Ben's first month
Hello, I am Ben and I’m one of this year’s Coastal Explorer Interns at Adonis Blue Environmental Consultants (ABEC). In terms of my background, I have recently completed a Master's degree in Marine Environmental Management at the University of Exeter, where my thesis focused on the biodiversity value of Cornish seagrass meadows. The restoration of marine and coastal habitats, such as seagrass, is a particular interest of mine and one I hope to explore through the internship. Additionally, I’ve previously worked as an Assistant Ecologist for an environmental consultancy, undertaking protected species and habitat surveys to inform sustainable development. I have also previously completed a voluntary post on Lundy Island, Bristol Channel, where I worked as the island's 'Seal Warden', conducting population and productivity surveys during the Atlantic grey seal pupping season. I am so excited to be part of the Coastal Explorer Internship programme, and what an amazing first month it has been!
My first week began with introductions to the teams at Adonis Blue Environmental Consultants (ABEC) and The Crown Estate (TCE) and the exciting projects I will be involved with over the next six months. My main project will focus on the feasibility of establishing a citizen science small-shark tagging project in Kent, which will aim to gain a greater understanding of the presence and distribution of elasmobranch species around the south-east coast of England. This will be a joint project conducted with my fellow Coastal Explorer, Hannah Newnham. I will also be working on a project to determine predation pressure on nesting seabird colonies at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve on behalf of Sussex Wildlife Trust, and working on a project with TCE which aims to identify sanctuary zones for red-throated diver, a species impacted by anthropogenic activity and offshore development.
I also was fortunate to get out into the field during my first week, where I spent the day at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve learning how to identify coastal seabird species and how to survey the presence and activity of predators, such as herring gull. It was fantastic to see nesting common terns, sandwich terns and black-headed gulls with their chicks. I also spotted avocets, oystercatcher, redshank and ringed plover… to name a few!
Common tern perched on wooden post.
Black-headed gull with hungry chick.
For my second week, I was based at the TCE office in central London where I was introduced to all the teams which make up the TCE Marine Team. Through a series of engaging talks, I learnt the work TCE undertakes in the marine environment, ranging from focuses on offshore wind developments to aquaculture. This week, I was joined by the Marine Futures Interns from North Wales, Cumbria and Lincolnshire. It was so nice to meet my fellow interns and get to know them through social events organised after work, such as a game of spikeball in the park!
Week three started with a return to Rye Harbour for predator surveys, fortunately for the nesting seabirds no successful predator events were recorded! On Tuesday, we headed up to Scarborough for the annual Restoring Meadow Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) Conference. I thoroughly enjoyed this conference, it was so interesting to find out about the exciting marine and coastal habitat restoration work being undertaken around the UK. Talks focused on a range of topics from restoration science to the cultural significance of habitat restoration. One particularly memorable talk, by Jon Dickson, concerned the importance of reintroducing dead wood to marine ecosystems, which is all too often removed from our rivers and streams and thus prevented from entering our seas. Decaying and sunken wood apparently acts as a substrate for mussels and oysters to settle, which eventually leads to the establishment of reefs – everyday is a school day! The conference was a busy few days of talks and networking but fortunately we still managed to find time for a sea swim, although it was rather chilly!
I ended the week meeting Tom Hawkins, from Canterbury City Council’s Foreshore Team, who took myself and Hannah on a tour of the coast around Whitstable and Herne Bay. A big thank you to Tom for an excellent day, it was great to explore and find out more about this stretch of Kent coastline!
Week four started with more predator surveys at Rye Harbour. Hannah and I stayed overnight in Rye to get out on the reserve early the next morning. It was beautiful to see the reserve in the early morning light and we even witnessed a few hungry herring gulls causing a bit of a stir amongst the tern colonies – a dramatic end to data collection! The week ended with a few “desk days”, cracking on with project work.
A huge thank you to Max Renton and Sherece Kesner at ABEC and Rachel Holmes and Natalie Smith at TCE for being so welcoming and helping me settle in during my first month. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first four weeks as Coastal Explorer Intern and I can’t wait to see what the next 5 months of the internship will hold!
Hannah's first month
I grew up in Leeds and so for much of my childhood I was very ‘landlocked’ from the sea, and visiting was saved only for hot days in the summer holidays! However, some of my earliest memories are from summers spent on the beautiful coastlines of the Isle of Wight, where my dad’s side of the family live, and this is where my love for the ocean blossomed. I spent my school years as a competitive swimmer, only adding to my love for water, and upon deciding what I wanted to do following school, I chose to turn this passion into my career – choosing to study a BSc in Marine Biology at Newcastle University.
I have recently come to the end of an amazing 3 years studying in the Northeast, learning a breadth of knowledge about the fantastic marine ecosystems we have here in the UK, and how they are responding to present-day pressures in a changing world. Throughout my degree I completed a range of hands-on roles, through volunteering pursuits including at The Wild Oysters Project and at BlueSeasProtection charity in the Isle of Wight, along with completing an internship monitoring for Invasive Non-Native Species on the Berwickshire and Northumberland coastlines.
Throughout university I also developed a keen interest in sustainable offshore wind development – having undertook a placement in the Environmental Consents and Management team at RWE Renewables and working part time for an offshore wind consultancy, Spirit Advisory, whilst completing my degree.
Invasive species monitoring.
Now taking the next step in my marine career, I am so excited to be a part of this internship, and my first month has been incredibly insightful and, most of all, thoroughly enjoyable! For the first time, I took my hands to birdwatching - conducting several bird-predation surveys at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. Along with birdwatching, I have also conducted some marine mammal watching; attending the first landwatch training session of the Kent Dolphin Project, where we saw several harbour porpoises and seals in Dungeness! I have also had the chance to attend the ReMeMaRe conference held in Scarborough, where I made new connections in the industry and learned about exciting restoration projects in action around the UK. Along with my internship partner, Ben, we have been taking the first steps in our main project, which is to assess the feasibility of implementing a Shark Tagging Citizen Science project in Kent. This project is working towards better understanding the abundance and distribution of sharks, skates and rays (collectively known as elasmobranchs) in Kents waters, through working collaboratively with local Anglers. Aside from all these exciting trips and events, I have also been gaining valuable experience in the office, attending meetings with project partners and getting to know all my lovely colleagues!
I have enjoyed every moment of my internship so far and look forward to putting my skills to further use, gaining more knowledge in the marine and coastal field and getting stuck into completing my projects!
Thank you, Hannah & Ben!
Huge thanks to Hannah and Ben for getting stuck in with ABEC - we're sure their input and support will be invaluable.
Could you volunteer with us to support our coasts?
Check out our Shoresearch and Kent Dolphin Landwatch volunteer roles!