Hi,

I have had a few major changes in my life the past few years. I was in a reasonably secure job working as a train conductor with Scotrail for 8 years.

The hours were hard, the pay reasonable but no time to spend what I was earning. So when the window of voluntary redundancy appeared I decided to take it after some consideration.

Luckily, I was able to find a temporary job quickly assisting Applied Ecology LTD for a few months as an independent contractor, assisting with dawn and dusk bat surveys.

During that time, I applied for a wildlife rehabilitator position at Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue trust. I didn't fancy my chances at getting the position due to my lack of experience in the field of wildlife care, but to my surprise I was offered the job. I would be trained in the ways of wildlife care and rehab and in exchange I would use my computer skills to help with any IT issues that might happen.

During my time at Hessilhead I worked with various species of wildlife over 2 busy spring and summer seasons. After getting to know fellow workmates who came and went over the years at Hessilhead it was then that I realised there was a lot more out there in the wildlife care sector to experience and learn and I had learned everything I could at Hessilhead.

With a heavy heart I decided to leave hessilhead and look to expand the variety of animals I could care for. It was then that one of my old workmates suggested applying to Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY) in Bolivia. This was a voluntary role and I was in charge of a team of volunteers. My payment would be a roof over my head and breakfast and lunch provided.

Due to a corrupt election, civil unrest and road blockades started to occur across Bolivia. A lot of the volunteers had left wildlife refuge so my arrival was a happy sight for the CIWY Machia team. I worked at the site for two months over Christmas and new year.

Sadly I received the news that a member of my close family had passed away suddenly. I started to feel sad and frustrated about being so far away and unable to be with my friends and family to help. I had to made the hard decision to leave to come back home, and to this day I believe it was the right decision.

I came home and started searching for other employment. The Covid 19 pandemic reared its ugly head and more or less all of the wildlife rescue and conservation charities have had to withdraw vacancies either by lockdown law or to save money due to lack of funding. I have been using my time wisely during the Covid 19 lockdown, attending free online courses to expand my natural history and zoology knowledge and applying for highly competitive jobs between my study time.