A new recruit flying in
Hi, everyone.
I’m Rebekah and I have just started as the new reserve warden alongside Charlie.
I first became interested in conservation through volunteering as a young ranger with the Lake District National Park and with Eden Rivers Trust based in Penrith. I’ve always been a fan of nature and have a love for the outdoors and this experience allowed me to investigate what career paths were available to me to help the environment in a positive way.
Coming out of A levels, I wasn’t sure about going to university so I started an apprenticeship with the Yorkshire Dales National Park as part of the Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership Scheme. This looked into countryside management and conservation efforts within the Westmorland Dales where I worked with many conservation organisations in Cumbria doing a variety of practical and monitoring tasks. This gave me the knowledge base for a ranger or warden job, which I decided to expand further at Newcastle University. Here I spent 3 years completing an Environmental Science degree and was involved in the running of multiple societies such as the Ecological Society and Fellwalking Society, as well as volunteering and working for Urban Green Newcastle, a charity that focused on maintaining Newcastle’s green spaces. It was through the university that I saw the position for the warden at WWT Caerlaverock.
Only one week after finishing my university assignments, I began to settle in as the newest warden! I have been here for almost a fortnight now and loving every second of it. I’m looking forward to exploring everything this amazing site has to offer and working with the team to improve the wetlands for the wildlife and visitors.
Words and pictures by Rebekah Allison
