I cannot believe it is already April – the months are going by so fast! March was even busier than February, but I really enjoyed going to all the different events we had on! We also had some good weather, and it was even starting to feel like Spring.
I went along to a Virtual Reality event at Stirling Train Station at the start of the month with Rosie. Many people watched our Virtual Reality video all about toads and wildlife tunnels, where they decided whether to give toads the green light! I also went along to my first Pond Doctor with James at Falkirk Grahamston Train Station where we gave tips on what makes a good pond. Both events I found interesting, and I enjoyed learning from my colleagues as well.
Another highlight from March was that I went along to a series of Wildlife Gardening Workshops in Stirling with Rosie. I had been looking forward to going along to these and again really enjoyed myself! As we did a series of them with the same two groups, we also got to know the children a bit which was lovely, and it was great to see them enjoying themselves in all the activities!
In March, I also had the pleasure of joining Louise on the Green Pathways project based in Glasgow. This was part of the Conservation Education part of my traineeship. I joined at a community garden where she runs an afterschool club with Propagate. We did a variety of activities from clay moulding to planting to painting to watering to creating bug hotels! I helped run the activities and ran one myself. In late April I will be covering Louise at one of the sessions and have lots of cool activities planned!
As always, I have been along to several volunteering sessions. I went to Finlay Russell Park with Rosie with an Explorer Scouts group where we removed a lot of vegetation encroaching on the footpath as well as some vegetation removal at the sides of the ponds. I also went to a session at Kildean Wetlands where I lead the entire session – this was fun, and we even saw some toad spawn! At the end of the month, I went with Rosie to Doune Ponds which is a lovely site and has a great group of people helping to manage it! We did some vegetation clearance and created hibernacula!
Rosie and I also did some site monitoring where we checked on the quality of the ponds the Come Forth for Wildlife Project has put in over the years. We went to Kildean Wetlands, Raploch SUDS, Balloch Country Park, and RSPB Loch Lomond! We saw many toads and lots of spawn, both common frog and common toad!
My personal habitat project is on its way too! I will be running volunteer sessions at Kinneil Local Nature Reserve and Kinneil Estate. The sessions at Kinneil LNR are booked in for the 10th, 11th, and 12th of May from 10 – 12 where we will be creating a small pond! Make sure to email me if you want to book on! Email: laura.hindle@froglife.org