Recently I had the opportunity to complete my work experience with the Dorset Wildlife Trust and the Urban Heaths Partnership. During this exciting week I met a variety of people involved with the Dorset Wildlife Trust, including many volunteers. I learnt a lot of different interesting things during the week and had an enjoyable time. My week consisted of the following… 

DAY ONE

On the first day of my work experience, I was based at the Urban Wildlife Centre at Beacon Hill where I started my day with a tour of the office and then spent some time looking at the Dorset Wildlife Trust website. Here I learned how to update the content of different webpages. Then I spent some time completing admin tasks for the team. I also added some new events to the website and chose some new photographs to promote them on social media. I then wrote an article about swifts which was based on different facts about the bird, for example how fast they can fly. I enjoyed the day and was looking forward to the rest of the week. 

DAY TWO

On the second day of work experience, I was at Kilwood nature reserve which was a little tricky to find, just outside Wareham. There I met a group of volunteers and a couple of Dorset Wildlife Trust members. We headed into the woodland, which consisted of mainly birch and oak trees, where our job for the day was to cut and clear branches from the paths. We then burned them in a controlled fire. Luckily there wasn’t much rain! On the way home we saw a deer just by the roadside. It was lovely to be outdoors amongst nature for the day and hearing all the information the volunteers and members were sharing about local wildlife. 

DAY THREE

I spent day three and four of my work experience with the Urban Heaths Partnership. We went to Ferndown Middle School for an event called Fire Day. This day taught year eight students about the dangers of heath fires. I helped with small tasks where I could and observed the different activities. We also took a short walk onto the heath where the students were shown the effects of a fire that happened just a few years ago. Next, classes where shown what would happen to anyone lighting fires in public places and one of the class exercises was for the children to have their fingerprints taken. I found the children very well behaved and they were taking in everything they were being taught. I enjoyed today more than I thought I would and even learnt a few new things!

DAY FOUR 

On day four of my work experience with Dorset Wildlife Trust I went to Upton Country Park to help with a toddler and grandparents group. On this day they were doing Easter related activities including a walk, Easter egg hunt and Easter nest making. I started off by making an example nest in preparation to show the toddlers so that they could follow the activity. I then joined a Dorset Wildlife Trust member to hide the eggs around the area, near the Education Centre at Upton Country Park, which was really fun. When they arrived they all had to find the hidden Easter eggs which they really enjoyed. Next we took them on a walk were there were Easter related pictures along the way. Here they collected twigs ready to add to their clay nests for the next activity. Finally they created the clay nests with anything they had found on their walk.  

Overall I loved working alongside Dorset Wildlife Trust and the Urban Heaths Partnership staff and I gained valuable work experience. I hope to at least be a volunteer when I’m older and it has opened my eyes to all the different areas of Dorset Wildlife Trust's incredible work. 

Written by Will Hepburn. 

Find out more about volunteering opportunities at Dorset Wildlife Trust here.