13/10/2026
🌿Diary of a Volunteer🌿
Meet Jen & Rachel, our residential volunteers. They'll be sharing their adventures on the reserve from wildlife surveys to hands-on habitat work. This month it's over to Jen. Missed Rachel's spring diary? Head over to our Instagram to read her July post, or link below.
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A Summer Season in North Norfolk
If you'd told me in January that I'd be spending my Summer on the Norfolk Coast, working outside, monitoring birds I'd never seen before, and helping to protect globally important areas for nature, I wouldn't have believed it.
I'm Jen, and for the last 6 months I've been volunteering across sites managed by RSPB and Natural England. Myself and Rachel pinch ourselves daily that we get to live and breathe all things birds.
I spent the last few years working behind a desk for a charity in London while volunteering with the Wildlife Trust in my spare time. I've found myself in Titchwell after eventually deciding to take the leap and follow my love for nature. I'm incredibly grateful for the support, training and opportunity to witness the landscape through its seasonal changes.
April and May
Spring at Titchwell was truly the baby boom season. Our key focus these months was monitoring - whether that be beach nesting birds (Ringed Plover and Oystercatcher) or the Avocets, Common Terns and Black-Headed Gulls on the Fresh Marsh. Footfall on the West Bank Path saw a massive increase in tiny webbed feet and the Fen Meadow welcomed its first flashes of pink and purple as Ragged Robin and Southern Marsh Orchid started to peep through the green. Rachel and I got familiar with our waders and to grips with using brush-cutters - used to keep vegetation down around the electric fences protecting nesting birds. For me, the highlight was hearing my first Bittern boom on our early morning surveys.
June and July
After a trip home to Scotland, I came back to find the Saltmarsh covered in purple - the sea lavender was in full bloom! Our days were focussed on counting the adult birds on nests, then the progress of fledglings. Butterflies and dragonflies were everywhere, and Rachel became my official moth mentor - showing me how to use the trap we borrow and use on the weekends. One of the most special parts of this placement has been unlocking new interests and a love for moths and insects has definitely been a happy new discovery for me.
August and September
As the breeding season drew to a close, it was magic to see some record numbers for the reserve - 97 breeding pairs of Avocet and 4 breeding pairs of Little Ringed Plover! We also had a record number of Southern Marsh Orchids in the Fen Meadow. Our attention now shifted to some serious habitat management. We had an afternoon sprinkling flower seed on the Fen Meadow (the best job ever) followed by cutting and raking - an annual task that helps keep the soil nutrient-poor, stops succession and helps to support key plant species. Rachel and I also took our tractor course with Natural England which is brilliant for our CVs and will help us contribute to winter work at Dersingham Bog.
Gearing up for Winter
Watching the day-to-day progress of a breeding season at Titchwell has been an unforgettable and invaluable experience. It's been a privilege to learn from the landscape and to follow the weekly changes and movements that happen here. Rachel and I are both excited to be staying on for the Winter. You can feel the movement in the air here (literally) and we've already been lucky enough to help out at some of the Wader Spectaculars on the Wash. I can't wait to see what else is in store.
By Jen Wood
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Read Rachel's Spring blog post here: www.instagram.com/p/Dae4Y76jdb7/
The residential volunteers scheme is with the RSPB's Northwest Norfolk team and Natural England's North and West National Nature Reserve team.
