My First Day As An Intern.

As always, a good place to start is the beginning, so let me introduce myself. My name is Jess, I’m 35 and I’m the new Community Ranger intern at Dunstable Downs.

Me

From childhood I have always loved the outdoors and wildlife, and after being turned down for the Army I spent my working life until now not really knowing what it was I wanted to do. Always feeling there was something more, but not really knowing what it was.

I have spent many happy hours on the Downs throughout my life, and was taught power kiting up here by my friend Marcus, who sadly died flying his kite here. He loved the Downs as much as I do, and so it seemed only fitting to start volunteering up here and to be able to give something back, for him and for me.

I started volunteering for the countryside team in November of last year and absoloutly loved it, so much so that I applied for the Internship, and was on the top of the world when I was told that I’d been successful, and I was starting on the 27th Febuary.

I woke that morning like an excited child on Christmas morning, wondering what the next 6 months are going to bring, how much am I going to learn? and all the new opportunities that are going to come my way. My day started at 9am and when I arrived I was presented with my login details and a National Trust jacket. I instantly felt part of the team 🙂 I spent a lot of my first morning looking through the National Trust Intranet……WOW!!! I knew there was a lot to the National Trust but I didn’t realise quite how much. A never ending source of information…LOVE IT!!. My brain is now a sponge :)!!

The other part of my morning was spent watching the wild birds that feed from our bird feeders right outside the office window, a million times better than any TV programme. There are Blue Tits, Great Tits, Nuthatches, Bullfinches, Chaffinches, Robins, Greenfinches, even a Great Spotted Woodpecker and probably more but I cant spend all day looking out the window………can I?

In the afternoon I was taken for a bit of a tour of some of our land that we look after. This started with Whipsnade Heath, a lovely piece of woodland, including a 800 year old tree called Witches Beech. Then onto Whipsnade Tree Cathedral. The amount of times I have driven past it and not even realised it was there!! I’d also never heard of a Tree Cathedral before even though I’ve been to Willen Lake in Milton Keynes on countless occasions!

After this was Whipsnade Downs. We said hi to the Wallabys, Muntjac Deer and Penguins in Whipsnade Zoo. They can be seen from the road, known as Bison Hill, thus called because Bison have lived in the field next to the road for 80 years.The last part of the tour was back up Dunstable Downs, which even on the cloudiest days is one of my favourite places to be. The view never ceases to amaze me, apart from in fog!!!

I learnt so much on my first day, Geocaching?? I guess can only be described as the modern day version of orienteering. Coppicing and pollarding which was used a great deal in the old days to encourage trees to grow more timber thus making the trees more profitable. Dunstable Downs is the highest point in Bedfordshire at 800 feet/ 243m above sea level. We have Sky Larks that come and nest in our meadows every year. But I think the thing I learnt most was,  I didn’t even know what was right on my own doorstep!! I hadn’t really explored my local area properly…but that has all now changed for the better :).

Even though my brain was fit to burst by the end of the day I absoloutely loved it, and the only bad thing I could say was my Internship only lasts 6 months!! Knowing what you finally want to do is such an awesome feeling.