop back at the centre to go into the cafe (I can thoroughly recommend their soup!)
I was in the centre doing some face painting as it is nearly halloween (if you are interested here is my arm that I painted)
It was lovely to sit in there and look out of the big windows and see the lovely views over the reserve and the Thames:
The highlight for me was seeing the spoonbill that was there! Great bird!
You should visit soon!
The other day I wrote a blog about "the start of something (that will be) wonderful..." (Click on the words to open the blog post), well I wanted to show you what it is!
Over the half term we had our Wacky Wildlife Adventures - the holiday activities for the kids. Well we made this fantastic feature...
After a slight location change - it's been moved onto the field next to the lapwing hide. We are planning to turn part of this area into a fantastic wildlife orchard, so we've build our feature in there.
I can reveal that this fabulous feature is infact.... (drum roll)... a minibeast hotel!
This is a great habitat for minibeasts - it's made from pallets stacked on top of each other to create the frame. The gaps are filled with lots of different materials to create hidy-holes and warm places for creatures to live. Inside our hotel we have:
Underneath the base there is a section with pond liner filled with compost for toads! They are easy to make so would be a great thing to make your gardens.
A big thank you to Nathan, Callum, Lani, Kitty, Felix, Tristan, William, Francesca, Millie, Chester, Ellen, Dave, Tom and Keith for creating this hotel!
The minibeasts are going to love it!
This afternoon two of our volunteers (Keith and Tom) started something, I 'helped' too by saying helpful motivational things (like "you don't want to put that there" or "thats not level" teehee)
They have made the base of a wildlife 'feature' in the garden...
Heres Keith laying the first bricks...
The first slab being laid...
And this is the finished start of the base!
There's lots more to do for this fabulous feature - watch this space, I will be showing you the latest happenings soon!
Can you tell what it is yet?