Wildlife Garden @ the Natural History Museum

Count one, two, three... four - four times I've stepped into the Natural History Museum this week.

I applied to volunteer at the Wildlife Garden a while ago. Those application forms were nasty - it felt more like a job application, complete with references, EEO disclaimers etc. Well, this *is* a job, but it's an unpaid position. But why? Why do I always just volunteer? Why is it so difficult to find proper work there - like the many WLG volunteers I met today who are casual staff... who only work at the NHM one weekday each week. They say jobs come by through word-of-mouth and through contacts of staff. Maybe I'm just not lucky enough. Hopefully, by next term, I'll have identified a key person to approach.

Anyway today's work involved mainly London Plane tree leaves raking, collecting, shredding and recycling - the stuff we do, the stuff we learn is just like what I learn in lectures. Habitat creation and management. There are actually eight British lowland habitat types (fen, reedbed, freshwater ponds, hedgerow, healthland, woodland, meadow, and chalk downland) represented in the little WLG. And the best thing is - it's just right across the street... I can see it from my window. Right now some birds are breeding... we counted a number of Blackbird nests, and saw Mr and Mrs Blackbird scurrying to and fro. Miss Wren was there too, and so were a few fat robins. In summer, they actually bring in a few sheep to graze on the chalklands! Over 50 species of birds, 15 butterfly and 300 moth species have been recorded in the WLG, and not forgetting the mammals - foxes, bats, and squirrels. It being situated in a corner of the intersection of two major roads, pollution levels are high and there are a couple of projects currently being carried out to monitor its effects.

There was a talk by one of the staff - on wetlands management in Belarus. There was a heavy emphasis on peat bogs and lichens.

So that took five hours of my time today; I hope to finish up my preparations for the upcoming two-day Applied Ecology winter conference by tonight, and complete the bulk of my scientific paper come tomorrow.

*Warcraftt III peon voice*   Work, work.

posted by Husky @ 12/10/2005 10:44:00 PM  |