Quantock Hills. An Area of Outstanding Beauty

Since starting, I have been involved in lots of varied and interesting work, doing lots of things I have never done before, (including writing this blog!).

One of my main roles here is to co-ordinate the large volunteer group (the QCV Quantock Conservation Volunteers). I go out on task days with them once a week, helping the rangers to carry out practical tasks across the hills.

We had a lovely day last week, with lots of varied tasks. We began our day at Kilve beach (going to the beach instead of the office for the morning is always a good start to the day!). We had lots of friendly and hard working volunteers out and we split up into pairs and carried out a good sweep of the beach, picking up any litter that we could find. This included lots of plastic and plenty of washed up rubbish that is not only an eyesore but can be dangerous to wildlife too.

After a picnic lunch (admiring the clean beach) we spent the rest of the day pulling Ragwort on Cothelstone Hill. Although this wild flower is a valuable food source for many species (30+ I believe) it can cause livestock to become ill if they eat it.  Cothelstone Hill, as I’m sure many of you know, is home to the AONB's herd of lovely Exmoor ponies, so it is best to remove as much of it as possible from their grazing area.

This role is proving to be a really good opportunity for me to learn more practical skills, and I try to get  involved in as many projects as I can. So far I have been Nightjar Surveying, and I've been learning all about the huge variety of moths that can be spotted on the Quantocks.  I might have to find something that doesn’t involve trekking round the hills in the dark for my next project (although you do get to find things you wouldn’t normally like the amazing glow worms we saw) and hopefully after finishing the placement, I'll be able to go on and get a job in the environmental sector.   So over the next few months I'll be keeping you up to date with what work we are doing to help keep the Quantocks protected and beautiful.