Back in early May last year I began my position as a Trainee Ecologist at HIWWT. My role has involved a lot of data collation and GIS. Having come from a Geography background, I’ve absolutely loved being involved with a lot of the map work but I’ve also had so many opportunities to develop my ecological skills.
One of the first things I was involved in was the orchid count at Chappetts Copse. My role has been supported by the Richard Hedley Fund and he was heavily involved in protecting the sword-leaved helleborines there. We counted the numbers of several different orchid species in the copse to determine if numbers have stayed constant or increased. Once the data was collated I was tasked with writing a report on the ecology, natural history and data analysis of the sword-leaved helleborines.