It has been a pleasure being part of the Living Seas team at North Wales Wildlife Trust for the last six months and working so closely with all the internship partner organisations at The Crown Estate, Natural Resources Wales, M-SParc and Morlais. We have gained so much knowledge and insight from you all, we hope we get to work together again in the future. 

Working with our partner Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has given us further insight into the offshore renewable sector. Bron’s task was to help develop the External Marine Evidence database to be more accessible and usable, to ensure completed projects were archived in the appropriate place. The projects on this database had to align with NRW’s evidence priorities. The projects aim to fill the current evidence gaps within the offshore renewable sector.  Working on this task developed Bron’s data input skills as well as organisational skills. Joining the strategic group meetings allowed Bron to discuss the changes they had made and able to talk directly with the people using it. These meetings shed light on current evidence topics and developed Bron’s knowledge in this industry.

Both Bron and Greg completed a data processing task for NRW. Converting handwritten fieldwork data from the 80s to a digitalised version. Ensuring the Latin names where up to date and identifying their Aphia ID. This developed our data processing skills and time management skills as we had to balance our workload to meet deadlines. In completing this task this data would be uploaded onto Marine recorder online, adding to a strong baseline understanding of the region's ecology. 

We had the opportunity to go down to the Welsh Government buildings in Cardiff for the Welsh Coast and Seas Partnership (CaSP) with Y Mor a Ni. Here current reports and topics are discussed with a range of marine partners to form a collaborative response. Understanding the importance of collaboration has been a key part of this internship. Seeing partnership work together at such a high level and across so many different representatives of the marine sector was amazing to see.

During our internship we developed our public speaking and presentation skills. We have presented to the Endeavour group at Bangor university, at our partners general meetings and at our halfway ana final presentations. This practise has led to an overall increased confidence in presenting.  

November was a packed month for us, kicking off with the Egni Conference at M-SParc, which brought together many stakeholders within the Offshore Energy Alliance, the offshore and energy supply chain cluster for the North Wales and Northwest region of the UK. We gained deeper insights into how the supply chain operates between the regions, and how collaboration between stakeholders within the supply chain can facilitate the localisation of economic benefits for Ynys Môn and North Wales in the future. Being at these conferences enables us to develop our networking skills and to gain a deeper understanding of the difference sides of the industry we previously knew little about.

All our work on risk assessments and organising volunteers paid off at the start of November as we headed out onto shore to carry out our Shoresearch surveys. Greg conducted a walkover survey on a shore with honeycomb reef worm and Bron took us all to a lush new shoreline on Ynys Môn that hadn’t been used for Shoresearch before. Both sessions ran seamlessly with loads of great wildlife spots, including a handful of colourful sea slugs, a pipefish and more blue-rayed limpets than we’ve seen anywhere else before! 

When we were finished up in the field, we spent the next few days in the office with our heads down. Greg uploaded all the data from that week’s surveys onto the North Wales Wildlife Trust Shoresearch database, while Bron compiled a video of all the volunteers’ images from across the shores as a big thank you to all involved.

Throughout the month, Greg also joined Fiona with Morlais for school sessions in Ysgol Cybi, primary school in Holyhead. Together, they delivered sessions on offshore renewable energy, as well as helping to outline the tidal energy scheme at Morlais as a potential opportunity for future careers within the marine sector in North Wales. 

Pupils enjoyed watching a demonstration of tidal technology through a model that highlights how the regular power of the tides can be converted into usable electricity and then strapped into VR headsets to get a sense of the sheer scale of the turbines from the ocean floor. Greg was able to provide some ideas for future sessions that could be used beyond the internship, including one that utilises a Minecraft Education tool developed by the Crown Estate to allow pupils to design their own windfarms and power a village with the energy they produce. 

Greg also joined The Wild Oysters Project on a sunny November morning in Conwy Marina to scrub, weigh and photograph native oysters and to monitor the general biodiversity and mortality rates around artificial habitats fixed to the underside of marina walkways. Learning from last year’s interns, there was no premature inflation of lifejackets to be had on this occasion. 

We have just returned from London, where we travelled to for our final presentation in the Crown Estate office with all the other interns from across England. This was our chance to showcase all the work we had been up to for our main project, entitled, Offshore Renewable Energy Literacy and Engagement: Improving Community Participation in Social Value Initiatives and Impact Awareness. We discussed the findings of our data focusing on the barriers to community engagement and local concerns and impact awareness of offshore renewables. 

This presentation marks the final chapter in the internship, and we are now moving on to finishing off our report before we take a well-earned break for Christmas.