Day one involved meeting the incredible people in the office, and understanding how these members of staff work together with the 1,800 volunteers to make BBOWT what it is today.
I also had the opportunity to learn about the fascinating history of the charity, from its beginnings as a group of volunteers forming the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Naturalists Trust in 1959, to the present day.
Spending three days out on the reserves with the Oxfordshire reserves team, I learned so much about the work that they do and the wildlife that they support. The staff and volunteers were eager to teach me everything, from the plants of chalk grasslands, to how to use a scythe. Chalk grasslands, for example Hartslock nature reserve, have been called the ‘rainforests of Britain’, because of the huge number of different plants that live there.