I have always enjoyed exploring the countryside and spent much of my youth wandering around many of the mountains and moorlands of the UK and as an engineer I have always taken a great deal of pleasure in fixing and maintaining stuff and so volunteering for Gwent Wildlife Trust and being able to contribute to the management and maintenance of their reserves was a natural fit for me.

I have had a long relationship with the Trust, starting in the early noughties when my family moved to Monmouthshire.  In those early days I spent most of my time at Croes Robert, helping coppice and open up the woodland, make charcoal in the huge kilns and check and record dormouse activity.   Unfortunately, after a number of years volunteering, I was dragged back to full time work and had to take a sabbatical from GWT.

I’m now properly retired and have been back, volunteering, with the Trust for several years.  I have spent most of those years supporting the reserve officers on the various Monmouthshire upland sites. Along with my fellow reserve volunteers I have spent a lot of that time bracken and bramble bashing, invasive species pulling, young tree felling, fence and gate mending and general site maintenance.  There is nothing more satisfying than, after undertaking a good day’s work, leaving a site better for our efforts and knowing we are contributing to the improvement of habitats which will in turn support the native Flora and Fauna.      

I am also part of a group of volunteers who help manage the sheep and cattle at Pentwyn, this is often a simple task of counting and looking over stock and reporting numbers and issues back to the Trust.  Sometimes we can be asked to help move the stock around the reserve to support the Trust’s restorative grazing practice.  We can also be asked to move the stock into the pens to help carry out any necessary remedial care.  The last two years have been particularly interesting with the ups and downs of lambing.

Just over a year ago I was asked to become warden at the Springdale Reserve.  As warden I act on behalf of the Trust, walking the reserve on a regular basis, fixing any minor issues, talking to people visiting the reserve, and reporting back any issues that need attention.  In the last few months, I have also started organising volunteer work days at Springdale and so far, it seems to be working okay.

Gwent Wildlife Trust has provided me with many great learning opportunities from being involved in projects such as pine marten camera trapping, to learning about farm animal care, and learning skills such as drystone walling, scything and many more.   Over the years I have also completed many training events including chainsaw and brush cutters courses, quad bike operations and outdoor first aid instruction.  

Working as volunteer at the trust is at the heart of my life now and it keeps me active and keeps me engaged with people and work.   I have met so many interesting and inspiring people and as a result made many new friends.   It’s through these new contacts that other opportunities have opened up, I now volunteer for the BTO and monitor the nesting success of the birds using the bird boxes at Wyeswood at Pentwyn.   I also now volunteer for the Friends of The Wye by monitoring the water quality of the upper River Trothy.