Meet a volunteer - Nikkii Hesketh-Roberts

Hello I'm Nikkii (that's me in the pink top in the photo!) and I've been a volunteer Conservation Assistant for 4 months, starting in September 2009. I chose this path as since graduating from Bournemouth University in 2003 I have been trying to pursue a career within nature conservation but lacked the practical skills and experience  needed to make me instantly employable in this field. 

Becoming a wildlife volunteer

After graduating I lost focus a little and due to financial constraints I took a job within the financial services sector. I always knew I would find a way back to where my passion lay but was unsure at that time how, so I began volunteering in my spare time for the Wildlife Trusts and Butterfly Conservation. In 2007 I used 2 weeks of my annual leave to participate in a 2 week conservation exchange programme with the Leonardo project. A group of us travelled to France to help with practical conservation tasks, including transforming a disused quarry into a nature reserve. In return the French volunteers came to England to help with conservation projects here. I absolutely loved spending all day working outside in beautiful settings, surrounded by nature for a cause I believed in and after the 2 weeks were up, returning to my office was incredibly difficult!   I was spurred on, spent a year saving and made a decision to leave my well paid office job to spend 3 months volunteering in the Ecuadorian Amazon ­ amazing!!.

Conservation Assistant? Me?

Once I returned from Ecuador I knew there was no way I could return to working in the dark office so wanted to do everything I could to begin my career in nature conservation. This is where I found the advertisement for Conservation Assistant ­ I religiously checked the Trust website for volunteer or paid opportunities and the job spec was exactly what I was looking for to give me the skills and experience needed to do the job I wanted! Since volunteering I have worked with different areas of the Trust to give me an insight into what everyone does, meaning I get to meet a lot of people. I really enjoy doing practical management tasks at the many reserves, ­ I have visited many but am excited to see and work at more. Being out and about all day is improving my identification skills - it is amazing how much you can learn in a day!

How it has helped me

Working with the Trust is building my confidence when speaking in front of groups of people and this is something I want to pursue as a career. I really enjoy working with under represented groups out at the nature reserves and volunteering with the Trust means I am obtaining valuable qualifications that will add a lot of weight to my CV, recently doing a leadership course which will enable me to take my own group of volunteers out.

When I first began volunteering I was unsure where I wanted to fit in but I am now becoming more focused and driven and I am really excited as to where I will begin my first paid conservation position!

Would you like to get involved?

If you are interested in volunteering for Dorset Wildlife Trust then have a look at our volunteering page for some great opportunities working indoors or out!