A month in the life of…
Julia Robertson, Nevis Conservation Officer, shares her first impressions and experience of working for the Trust with the team at Nevis
It has been a very busy, but fun, first month starting with the Trust in my new role as Nevis Conservation Officer. Having previously lived and worked in Glen Nevis it has been great to refamilarise myself with the area and I forgot just how much I missed this place. I've thoroughly enjoyed getting stuck into habitat monitoring work, carrying out the dwarf shrub heath monitoring and mark tree seedlings to assess levels of herbivore impacts. It was great to be joined by the local UHI (University of the Highlands and Islands) ranger training students to help with some of this essential monitoring and we've been truly blessed with great weather which makes survey work all the more enjoyable.
Isaac and Tom, fellow members of Trust staff (based at Thirlmere and Schiehallion respectively), have also been up to the Nevis property where we explored the upper reaches of Coire nan Laogh and Coire nan Each monitoring montane willow populations. We also found time for a visit to our peatland site which is actively being restored, and I suspect I will be out in the bog many more times this year.
Outside of monitoring work I've had the opportunity to get involved with the Developing Youth Workforce 'Skills for work' programme with students from Lochaber High School. Myself, Ali (the Trust's Nevis Property Manager) and Ian (who carries out some of the deer control on our Nevis property), helped deliver the first day of their Hill2Grill programme which involved a walk out to Steall Falls and beyond, exploring the relationship between deer and habitat regeneration.
The students participated in a ‘mock stock’ activity with our deer stalker gaining a valuable insight into how stalking is carried out and allowing them the opportunity to get hands-on with the professional kit used to track the movement of deer. They left with an understanding of the importance of sustainable deer management and knowledge of the wide range of potential career routes available to them within practical land management and countryside related jobs. I then joined the students on day two for their trip out to Creag Meagaidh Nature reserve hosted by NatureScot staff. Here they had a session in the deer larder where the students were able to get fully involved in the art of butchering a deer carcass and learning the full process, in all transparency, of how venison enters the food chain from a beast on the hill to meat ready for consumption.
With this extended period of dry weather comes many visitors and campers to the Glen so I have been busy engaging with a variety of folk ensuring that fires are not being lit and that people are out enjoying the outdoors responsibly during these periods of extreme high fire risk.
Ali and I have also spent some time recruiting the next cohort of Junior Rangers. This involved presenting the programme to current second year Geography students at Lochaber High School, giving them the opportunity to learn what fun things they can get involved in if they decide to join us. I'm looking forward to having a full squad of keen Junior Rangers ready to start the programme after summer, getting them out and about exploring new places but most importantly having some fun!
