Hi, I’m Finola and I’m a student currently studying Biology and Marine Biology at the University of Southampton. A year ago, I started volunteering for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and it's really helped me to figure out what I could do with my degree in the future.

I've always aimed to incorporate nature into every part of my life, from studying in the gardens on campus to taking the ‘scenic’ route through the park on my way to lectures. Having grown up in more rural parts of Surrey and Hampshire, I appreciate every inch of wildlife I can find in the city. Little saddens me more than being stuck inside when I can hear the lullaby of a bird song or rustling of a gentle breeze just behind the window.

What drives me?

Throughout my studies I have learnt time and time again of the severity and urgency of the climate crisis and the impact humans are having on nature. Having been raised watching David Attenborough documentaries, what particularly struck me about our impact on the planet is how hopeless it all seemed.

From a young child, I was used to seeing the images of polar bears drifting on crumbling icebergs - mere shells of what they once were. Orangutans isolated in a barren waste land where they once faced too much choice for fruit. Turtles tangled in an impossible knot of sharp plastic from which only a miraculous encounter with a sympathetic human could save them.

What intensified my sadness was when I learnt that this wasn’t just happening in distant habitats halfway across our planet – it was happening everywhere, at home. Even seemingly ubiquitous species such as badgers, squirrels, robins, and butterflies were (and still are) declining because of our actions. It felt like the species I had grown up watching from the kitchen window would soon only exist in picture books or on display in museums.

Once I became older, I focused on what I could do to make a difference. Seeing others take action made me feel the situation might not be so hopeless after all. I’ve always been mesmerised by life in the ocean, so chose a degree where I could focus on both the green and the blue components of our planet. During my first year of university, I decided to get some first-hand experience putting what I had learnt about conservation into practise. That’s when I came across  Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. I started volunteering as a Marine Champion for the “Secrets of the Solent” project, before also joining as a Communications and Events Champion for Team Wilder.

My Experience as a Volunteer
Since the summer of 2021, I've been volunteering as a Marine Champion with the “Secrets of the Solent” project. This involves attending events or places such as Southampton Boat Show and Blue Reef Aquarium in Portsmouth to engage visitors with the marine life in the Solent. The best part is that the Trust has so many beautiful shells, dried seaweeds, and even mollusc egg cases so that people can see first-hand the diversity of marine creatures on their doorstep. I’m also helping create a photobook to showcase the marine life of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. It’s an honour to be part of such an enthusiastic team of photographers and writers and I’m very much looking forward to seeing the end result.

Through Secrets of the Solent, I heard about Team Wilder and all the work they did promoting wildlife - from giving gardening tips to promoting the spread of wildlife to city centres. I’ve always been particularly interested in how nature can be intertwined with busy urban lives through wildflower verges, green roofs, or urban parks, so was eager to be a part of Team Wilder.
I began as a Communications Champion writing Facebook posts and the occasional blog on subjects such as upcoming nature events, species to look out for, or wildlife stories from the news. I’m used to taking facts or stories and condensing them into a few digestible sentences thanks to my uni work, so I thoroughly enjoyed this role from the get-go.

More recently, I've also began attending events to raise awareness of Team Wilder. Though I’ve only been to two so far, I’ve certainly had some unmissable opportunities! For example, I got to take on the role of Bramble the badger (the Wildlife Trust's mascot) at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton as part of their Greener Game initiative, and even got to walk on the pitch behind the Saints band right before kick-off!

My favourite part about volunteering with the Wildlife Trust is that you don’t need any qualifications, species identification skills, or experience working in the environmental sector. All you need is enthusiasm and the eagerness to learn, and help others learn, how to protect the wildlife around us. 

Finola Kirrane

Finola is a Marine Biology and Biology student at the University of Southampton. She is a Marine Champion, Wilder Events Champion and Wilder Communications Champion with the Wildlife Trust.

If you are interested in volunteering with the Trust, please check out our volunteering pages here: hiwwt.org.uk/volunteering-opportunities.