See that picture? That's a little island in the Bristol Channel where my friend Verity now lives. She's volunteering there as part of her training to be a conservation warden and she's going to be there for most of the next six months. She was about ninety percent persuaded to keep a blog of her adventures before I even tried to sway her in that direction. She's only been there about a week, so if you want follow her island experiences from the start head over to http://atraineewarden.blogspot.com/ now. Part of me is a little hesitant about directing so many professional i-dotters and t-crossers towards the words of a self-confessed bad speller, but bear in mind that Verity undoubtedly knows a lot more about critters than you do, and that she's grabbing a hasty few minutes on the communal computer at the end of each busy day. She's hoping to figure out a way to get some of her photos and drawings up soon, which I'm looking forward to, but the island's low-speed internet connection is currently holding that up. I hope I won't be the only person who will get a kick out of comparing my day to one that involves counting butterflies, collecting driftwood, copying down the day's weather report and checking to see how many eggs the hens have laid.