My Working for Nature Story: Robin

The Working for Nature Traineeship is a partnership between Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. It enables those with no previous experience or qualifications to gain practical conservation experience and achieve a Diploma in Work-Based Environmental Conservation.

Thank you to our 2022 trainees who have shared their personal journey throughout the traineeship last year. Our final post in the series, telling her Working for Nature story, is Robin.

My name is Robin and I am a working for nature trainee based at Idle Valley in Nottinghamshire. Before I began my traineeship I worked a regular hospitality job and despite my interest and passion for wildlife conservation and nature this seemed like it would only ever be available to me as a hobby. Despite my eagerness to enter the field, due to a lack of qualifications in this area the realm of conservation felt completely inaccessible. Being temporarily out of work over lockdown presented the opportunity for me to immerse myself in nature again, inspiring me to push as hard as I could to progress into this field of work. Through consistent research I discovered the working for nature programme and knew I wanted to work as hard as I possibly could to become a part of it.

Having known this was my passion but feeling discouraged from it for so long due to a lack of on paper experience, I couldn't have been more grateful to be presented with the opportunity to finally get my foot in the door and was dedicated to fulfilling this training, even moving away from home in order to be able to complete the traineeship.

Over the first few weeks, I settled into my position straight away and felt incredibly lucky to work in such a positive environment and to be around people with the same passion for nature.

"I had never felt so motivated or stimulated by a job before, every day presented the opportunity for new learning and experiences."

I have been lucky to work on a range of reserves from ancient woodland to wildflower meadows, helping to maintain these incredible, essential habitats and learning plenty about them along the way. I have had a wonderful experience working with the amazing range of conservation grazers at idle valley, from the longhorns to the Hebrideans, a very unique and special opportunity that I feel incredibly grateful to have been given.

Not only have I been presented with incredible experiences, I have met a range of wonderful people along the way from the rangers who have taken me under their wing, the volunteer groups who made me feel so welcome and the other trainees who have inspired me along the way. Overall, I have been consistently made to feel part of the family and despite my time here being only a year I will miss it greatly and value the experience for the rest of my life.

This traineeship has given me the chance to not only progress into a sector I never thought would be accessible to me, but to excel to the highest possibility.