So... it's been a while. How have you been? I've been incredibly busy!
Would you believe it if I said that I had planned to write a blog every two weeks? Evidently that plan fell by wayside somewhere during March – but not for lack of material, just a critical lack of time. I figured that I'd explain my silence by showing you exactly what I've been up to this semester.
University
The second semester of my second year has sent me on a number of adventures from northern Scotland all the way down to the Channel Islands, with a couple of pit stops in between. If you've been following my Instagram and Twitter you'll have seen a lot of what I've been up to (apologies to my Facebook audience, I'm not as good at keeping that up to date).
Expedition. I'm sure you can guess what this module involved, although the specifics may be a little harder to guess. My sister and I went on a week-long expedition to Scotland to make a webseries about the local wildlife called The Local Patch Project. This was a huge amount of fun, and we saw some incredible wildlife. The webseries is currently in the edit stages, but I hope to be releasing everything in full by the end of July. I'll also write up a full blog about the trip, complete with pictures, so be sure to keep an eye open for that.
For Working in the Creative Industries I had to undertake a number of work experience opportunities. I was able to draw upon some experience gained in my first semester, but as most of this was media-based I felt that it was time to expand more on the wildlife side of my course. I've been doing some volunteering with the Cumbria Wildlife Trust at Gosling Sike and helped out with some National Trust rangers along Hadrian's Wall.
But the biggest and best experience I had was spending a week with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust on their Birds on the Edge project. I'll do a full write up of this week in a subsequent blog (something else to look forward to!) but to summarise, I spent a week in Jersey looking for red-billed choughs, a species that was extinct on Jersey until 2013 but thanks to the work of the project have made a comeback. I walked for miles and miles in both beautiful and inclement weather searching for choughs, took some great photographs and learnt so much about how an organisation like Durrell really works.
I'm hoping to deliver a talk about my experiences to the Wildlife Society in the next series of society lectures, so fingers crossed that goes ahead!
Wildlife Media 2 called for a report about the behaviour of an animal in a specific, named location. I decided that I would take advantage of my time in Jersey, and the experts on hand to help me, and do a report about the red-billed choughs I got to work with. This was a really interesting experience, approaching studying wildlife from an ecological perspective, as opposed to a photography one. As a part of this I got to spend time with Gianna, one of Durrell's captive choughs, to see how they adapted to captivity.
The final module for this semester was Documentary. I was in a team of 5 and we were given the prompt 'Wild Cumbria'. We decided that we would make a piece called The Hidden Wilds of Cumbria and explore the wild spaces that lie away from the public eye.
We decided to make four short films that would then combine into one larger documentary. Our chosen topics were; an introduction to Cumbria, Atlantic Woodlands at Haweswater, Carlisle City Cemetery and Urban Wilds. As usual, I took on the role of producer, but the nature of the project and the size of the crew meant that I got to branch out into other roles including directing, sound recording and camera operating.
The production process had its ups and downs, but in the end we had a fantastic time making this documentary, and I think you'll agree it's a great piece of work!
The year was rounded up by the annual Media Awards! I was honoured to receive 6 nominations – the most for an individual – and even more delighted to receive the awards for Best Wildlife Photograph, Best Landscape Photograph and Best Vlog. Congratulations to all the other winners and nominees – they were very well deserved.
The Wildlife Society
Even with all of the above craziness going on, the Wildlife Society has managed to stay as busy as ever! Of course the society talks have continued and we've had some really fascinating experiences (although pizza is yet to make a re-appearance). The talks will definitely be back next year, and we hope to get some more fantastic speakers lined up!
We took part in the University Mammal Challenge again this year, and I took the role of team leader for the second time. Although we didn't get a weasel this time we were absolutely delighted by the massive increase in hedgehogs on campus! We saw a lot on the camera traps, but at some of our late night events we were lucky enough to see some in the flesh.
Not related to the challenge, but still relevant, I stumbled across a poorly hedgehog on campus during the daytime. Concerned for its well-being I called the wildlife sanctuary at Knox Wood I asked what I should do. After being told that it was likely that the little fellow had hypothermia I was sent into a frenzy, trying to locate a box, some towels and a source of heat. Once I'd got him safely wrapped up we took him over to Knox Wood to get some proper care. I've had an update from the team; he's doing well and on track for a full recovery!
One of the major projects on the society's hands this year has been our photography hide. This has been on the cards for a while, and plans have been quietly moving in the background since September. We had loads of help to turn our dreams into a reality – thank you to every single person who contributed! The official opening ceremony was on 16th May (although I should say it had plenty of use before that) and honestly, I'm so happy we were able to make this happen. The campus is just so much wilder for its presence, and it's such a fantastic thing to have available to the students – and not just those of us on Wildlife Media.
The height of excitement in the Brampton Road wildlife calendar is definitely the BioBlitz. We spent 16 hours rapidly surveying all the species on campus. The report was published the other day, and we recorded 27 species of plants, 44 species of birds, 35 species of arthropods, 7 species of mammals, and 1 amphibian – an increase on last year. I had a fantastic time, and the event went so well – which I was very pleased about as I had a big hand in organising it.
A fantastic year with the society was topped off by a number of accolades received by both the society and some of the members. The first was a nomination for Best New Society at the National Society Awards. Although we didn't win we had a brilliant time at the awards in Manchester, and we were honoured to be recognised in the top ten new societies across the country! We did better with awards back in Carlisle. We won Best Society at the Salute Awards, and I was delighted to receive Best Society Member of the Year! A very successful year all round!
So that's a whirlwind tour of the last few months! As you can see I've had plenty of things to keep me busy, but things have turned out really well. There are other things that I need to write up in full for you, and hopefully those will reach you over the next few weeks. Second year has been absolutely fantastic, and I've already got loads of plans for third year – let's see how those come together!
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