My Working for Nature Story: Shauny

My Working for Nature Story: Shauny

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.

Our 2021 trainees will be sharing their personal journey throughout the traineeship and how their experience has shaped their next steps in the environmental sector. Lastly is Shauny sharing her Working for Nature story.

My name is Shauny and I was a trainee at the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust. I applied twice for the traineeship and was lucky the second time round. I had spent many years stuck doing jobs that I didn't want to do or enjoyed; the hardest part was not knowing what I wanted to do. I realised the thing I love the most is nature and I was desperate to learn from different people who had experience in the field. I decided the only way forward for me was to take a risk and try to do something different. I couldn't believe my luck when I was accepted as a trainee! I can’t believe the experiences I have had, no two days were the same. I have learnt so much and had a lot of training that I can take with me and are useful for working in the conservation industry.

My ambition is to use my skills and experience to continue to work in conservation in any way I can. Practical skills I’ve learnt include dry stone walling, tree felling, ecological surveying, fencing, hedge laying and many more. I have practice in leadership and have met all sorts of different people with different backgrounds and skills. I’ve done outdoor first aid training and brush cutter training, and had been doing a work placement maintaining and improving grounds at a cemetery.

“The Working for Nature Traineeship is the best experience I’ve had in my life.”

It is a very challenging and rewarding opportunity that I would recommend to anyone who loves the outdoors. It’s a sure way to get the skills and experience needed to work in conservation.

After the traineeship I've taken a break and although the traineeship was one of the best experiences of my life; it was also a whirlwind of new information and the year was fast paced. It has been a time to slow down, reflect and figure out what I wanted and what I was going to do next. The plan is at the beginning of December I start at the Sheffield General Cemetery as an assistant, where I will help lead volunteer days and assist with events that are running. I'd like to find other work to run alongside this as I like variation; the traineeship taught me with all its variations that I am someone who works well this way. I still have my campervan dream and plan to save for one for my 30th birthday. I still make sure I go out on walks everyday and have been feeling more creative with art and I'm finding subjects related to nature easier to work with since I spent a lot of time out in nature. I've felt sad that the traineeship ended, but I'm also excited that I can go on to try new things. I’m enjoying the in-between things at the moment and feeling excited about the future.

 

We want to say a big thank you to the Heritage Fund, for providing funding for six trainees to take on the fantastic Working for Nature traineeship! Congratulations to 2021 trainees, we look forward to meeting our 2022 trainees who will be starting their Working for Nature journey this month.