Over the winter months, we have had a new building project happening at the back of our flying ground. The creation of new aviary space for our flying team takes us one step closer to free-lofting all of our birds and reducing the need to tether them for prolonged periods, as per best practice guidelines.
Although from the outside, the work looks complete, internally there is still a lot to be done to make this area safe for our birds.
So when the Museum of East Anglian Rural Life got in touch to ask if we had any volunteer opportunities for their Kickstart group, we jumped at the chance to have some extra help.
Kickstart is a Government scheme to provide new job placements for under 24s at this time of high youth unemployment. It gives young people a chance to gain work experience in a variety of interesting roles. The Museum for East Anglian Rural Life offers roles for in Collections Conservation Assistants, Exhibitions Assistants and Digitisation and Library Assistants, each playing an valuable part to the Museums work.
On a sunny but chilly morning in January, the group arrived to help us move gravel into the new aviaries. This is an ideal substrate for aviaries as it is easy to keep clean, doesn’t get waterlogged and allows for plant to be grown inside the aviaries as enrichment for the birds.
Tom, from the Museum said:
”It’s been great getting my hands dirty and I wish I didn’t have to go back to office work this afternoon! I’ve really enjoyed myself!”
Beckie, our Volunteer Co-ordinators says:
”We are very grateful to the Kickstart volunteers for offering to spend the day helping us work on our new aviaries. They worked really hard to move the gravel and make sure that there was a good covering inside the aviaries ready for the birds to move in. Supporting young people to get work skills such as time-keeping, communication, team work and practical skills such as using tools is really important for the future of the workforce, no matter what career or industry they choose to pursue.”