I am a year 10 student and this week of July I completed a work experience placement with Surrey Wildlife Trust! I decided to fulfil my week of work experience out in the open surrounded by wonderful wildlife and amazing teams of SWT staff and volunteers. I thoroughly enjoyed my time and learnt so much; I was introduced to many activities and invited to observe the impacts people have on conserving wildlife and how significant the changes are being made by all these volunteers and workers.

During these days I found myself defeating invasive species in certain areas, repairing fencing, clearing away overgrown spaces, putting in new posts and more- resulting in such a rewarding feeling! The feeling when you know you've made a difference, which has now inspired me to strive and keep making these differences as I've been taught how easy but important it really can be.

Task One: Clear away a load of overpowering bracken

On my first day I was at the Royal Common in Elstead and we were assigned to scythe and pull out bracken in an area where it had overgrown and begun to prevent other plants from growing up. I learnt how a scythe is used through observing those using it, and spent the day improving my pulling technique to beat the tough bracken and pull its whole plant up with the root base also. By the end we had collectively cleared away such a large amount of bracken and felt very accomplished after all that hard work!

Day two I participated in opening areas along river banks to a variety of plants, once overpopulated with Himalayan Balsam.

As the day went on we travelled along sections of the river running through Whitmoor common and pulled up an extreme amount of Balsam from the banks and areas surrounding them. The uprooting of Himalayan Balsam is a very easy task as the plant removes from the soil with ease the majority of the time, meaning we got through an amazing amount! I learnt so many interesting things about this plant and the effects it has, which I wrote a blog about previously. We walked along beautiful river banks under spotted sunlight through the trees and looked out for any signs of the balsam anywhere at all times. In the afternoon, a particularly large forest of Himalayan Balsam was found, and we got stuck in. The plant also made a very satisfying noise when stood upon, which helped to keep me motivated as well as looking back on the paths into groups of Balsam I had made and the building piles of it I created!!

Task Three: Write a blog on something intriguing me

Day Three, I spent writing a blog and researching more about the Himalayan Balsam plant I had previously uprooted. I found out many interesting facts about this plant and enjoyed reading about it considering it had interested me so much the day before!

Task Four: Repairing, fixing and installing new fencing

Day Four was a packed full day at Barossa, Camberley where I learnt a lot of new skills and the importance of the tasks we were completing! This day included me firstly installing new brackets and hammering them into fence poles in need of strengthening and where wiring in between had fallen loose, I struggled to begin with hammering these into the tough wood however persevered and found a better angle to hit from and was given advice by a member of the SWT team on how to lean into it more and was on a roll.  Secondly, I had a go at using a fence rammer (wearing a hard helmet of course!) and putting a new fence pole in where one had weakened too much, quite tough also but hard work is the best type of work! Then I also learnt how to take out old staples in the fencing to allow for new poles to be installed, and completed this on a fence needing replacement. Lastly, I cleared areas from gorse allowing space for new fence poles, I did this by using a saw and secateurs very safely. I carried these new skills and utilised them throughout the day repairing and replacing many sections of old fence, all in preparation for cows to be allowed in the area the next day without risk of breaking out of fencing!  This day was tiring however extremely fun and a great socialising opportunity with so many group tasks as well as independent tasks that taught me how much I can achieve when I put my mind to it and grow better at these things by just sticking at it and trying and retrying.

Task Five: Conclude my work experience

Now it is my last day of work experience and I am spending it reflecting on what I have learnt, improved in and widened my knowledge and understanding of the natural world.

This week I have realised how simple helping wildlife and conserving it can be; how amazing the SWT team and volunteers truly are; all good tasks result in even better rewards ( including the biscuit breaks!);how passionate I really am about the wildlife that surrounds us and most of all how there are so many more things to discover and educate myself on in the incredible world of nature we have on Earth! I would like to therefore encourage people to get out in the wild and help out, or just learn about the way different species and forms of life work. I will now share with you my favourite fact of the week: cows hate turning right; they only turn left when possible!(Thanks Matt!)

Thank you so much for this experience SWT!I have felt like a part of the team and will never forget all I learnt and discussed with you all.

By Lola Jones