It seems like months have passed since we were knee deep in murky sea water, on the hunt for the little sea creatures that bury themselves in the sand and hide in the sediment. Yet, it was only two and a half weeks ago that we joined Gibraltar Point’s sea dipping event.
As we gently raked the shallow seabed with nets, helping a swarm of excited children carry their catches to buckets on the beach I could not help but notice how perfectly in his element my fellow intern George was. His enthusiasm was infectious as he excitedly pointed at a weever fish swimming in the tray, warning the children not to touch it.
“Hey, do you know my name?”, one very determined child called out to me, as he brought up his twentieth batch of wriggling shrimp.
“No, what is it?”, I said.
“Harry James David Walker”. That’s good to know.
Amongst the creatures caught were hermit crabs, pipefish, moon and compass jellyfish, several crabs – one of whom was very angry – and countless shrimp.
The following week, we were introduced to the civil service. George and I, accompanied by the lovely Charlotte and Alice (also aspiring marine conservationists), drove the silent and rather bossy Wildlife Trust EV to Norwich. There we were welcomed by Jack, our Natural England project lead. He kindly organised a day around introducing us to people who worked for the JNCC, the MMO and Natural England, as well as giving us a thorough and incredibly enlightening careers insight workshop. There may have been a creepy, four-legged origami crab made during Art Club.
The next day was spent visiting coastal Norfolk sites relevant to mussel, saltmarsh and seagrass restoration efforts linked to Natural England. I had a rather delicious lemon cake on a bench overlooking the picturesque Blakeney channels, followed by a lovely walk through the RSPB’s Snettisham reserve.
We left Norfolk inspired and full of hope for the future and our careers. Not to mention with a newfound awe for the county’s delectable coffees.
A mere three days later we were to step into the sleek corporate world of Ørsted’s London offices. We were in for a treat. The North-West interns Alice and Rupli and ourselves, spent the morning listening to well-crafted presentations about the different phases of a windfarm, and discussing careers lived and career prospects with an array of very interesting people within the company. Some had had colourful careers, spanning many sectors, from the civil service to fisheries enforcement and marine intelligence. It was eye-opening, exciting and inspiring.
We were privy to the team’s monthly meeting in the afternoon.
Harry, one of our project leads at Ørsted, and the one who had masterfully organised such a fun and educational day, graciously took us out for a delightful vegan dinner where colourful dishes and stories were shared.
The little time we had in between these otherworldly voyages was spent working on our respective projects: a literature review on mussel restoration with Natural England for George, and an operation monitoring Storymap with Ørsted for myself. “What is that?” I hear you say, dear reader. Well, stick around and you might find out. How’s that for a cliff hanger?
