Giving something back to nature

The photo included here shows the exact moment when one such lucky Curlew takes its first flight of freedom into the perfect natural habitat of the Sandringham estate.

Chartered Engineer Rey and Project Manager Kate (pictured centre with the Species Management team) were initially inspired by the Pensthorpe Conservation Trusts work associated with Curlew and Corncrake conservation. Their desire to support this initiative and the reserve as a whole meant that the husband-and-wife team just had to join the volunteer programme.

Having enjoyed many happy hours as visitors to the site since the mid 1980’s the couple have most recently worked for Chrissie Kelley, Head of Species Management (right of picture) to assist with the enrichment of species lives and to give something back to nature. They relish the contrast from their respective day jobs and say they have been most welcomed by the Pensthorpe team and have particularly enjoyed the variety of the tasks presented to them.

“Whether it’s supporting the Reserve Team on Badger watching evenings, building pre-release Harvest mouse enclosures, conducting the occasional Flamingo talk, repairing Corncrake shelter tables or Crane feeder tubes it’s all been a pleasant learning experience. Cleaning bridges and signage together with weeding Flamingo enclosures is contrasted with other duties such as pre-work and subsequent visits to Sandringham and Wild Ken Hill estates to help release one of Britain’s Pensthorpe reared red listed birds. To see a clutch of eggs rescued from MOD sites transformed into the ‘head start’ flights of freedom is truly remarkable”.

But one treasured experience is that of meeting new people and learning new skills from the Pensthorpe pros and working together as a team. It’s been a pleasure to meet and work with such a passionate and dedicated team at Pensthorpe.

Left to right: Lilly Dowley, Chloe Thompson, Kate Major, Rey Major, Claudia Gooch & Chrissie Kelley

Click the link to find out more about becoming a volunteer at Pensthorpe- https://pensthorpe.com/about-us/become-a-volunteer/