Over the last few years several Duke of Edinburgh Award students have chosen to do the volunteering part of their award with us at Loch of the Lowes. All three levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold can be done here and we enjoy the company (and make good use of their hard work) of some great young people.

Today, Rory Holland completed his six months as our current D of E Silver Award student. Good luck for the future Rory! Come back and see us whenever you wish!

Please see below – a piece by Rory on his time with us.

Cherry

My experience at Loch of the Lowes

Rory Holland

For my silver Duke of Edinburgh award I have volunteered at the Scottish Wildlife Trust centre at the Loch of the Lowes.

This was my first choice as I am already interested in nature, have visited the centre before and have family connections with the SWT. My goals were to improve my bird identification skills, have a better knowledge of nature and learn some skills that will reflect later working life. I completed an all-manner of interesting tasks whilst I was there. This included:  brushing the floor and paths, filling the bird feeders, dusting all of the surfaces, pricing the shop items, doing a stock take, completing bird counts for the forest and loch, running the till, creating fun activities for children and putting out the telescopes, plus many more.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time there because I have completed the goals that I was wishing to achieve. The staff at the centre were very friendly and welcoming at all times, they have taught me many useful skills. My favourite experience was completing the bird count for the loch. This involved sitting in a quiet hide overlooking the beautiful loch, finding birds with a high power telescope, trying to identify them and recording how many there were.