February was yet another busy month, although I expect they will keep getting even busier as we head into spring! I have managed to help at various sessions this month and have really enjoyed myself! The office is still closed so I have been working from home, but I still manage to see my colleagues over zoom for a catchup and at our events of course!
At the start of February, I went along to one The Come Forth for Wildlife Training Courses – Habitat Management for Amphibians and Reptiles with James. The practical part of the session was held at Menstrie Community Woodlands, where James talked through habitat management methods and how to make ponds and the surrounding habitats suitable for amphibians and reptiles. We even had some snow brhhh! 🥶
This month I also went into a primary school with Rosie to run some volunteer sessions. I really enjoyed working with the children and helping them learn about all our native amphibians and reptiles. We also created some hibernacula and did some wildflower seed planting where we did ‘a groovy dance’ to press the seeds into the ground!
Throughout February I have been going along to some of Plantlife’s Spring into Action webinars. There were a variety of topics from ‘For the love of meadows’ to ‘An introduction to lichen identification to ‘How to make a mini-wildflower meadow in your park or garden’ to ‘Managing your mini meadow for reptiles and amphibians’. Each of the webinars were equally interesting and I plan to give a talk on one of them at our Froglife Staff Meetings! I also went along to TCV’s Wildlife Tracks and Signs webinar and TWIC’s Wildlife Recording webinar.
This month was also the month of Froglife’s Scotland Staff Social where James, Rosie and I met up with Mirran and Louise for lunch in Cumbernauld. This was really lovely and just let everyone have a good natter and a catchup.
I’ve also been helping out with the Mapestry Tour again – it is now up at the Speirs Centre in Alloa, make sure to go and check it out!! I have kept going with project updates and articles and have even written an article for the next Natterchat so make sure to keep an eye out for it in the next edition. I love all the different aspects of my traineeship and I am really looking forward to spring and summer with all the events we have planned!