Have you ever looked into the eyes of an animal and travelled to the depths of the earth with them? Have you shared their struggle for everyday life? Have you experienced the hardships required to provide for your young?

Take for example the great migration of the salmon. Born into the freshwater of the river the salmon develops and grows for anywhere between 1-4 years. The salmon then migrate from their freshwater home to the saltwater of the ocean where they undergo rapid growth and become active hunters. This unusual migration is down to the ability of the salmon to adapt to both freshwater and saltwater living, they are able to determine their osmoregulation through both behavioural and physiological changes. Salmon can undergo a journey for thousands of miles to the open ocean where they will live for 1-4 years. After this time hormonal changes determine when to return to their place of birth. The salmon are able to recognise their home stream through a specific scent which they imprinted to memory. Living only on ther reserves of fat they they again undergo a huge morphological transformation to cope with the freshwater. Swimming against the flow they travel upstream, a tiring and lengthy process that is often fatal. When back to their birth place they come together to spawn and here after forfilling their purpose, they die.
Source: 1, 2, 3

Photo by axiepics

The dedication of the Emperor Penguin to raise their young is another incredible ordeal. On laying a single egg the female penguin leaves the egg with the male while they return to sea to feed and regain their strength. The male is then left to care for the egg in some of the worst winter conditions on the earth, he will not see the sun again for up to four months. The egg is carried on his feet in a brood pouch, kept warm by insulating fat and feathers. If the egg is dropped it can freeze within two minutes of being left in contact with the ice. In temperatures of -70 degrees centigrade the males huddle together to reserve warmth, unable to feed during this harsh time. As the sun finally returns the chicks begin to emerge, and by the time the females return the males will have lost up to a third of their body fat. He will now travel over 60 miles across the ice to finally find food.
Source: 1, 2, 3

Photo by ianduffy

Many animals also possess memory far greater than our own, such as the Western Scrub-jay, whom uses its intelligence to store food based on how hungry it may be the next day. Studies have shown that some corvids can remember over five thousand locations for up to nine months. They also have the ability to plan ahead and choose locations that will allow the storage of sufficient volume and variety. They will then return to their caching site according to the rate of decay of the food item. But the Western Scrub-jay has taken food caching one step futher, they are able to 'deceive' others and will 'fake hide' if being watched by another bird. They will even return later to hide their food again when they are not being watched.
Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

Photo by ingridtaylar

'To see the world through the eyes of an animal is to experience the greatest journey of them all.'

So my ultimate dream is to work alongside big cats, and GVI's wildlife expedition would give me fantastic experience to pursue this. Since graduating I keep visiting the site and re-reading about the expedition as well as following their blog entries of various big cat sightings and studies. Unfortunately there is also a hefty price tag to get involved, and as a recent graduate who can barely afford the monthly bills my dream seems a VERY long way off....

Until........on GVI's site appeared a competition, of which the winner receive's a round the world flight and one years worth of volunteering with GVI.....My heart lept when I read this, and for the past two months I have been hard at work putting together my entry.

To enter you need to make a video about how you make a difference by volunteering.....and what else to talk about than wildlife aid! Something I am so passionate about is surely easy to make a fantastic video about...WRONG! Unfortunately the video has to be no more than 90 seconds, I could talk about what I do and how much I love it endlessly...so cutting it down to just 90 seconds seemed impossible....but eventually I managed it......here it is:




The top 20 videos will go to a public vote, so if I get that far I will be begging everyone for those vote....

With the thought of a years travelling it encouraged to me delve further into GVI's site, and I have fallen in love with so many of their projects, here is just a few I would love to do:

Wildlife research expedition in South Africa - My first, obvious choice, a chance to track and monitor lions, cheetahs and my favourite of the big cats, the leopard. This would give the perfect field skills to follow my career.

Rainforest Expedition in the Ecuadorian Amazon - When I think of a place rich with wildlife, the amazon always comes to mind first, with new species always being discovered its a place of pure paradise, and I would love to get involved.

Conservation project on the Galapagos - With so many endemics, the Galapagos islands are another place I would love to visit. I could finally see the world through the eyes of Charles Darwin.

Marine Conservation in Mexico - I learnt to Scuba Dive when I was 12, and although I loved the experience, English waters do not have much to see. To be able to dive alongside turtles, study the coral reef and experience a whole new underwater world would be just incredible.


I am so excited at the prospect of this and I have put in so much effort on my video, I may not have the best camera or editing skills but I definitely put in so much passion.
If I won it would be like winning the jackpot, only better....
I will actually burst into tears if I win.......but for now all I can do is hope......

Wildlife aid is teeming with a whole array of different animals at the moment.

As soon as you walk in the door you hear the churping of the hungry fledglings, some of which are fed every half hour! There was also what seemed to be milliiiiooons of very dirty ducklings! 10 minutes after you cleaned them it looks as though they have had a party, a filthy mess! But still utterly adorable.

I was in the orphan room today, and had the pleasure of feeding and cleaning two hedgehogs, a young tawny owl, a very evil bald squirrel, and a beautiful woodpecker. It was such a priviledge for me, as I have never had the opportunity to see a woodpecker in the UK before. He was looking very healthy after having a badly swollen eye, and to watch him happily eat his sluis, honey, and maggots was incredible.


Today was also the first time I met Lucy, our new vet nurse, considering the mayhem at wildlife aid she takes it all in her stride. We had three fox cubs brought in, and on first inspection one appeared dead. When Lucy pulled him out of the cage he showed the slightest amount of movement and at once Lucy began administering him with fluids. Finding a vein appeared almost impossible, his blood flow was so weak, it looked as though he had given up on life, not even able to hold himself up, but Lucy persisted. Warming him on a hot water bottle and pumping him with fluids he began to show strength. It was incredible. Lucy was absolutely fantastic, I was so amazed she could bring this little cub back from the brink of death, but she had done it! Before long he was even giving us a bit of a stuggle! He still isn't out of the woods yet, as often after severe dehydration organ failure is likely. I will constantly be phoning in to see how little 'braveheart' is getting on. UPDATE: Unfortunately little braveheart died two hours later.....at least we tried....

We also had a gorgeous, young long tailed tit admitted today, the lady who brought him in was thrilled to see him eating and even got a little emotional. Its so amazing to see other people actually showing their passion for these animals. While some get fun out of fox hunting or pigeon shooting at least there will always be people out there who do care.