I feel as though I have well and truly sunken into my role this month and I have managed to be getting on with a lot of tasks independently. I felt like a true member of the MWT team and have certainly felt my confidence grow.

I have spent a lot of time in Ramsey with Andree as February is a important time of year for tree planting. Over a couple of sites we must have planted hundreds of trees, mainly on a stretch along side the Mountain Mile. I cannot wait to pass along in years to come and see the growth that comes from our hard work. 

As well as planting, Andree has also been busy with a sizeable halo thinning project at the Hairpin Woodland Park - I had to be present for health and safety reasons but it was really magnificent the number of trees he was able to fell. Because of the conifer felling, the oak trees now have an open canopy to thrive in for many more years.

We have also been constructing the logstickle course. I have learnt a lot of new techniques while helping out at the assault course, even my digging skills have greatly improved! I still, however, haven't mastered the monkey bars...

Now that I have QGIS installed at the office, I have been able to make a start on the mapping project that I have been asked to help with. Clare has been creating a Manx State of Nature document to be released later this year. My maps will be able to create a nice visual to go along side the text. It is really exciting to be a part of such an important document and I look forward to seeing the finished project!

Finally, I have been making a lot of progress with my Freshwater Pearl Mussel reintroduction feasibility study. I met with Karen Geltress at the beginning of the month who reminded me that this project was not just a spreadsheet, there are actually steps to be taken to assess feasibility on other scales. For example, would there be a biosecurity risk in bringing over any pearl mussels?

As a part of my further investigation, I visited a couple of my potential rivers and took photographs of the substrate to send forward to the Freshwater Biological Society. The FBA have some of the best knowledge of FPMs as they have a well established monitoring project in Cumbria. I intend to make better contacts with the team there so that we can get the expert help that we need. 

I ended the month with a meeting held at DEFA to inform some key parties about the progress that I have been making on the project. They were very keen to hear about my work and the steps moving forward. They told me that I can have access to monitoring sondes in order to better understand fluctuations in potentially problematic water quality parameters. I am really glad that the meeting went well because, I won't lie, I was really nervous to go! It was my first big meeting outside of MWT and also with a group of people that I had never met before, but I am glad that I can now put names to faces and they were all very kind.

Onwards to March - I have more wallaby work to do! I am currently writing a short interview for people working in and around the Curragh area to get an idea on what those who work closest with them think. I will also begin thinking about the possibility of visiting the FBA Ark project to get a better understanding of their requirements. Check out their website to learn more about what they are getting up to: Freshwater Pearl Mussel Ark — Freshwater Biological Association (fba.org.uk)

As usual, keep up to date on what I am up to by following my Instagram page @rachels_placement and any questions please don't hesitate to send over an email to rachelsmith@mwt.im