Hi! My name is Patrycja Bialecka and I took part in the 2020 Our Wild Coast Traineeship.
I am a third-year student, studying Zoology with Animal Behaviour at Bangor University and I love everything about nature. Whether it’s going on hikes or swims, conservation work or handling animals – I love it! So, it was a bit of a no brainer signing up to the North Wales Wildlife Trust Traineeship.
As I’m approaching my final year of University, I have spent many hours pondering about what to do after graduation, which is why the traineeship caught my eye. It promised a variety of activities from which I could gain many skills and I hoped it would spark some ideas about a career path I might want to take. And it did! I loved meeting all the NWWT and Llyn Parc Mawr staff, who I talked to about their careers and it helped me decide that I too want to follow in their footsteps and try my luck in the sector of science communication.
Along with that, each day was filled with new activities ranging from rock pooling to first aid training, so after the 2 fun-packed weeks I had so many new experiences and skills I could present on my CV, which will help me out a lot when scouting out further experiences or even work next year. I particularly enjoyed the foraging and ID sessions as I have always been fascinated with eating wild food and being able to know the species that I see on my walks and adventures.
This kind of experience is not just for people like me who want to have a career involving nature. As we all have realised during this pandemic, being outside is vital for our mental health and wellbeing so it is important to maintain places like Llyn Parc Mawr which provide in my opinion, a priceless service to everyone nearby. We are all responsible for maintaining these green spaces. You can start off by simply picking up litter that you see and preventing plastics from entering these habitats that we enjoy.
Over the past couple of years I have challenged myself with the zero waste lifestyle by reducing my waste because even through recycling and litter picks, rubbish still finds its way out into the environment and it is not only harmful to wildlife but it’s not nice to look at and not how we want to enjoy our natural landscape. So, on your next walk in your local wildlife park, pick up some rubbish. It’ll take 2 seconds for you, but for a squirrel or hedgehog, your actions are worth a lifetime.