By Skye Beauchamp
Introduction
Upon finishing my Wildlife and Practical Conservation with Professional Skills degree and gathering more field experience by working for renowned reforesting company City of Trees, I knew I wouldn’t stay away from the University for long. I put my skills and knowledge to work in my Biodiversity & Circular Economy GAP-25 Internship. The GAP internship was initially 3 months, but I received two extensions and what a rollercoaster of experiences it has been!
The Story Continues
As I stepped foot on Salford soil once again, I got stuck into everything I could as soon as I started my new role with the Environmental Sustainability Team (EST).
From engaging with students, delivering events during Go Green Salford; getting up at 5 am to complete campus Breeding Bird Surveys; designing graphics for recycling awareness campaigns, working with project managers to ensure the University’s new developments align with Biodiversity Net Gain and the University’s sustainability targets – you name it! Each project I was a part of has built up new skills, my confidence in myself and my capability to attain the conservation career I crave.
Birds, Bees and More!
One of my key accomplishments is being the primary author and project manager for the Bird Protection Principles & Guidance document, which will provision how the University can protect campus bird species and enhance the campus to support these avian populations. Alongside this, I have been the secondary author of the Pollinator Principles & Guidance which has involved collecting pollinator data from each of the University’s greenspaces and proposing how we can change the existing management to make areas of campus more wildlife-friendly where appropriate.
I presented my findings and the project’s updates at the Environmental Projects Board and discussed with the Heads of Estates & Facilities how we can implement these principles on the University’s landscape. During this project I worked closely with academics from the University’s ERIC Ornithology Research Cluster and Manchester Metropolitan University’s City Blues’ project. Subsequently, there are plans for the new bird boxes managed by EST to be monitored by the cluster and ring any successful hatchling via the British Ornithological Trust Ringing Scheme. These future nestlings will be Made in Salford, just like me!
New Season, Next Steps
In addition to the beginning of autumn, I have stepped into my new contract as Energy & Environmental Management Assistant. I am in the same team however now working alongside the Energy Manager with a focus on water management, efficiency and sustainability at the University, putting my new Water Literacy accreditation to good use! Despite my change in roles, my passion for wildlife and biodiversity can’t be tamed and I am still involved in University biodiversity projects and look forwards to doing more projects in the future.
I can’t recommend the GAP Internship programme enough for the Salford class of 2026. You may even get Estates Temp of The Year like me! I have been commended for giving it my all and making new and lasting changes in my role by the academics I worked with for campus biodiversity.
Skye’s line manager, Emma Goodchild commented ‘It’s been great to have Skye working with us on the GAP Intern programme she has been instrumental in shaping our University wide approach to biodiversity, sharing her knowledge on birds and pollinators. We are hoping in future to use a similar approach to how we protect bats and other mammals’.