I’m a student about to go into her first year of studying ecology and conservation at university. 

Day 1: After our induction with Charlotte, we helped out with the Wild Tots group where they did dyke dipping and a range of other activities such as painting and playing in a sand pit. In the afternoon we had a teams meeting with a member of the communications team who explained their job role.

Day 2: We travelled to Foxburrow where we met a member of the ecology team. We spent the morning looking under the reptile mats and noting down what we saw. We found one baby smooth newt, 6 great crested newts, two slow worms and two common toads. In the afternoon we did two habitat suitability indexes (HSI) on two of the ponds for the great crested newt.

Day 3: In the morning we joined the volunteers to remove ragwort from around the visitor centre area. After lunch we joined one of the assistant wardens and drove around the reserve, going to places that the public can’t access. We checked under reptile tins and found a young grass snake. We also saw a marsh harrier and two Chinese water deer.

Day 4: We assisted the volunteers with the bioscan at Carlton Marshes. This involved placing insects in a tray in alcohol to be sent off to the lab. In the afternoon we helped at the holiday club where they completed activities in the forest, including den building and stick weaving.

Day 5: We helped to set up the visitor centre after an event the night before. After that we ran the drop in dyke dipping from 10am to 3pm. After we watched the outdoor theatre group performing. We also unlocked and locked the bird hides in the morning and afternoon.

I really enjoyed work experience at Carlton Marshes and I would recommend it to anyone who is thinking about applying.