One year down, one to go

The first year of my college course is done! Term finished on the 25th. It's strange to think I'm halfway through already. And honestly it's not a pleasant thought that I only have a year left before I need to have figured out what I'm going to do next - just one more year before I have to return to full-time work. But, I am absolutely loving it. 

My board for keeping track of assignments

In case you don't know or can't remember, I'm doing a two-year Advanced Technical Extended Diploma in Land & Wildlife Management (Conservation); basically Countryside Management, and it's Level 3 so equivalent to A-Levels. Because my application was late getting processed I wasn't able to talk to anyone about the course beforehand, so started off a bit blindly, not really knowing what I was going to be doing. And it's been a mixture, mostly interesting and enjoyable but some not so much - but that's fine, that's the case with everything. 

My favourite unit has been Population Surveys, Ecology & Conservation (PSEC) - we learned the basics of ecology, evolution, taxonomy (classification of living organisms, not to be confused with taxidermy), threats to ecosystems, conservation strategies, legislation, and the whys and hows of doing wildlife surveys. I've also loved and got high marks in the Species ID certificate, which we'll continue next year. The Habitat Management units for woodlands, heathlands, grasslands, and farmland, were all really interesting, particularly learning about the history of the British countryside, how the landscape has changed over the millennia, centuries, and decades. I liked the Countryside Recreation unit, which really highlighted the importance of being able to access the countryside, how unequal that access is, and also how damaging human recreational activities are to the land, wildlife, and conservation efforts, and how difficult it is to balance those differing needs. Not so much my cup of tea were the Machinery and Estate Skills units. I'm glad I was able to have a go at practical tasks like coppicing, hedge-laying, path surfacing, and fence-building, but I have almost no upper body strength and no experience of using tools (i.e. no coordination or stamina) so my goodness I found them difficult, haha! There is a part of me that's a little disappointed I didn't enjoy the practical side more and find it easier, because coppicing and hedge-laying would be a great line of work to get into; I've always had a thing about traditional skills, and these ones are very much needed, and pay quite well. Oh well.

Chopping a tree to lay it and create a hedge

I'm also really happy that I've done well. Having failed my A-Levels in 2008-10, and never actually been taught study skills, I was nervous about returning to education again, and it has been tough. I really struggled with the assignments for several months, getting Merits but achieving them by an unsustainable level of energy, overthinking, perfectionism, late nights, and stress. Thankfully I was eventually able to realise when enough was enough and spending even another half an hour on it wouldn't make a difference, let alone another day. Not long afterwards something else clicked and I had a much better idea of what I needed to be doing to show my understanding (and also to make sure I had it in the first place) - and ended up getting Distinctions for three of my last assignments, which felt amazing! And I feel good about how I did in the exam and synoptic assessment, although I won't get my grade for those until Results Day in August (annoyingly they're not giving us our results for each one, just a combined grade). Even just getting Passes would have been a real achievement for me, so I'm really chuffed, and proud of myself :)

The remote learning over the winter lockdown had its pros and cons, but it was definitely nice to get back to campus in mid-March - although it was 'go go go' for six weeks to get the remaining unit assignments done and prepare for the big synoptic assessment and revise for the exam all before half term at the end of May. After they were all finished, however, the last three weeks of term were lovely and relaxed, spent going out on site visits and doing activities we missed out on due to lockdown, and having introductions to some of the topics for next year. We went to Itchen Stoke and installed hazel faggots (giant bundles of sticks) along the river bank to help prevent further erosion. Working in the shade alongside a beautiful chalk river and going in the water (wearing albeit far too large and slightly leaky waders) on a hot sunny day was great. We went pond-dipping at the college lake. We spent a wonderful few hours at Lymington and Keyhaven Marshes, birdwatching. We visited a local farm, formerly intensive arable but now very conservation-centered, with a range of different habitats and wildlife corridors restored and teeming with returning wildlife, and buffalo grazing the flower-filled meadows. (The farmer is doing great work and more need to follow his example, but he also gave us a first-hand account of how tough it is for farmers.) We spent an hour or two at the lovely Chilbolton Common, a local Site of Special Scientific Interest that has the challenges of having a public Right of Way through it and being a very popular spot on nice summer days because you can actually get into the water, probably the only place along the river where that's possible. And on the last day of term we had a sort of treasure hunt for information all around the campus, followed by a barbecue and a game of rounders - the latter held in a field of knee-high grass dotted with cow pats, haha. 

River practical, hammering in a stake to secure the hazel faggot in place

Next year's units sound really interesting. I can't remember all of them, but they include: ecological concepts and processes, environmental science, coastal habitat management, freshwater and wetland management, deer management, greenwood crafts, and a specialist project which I am extremely daunted by! There's also an option to do a chainsaw certificate, but it costs around £400 for the PPE and the test (it'd cost a lot more doing it independently though), so you have to really want to do it, and I'm just not interested in that sort of practical work. You also have to be physically fit and strong enough to wield the things for lengths of time and drag tree trunks around the forest floor... which I'm not, hahaha. We don't have any work to do over the summer, except a bit of Species ID for a couple of tests in the first few weeks back in September: 20 dragonflies, 20 damselflies, and 25 butterflies and their larval (caterpillar) food plants.

I love what I'm learning about, and I love the learning itself. I wish I could carry on studying after the course is done, maybe go into more depth... but I've struggled enough with the work this year, and with university being mostly self-guided learning I just don't think it's an option for me. And that's fine, it isn't for everybody, even though it's widely considered to be the expected norm. I don't know what I'd like to do afterwards yet, but I enjoy the species ID and surveying so that's something to look into, and I'm doing some surveying with a local conservation charity over the summer.

Chilbolton Cow Common

This year has meant a lot for me. I've passed (well, to be confirmed, but hopefully) and done well in the course, I've returned to something I've always loved, connecting to the natural world more and understanding it better, learning and trying out new things. I'm learning to drive and it's going well. And I've made friends, in college and outside, I'm finding my people, and am getting a bit of a social life, which I'm really excited about, haha.

I've taken myself off down to Exmouth this week, my first trip away since Cornwall in October 2019, and my first fully solo one since the Lake District that August! Yay. I'm looking forward to it. The weather looks rather wet and windy, but hopefully it won't be too bad. So keep an eye out for my blog posts about this trip, coming soon! :)