by Amber Hatch

The #ShareTheShores Plover team to kick the season off! From left to right we have Brittany, Andrea, Carissa, Amber, Christina and Selena.

Andrea grew up on a farm in Canada, where she spent her spare time outdoors developing a strong passion for the environment. After completing a degree in Renewable Resource Management, Andrea decided to go adventuring in Australia, Vietnam and New Zealand. While travelling, she held numerous roles as a tour guide but longed for something more. Andrea has now settled into Nature’s Valley for six months, where she hopes to kick start a career in conservation.

Amber Hatch grew up in South East London and attended university in Cambridge to gain a degree in Animal Behaviour and Welfare. After university, she worked as an Animal Technician in Cambridge and then landed a job as an Ecological Field assistant working in the Scottish Uplands. It was here that her love of fieldwork bloomed and she began really showing an interest in conservation research. She’s always had a keen interest in birds so when the epic chance to get involved with the White-fronted Plover project arose, she jumped at the chance… 

Carissa joins us from Canada, one of the two Canadians on the 2016/17 Shorebird team. Having studied conservation biology as a part of her undergraduate degree at the University of Alberta, she is very keen to assist in learning more about the decline in population of the White-fronted Plovers, and what can be done to help them out! Carissa grew up spending much of her time outdoors, which has helped foster her love of nature and all that is in it. To this day she remains an adventure seeker, so when the opportunity to come to South Africa arose, it was too good to pass up. When you see her around the valley, do not hesitate to say hi!

So that’s the first wave of new interns, who join existing team members Selena Flores (MSc student based at UCT) and Brittany Arendse (NVT Conservation Ecologist). We are looking forward to another fabulous fieldwork season!