As I sit and write this, it’s been two months to the day since starting my new job at Manx Wildlife Trust! I find this hard to grasp as the last two months feels like some sort of time paradox. I feel like it’s gone incredibly fast, but also that I’ve been living on the Island for years. It’s crazy how comfortable my partner and I feel after only living here for a short time. I guess this feeling is down to how enjoyable life is over here and how friendly people are too.

It's also been an incredibly busy month! Not only at work but in my personal life too. I was lucky enough to get tickets for Glastonbury Festival back in 2019, and after two postponed years, we finally made it back to Worthy farm at the end of June. Being from Bristol, Glastonbury was always my local festival and I’m lucky enough to have been several times as well as volunteering with Greenpeace in 2019. While at university I made a flag with ‘Save the Bees’ written on it. Since then, the flag has become a Glastonbury veteran and it’s always a challenge to see how often the flag makes it onto the telly. I’m proud to say that this year it was clearly pictured in a shot of Greta Thunberg. As a great admirer of her activism, I’d like to think that she got a good view of it as well! In addition to Glastonbury, me and Will have also had our first visitors to the Island. It’s been so enjoyable taking them to our favourite spots and getting to show off this amazing place where we now live.

As well as the consultation, I am also organising several other community events throughout the rest of the summer. These include a number of wildlife walks which will be taking place in Peel and the Ayres National Nature Reserve in August. We also have a series of evening summer sessions with landscape architect and herbalist, Jane Prescott, who will be teaching us about how to garden for wildlife. The first location for this talk is the Freedom Field at Sight Matters in Onchan. This beautiful and peaceful garden is not only a haven for wildlife, but also for those with visual impairments. I’m thrilled to be working alongside Sight Matters on this project to help engage the community with wildlife. Please keep an eye on our website if interested in any of these events!

Since my last entry, I’ve also begun studying to achieve a qualification in Community Organising. This course is equivalent to an A level and is something I am fitting around my daily work at MWT. Coming from a background in volunteer management, it’s amazing to learn about the power of community projects. I can’t wait for our community consultation in September and am so excited for all the things that we are going to achieve.