My time at Bog Meadows was filled with many great memories and learning. From the first day, I was immersed in the daily life of a conservationist, learning how to manage a nature reserve and volunteers, and having many spectacular wildlife encounters.

I remember my first day: I was walking down the river and encountered a little egret. I was loving it, and then right above it I had my first encounter with the resident female buzzard “buzz”. She flew off and the egret flushed up after it. For a minute or two I watched the egret and buzzard perform acrobatics in the sky, having a dispute with one another. This was my first encounter with what was going to be in store for the next year.

In the months following, spring had sprung and we had to carry out various surveys which allowed me to have my own time to explore the reserve. I surveyed for terrapins, butterflies, and invasive plants which allowed me to obtain a great understanding of how these activities are done and the importance of such tasks. The butterfly survey results were sent off a few months later to give organisations such as Butterfly Conservation a more in-depth knowledge of how species are doing across Ireland whether good or bad.

As the reserve came to life, so did the workload. On Wednesday the reserves team would come along and I’d get to help out in carrying out tasks to keep the reserve in shape such as path cutting, hedge trimming, meadow cutting, fencing, and getting the boat out to clean the pond. This was all great as it allowed me to get familiar with various tools and I can confidently use these tools in other roles I will have in the future.

During the course of the year, I had two managers: Deborah and Dawn. They brought a great buzz to the reserve with their enthusiasm and their ability to create and host many different events.

Under Deborah's supervision, I was able to see and learn how to do many nature walks and talks and became more confident in it. Before she left there was a massive event called “Swamp Festival” where I undertook responsibility for helping set up and looking after my own stand which was all about bugs. It was great being able to see the excitement on the children’s faces as they get up close to the wide range of bugs on the reserve, from crab spiders to the devil's coach horse beetle.

The following months to come resulted in Dawn being behind the steering wheel with events at Bog Meadows and, from then, we had many different groups taking part in various walks, from the Féile to the many monthly walks she put together. These walks were great and really fun to take as unlike many nature walks they were always changing and never repetitive. We held walks on birds to well-being and she did a great job structuring the walks which made it a walk in the park for me.

Along with the many brilliant events, we also had our regular groups such as the Hens Shed and Wildlife Watch. Both of these experiences were special to me as I felt like I was part of something, either getting people more excited about nature or obtaining confidence talking to groups. I'll miss the Hen Shed, especially their premium sausage rolls. The only way I can explain it is like having 20 grannies instead of one or two. I also feel like the kids from the Wildlife Watch group will be the change we need in the future. It blew me away the knowledge they had on native wildlife; I didn’t know half of what they knew when I was their age so I’m excited about their future, as I can see many bright young conservationists coming out of that classroom on a Thursday night.

I got a great mix of both practical and outreach experience which I will hold with me for the rest of my life. Training on brush cutters, chainsaws, woodchippers and Leave No Trace, to name just a few, are now under my belt and make me a more employable person.

It will be hard to move on; I'll miss all the people I met along the way from volunteers to work colleagues, such as John and Dawn, but I’m also excited about where the traineeship will take me, as over the course of the year I got buckets full of experience – I really couldn’t have asked for more.

If I learned one thing it's that I never want to work indoors. There is something special about being able to have your lunch lying on the grass on a warm summer's day, listening to buzzards. I want to have that experience again and I'm thrilled to have landed a job with Belfast Hills Partnership as a community tree-planting assistant, all thanks to the traineeship.