Participants

I was one of the volunteers helping out at La Brenne in France in February 2009. I thoroughly enjoyed the 2 weeks: having the companionship of others, getting stuck in to some serious scrub clearance work, but also gaining an awful lot from the cultural experience of simply being in that isolated, friendly, atmospheric part of France. I came away feeling reinvigorated, and that it had been of great personal benefit to me and to others in the team.

Back at home I have continued working with Herefordshire Bat Group in Ast Wood where we have carried out two more Winter surveys of our approx. 40 bat boxes – with very encouraging results for Long Eared Bats ie the highest recorded numbers in any wood yet surveyed in Herefordshire. In addition we have erected 9 Woodcrete boxes which were given to us by the Bat Group in recognition of our efforts.

Since returning from the Czech Republic I have been trying to create a butterfly garden at home planting different types of flowers that attract butterflies/moths. In the summer I will be visiting the local country park for a bat & moth evening which I am looking forward to!

After participating in the EuCAN programme, I continued with my job as a Community and Education Officer with The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country. I have recently left this job to spend 12 months travelling and working on conservation projects around the world, including turtle conservation in Mexico and practical conservation on reserves on the Galapagos.

Following my amazing trip to La Brenne, I am now a regular volunteer with the Essex Wildlife Trust and am studying Conservation & Environment at Writtle College. The EuCAN trip focused my passion for nature and gave me the practical skills and confidence I needed to take the first step into my new life!

After visiting Eastern Poland in Autumn 2009, I continued my work as Reserve Manager for Natural England in Wiltshire. The visit to Poland, and frequent visits to my native Netherlands made me more aware of conservation challenges abroad. It has boosted my enthusiasm to keep learning and to get more involved with a variety of conservation projects nearer to home.

I am a conservation biologist, about to start a PhD in Darwin, Australia, investigating the impact of feral cats on small mammal populations. EuCAN in La Brenne, France, was fantastic and helped me understand the world of conservation from an entirely different angle.

I have been working in Bristol for an environmental and social think-and-do tank called the Schumacher Institute. I’m a research assistant and am currently working on facilitating relationships between different communities in the city.

Since participating in the Eucan project I have continued working on small environmental projects in the UK and have now finished my degree in Applied Zoology. The work gave me an invaluable insight into the culture another country and the environmental issues faced elsewhere as well as meeting some lovely people. The commitment and enthusiasm shown by our counterparts and the local people was a real tonic and I got the feeling not only of having carried out some worthwhile environmental work but to having contributed to raising the profile for, and support of, environmental awareness and conservation. Very worthwhile.

Following my Poland trip in August 2009 I have worked on a game reserve in Namibia for two months and volunteered at some local woods and on Brownsea Island. I am also undertaking regular monitoring for otters with my local mammal group. I have just started a new job working as an Ecologist at the renewable electricity company Ecotricity.

Since my 2009 Aggtelek trip, I continue to run Verdant Ecology – mostly bat work but anything from tree surveys in the gardens of little old ladies to ecology lead on a multi-billion pound project to build an energy-from-waste scheme in a nature reserve! I am still involved in eco-tourism and even popped in to see the EuCAN lot in Zdanice in 2010.

Since my trip to Hungary in 2010, I continue to work at Avon Wildlife Trust as one of the Nature Reserves Managers, and I now study and carry out butterfly surveys across the area. I even taught a couple of Butterfly ID and ecology training days for staff and volunteers at Avon Wildlife Trust, including how to carry out transects and surveys, how to identify British species and their ecology and foodplants etc. The trip and the training weekends have taught me an incredible amount and has started a new passion and enthusiasm for butterfly and moth conservation.

Since working with EuCAN, I have been made manager of the Dominos I worked at, quit that job and moved to Reading. I am now starting a 12 month voluntary placement with the Berks Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust as a conservation officer. I have the experience in Poland to thank for both the path I am taking and the opportunities I have been offered, as well as the memories of course!

After volunteering as a ranger at Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door, I worked as a recycling advisor for the New Forest District Council. I am currently working for the Environment Agency promoting the work that they do.

Since visiting Eastern Poland I have continued to develop my interest in conservation volunteering. I have helped to clear scrub at several butterfly reserves in Somerset and Dorset and volunteered with the local bird ringing group.

I work with children, young people and families in the outdoor environment. I am currently building links with Polish and other Eastern European communities in and around the Yeovil area, with the hope that they will become more involved in conservation and outdoor learning.

I continue as warden of Brampton Wood in Cambridgeshire, where monitoring and improving the habitat of our three endangered species – Great Crested Newts, Black Hairstreak Butterflies and Hazel Dormice – takes up a lot of the time, in between managing 330 acres of ancient woodland, an island in a sea of intensive arable agriculture.

After returning from Hungary, I continued to work for an ecological consultancy in Oxfordshire. I then decided to go back to university where for the past 12 months I have been carrying research on an endangered weaver bird following three months based on Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean. I’m currently pursuing consultancy work in East Anglia and conducting surveys for the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Welney.

Since my visit to La Brenne, I have continued with seasonal posts as a Ranger at Stover Park in Devon, leading education activities for schools and undertaking practical habitat management work. I also volunteer through various local wildlife organisations – this year I have been particularly busy helping with bat surveys, radiotracking and bat-box checks which I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Since my visit to Czech Republic I have continued to work with London Wildlife Trust, and am now enjoying my exciting new role as Kempton Nature Reserve Manager. The brushcutter licence and practical experience gained as a result of my EuCAN visit has certainly helped my career in nature conservation progress.

I have been working for the RSPB with stone-curlews in Wessex.

At Centre 404 our building refurb has finally started after 3 years of fundraising so I am managing that, it all seems to be going well so far which is great, we move back in in May hopefully. We have some lovely garden projects running at the moment, a new mobile garden project is up and running whilst our garden is out of use, where our users/volunteers go to visit others with a learning disability in their homes to install and maintain window boxes and pots, it helps reduce isolation and build friendships and we have some really keen gardeners involved they are all learning so much, so that makes me happy. Here is a link to our latest newsletter, the last page shows some of our gardeners in action!

After working with Butterfly Conservation and EuCAN in Poland I decided I wanted more involvement in conservation, and with better weather! So I have moved to Sydney to do a PhD focusing on the diversity and conservation of freshwater insects. And while I study I have volunteered for the local Bushcare group to battle invasive species in the local national park.