My name is Roger Vidal, I’m 22 years and I come from Girona, Catalonia. I’ve studied biology at the University of Girona and I’m a nature and wildlife lover. For this reason, it is not strange to understand my interest in volunteering for the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

I’ve been in Girona since I was born, even during my university studies, so I was looking for some new adventures to escape from my comfort zone and explore a different country and culture. I thought that volunteering could be the best way to have these kinds of new experiences and at the same time try to make this world a bit better for all of us.

I had been looking for some different projects for months until I found the possibility to do a European Voluntary Service (EVS) with the Scottish Wildlife Trust. You only need to surf the web and look at their social network to be impressed with all the projects and tasks that they are involved in all over Scotland, and the importance that they have to protect the Scottish wildlife.

I share a flat with another EVS volunteer, Frenchman Nicolas Mañas, and we work together at the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s office in Irvine. We have travelled around Scotland and we’ve been camping and trekking in the Highlands during our holidays in May. With Nicolas I’ve been able to get to know French culture (not really different to mine) and how as a curiosity, he comes from Perpignan, a city just an hour and a half from Girona and we’ve ended up meeting in Scotland, far away from where we belong.

I came here to improve my knowledge in environmental management, nature conservation and now I’m not only learning this stuff, but also improving my personal skills like becoming more independent, confident and learning about things that I’ve never expected, such as being a DIY handyman, problem solving and a bit revolutionary (in a good way).

My office is outside, exploring nature reserves near Irvine and helping in their management doing some practical conservation tasks. The different tasks and manual work include felling trees, repairing fences, maintaining footpaths, controlling the spread of non-native species and much more!

There are too many things to talk about in this blog, so you must to wait a bit more in another blog to know more things about my experience! See you soon!