Highlights of 2024 from the Lederman Trainees

Emma Chaplin
, 21 December 2024
Highlights of 2024 from the Lederman Trainees
Pip Newby and Abi Haidemenos at Wiston

Abi and Pip are both trainees as part of the Dr Vera Dalley Lederman Scholarship and Environmental Training Programme. The Trust works in partnership with the Leysdown Conservation Trust to provide an opportunity for two individuals to gain a vast array of valuable experience and skills in the conservation/environmental field.

They tell us a bit about some highlights from 2024

Abi Haidemenos

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Lederman traineeship which (at only halfway through) has already enhanced my life, and my future opportunities massively. I have gained qualifications in Chainsaw Crosscutting and Tree Felling, Forest School, Brush cutting, and many other useful skills for practical land management. The on-the-job learning provided by my Sussex Wildlife Trust colleagues has been equally invaluable; from lambing sheep to surveying reserves, we have been fortunate enough to be involved with a huge range of conservation work, with experienced and knowledgeable staff, which has bolstered my confidence and excitement about continued work in this sector. 

Leysdown Cottage, The Donkey Meadow, and Manny’s Wood have also been great teachers for me. Having the opportunity to spend time on this land every day has helped me to strengthen my identification skills and watch seasonal patterns in action. It has also been really enjoyable to start monitoring populations on the land though moth trapping, trail cams, and the Bioscan project. 

Abi brushcutting at Seaford Head

 Pip Newby

I have had the most wonderful experience during my time, so far, as a Trainee Ranger and our year at the cottage is flying by. It has been a fascinating, varied, sometimes challenging few months. Since April I have undertaken a wide variety of training and have hugely developed my skill-set. I have also attended courses on spider, dragonfly and damselfly, and fungi identification, powertool use, field skills and a three day rewilding and species reintroduction seminar. I have also recently been taken on as a trainee bird ringer and it has been an absolute joy to ring some of Leysdown Cottage’s resident birds and to see others already ringed by previous trainees.

Having the daily training and guidance of the incredible team of rangers, ecologists and educators at the Trust has been invaluable as well.. 

Pip hard at work on Malling Down
Leave a comment
Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1782621930.79190 [906] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1782621930.81740.0254Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1782621930.81750.0001Server address: 216.73.216.31
1782621930.81760Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1782621930.81760Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/highlights-of-2024-from-the-lederman-trainees
    [s] => highlights-of-2024-from-the-lederman-trainees
    [1] => highlights-of-2024-from-the-lederman-trainees
)
1782621930.81790.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782621930.81880.0009 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1782621930.82030.0015 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22371054
1782621930.8210.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22371054
1782621930.82140.0005 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-06-28 04:45:00' AND saleTo>'2026-06-28 04:45:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1782621930.82260.0012 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='highlights-of-2024-from-the-lederman-trainees')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-06-28 04:45:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1782621930.82550.0029 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1782621930.8260.0005 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=3604 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-06-28 04:45:00'
1782621930.82670.0007 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1782621930.82740.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1782621930.82820.0008Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782621930.82850.0004 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-06-28 04:45:00' AND postSlug='highlights-of-2024-from-the-lederman-trainees'
1782621930.850.0215Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782621930.85050.0004 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1782621930.85190.0014Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1782621930.85210.0002 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1782621930.85290.0008 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1782621930.8540.0011 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782621930.85670.0028 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782621930.85720.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782621930.85930.002Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1782621930.85930 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782621930.85980.0005 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782621930.860.0002 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782621930.86270.0027 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782621930.86380.001 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782621930.86450.0007 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782621930.8670.0025 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782621930.86790.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1782621930.86990.002 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1782621930.87030.0004Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782621930.87050.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='20' LIMIT 1
1782621930.87110.0007Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1782621930.87140.0003 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='highlights-of-2024-from-the-lederman-trainees')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-06-28 04:45:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1782621930.87330.0019 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1782621930.87370.0004 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782621930.87580.0021Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1782621930.87660.0008 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=3604 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1782621930.92620.0495 [0] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1782621930.92630.0002Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782621930.92650.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='20' LIMIT 1
1782621930.92720.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1782621930.9280.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1782621930.92860.0006 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782621930.93070.0021 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782621930.93120.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782621930.9330.0018 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782621930.93380.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1782621930.93430.0005 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1782621930.93480.0005 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782621930.93710.0023 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782621930.93760.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782621930.93930.0017 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782621930.94260.0033 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1782621930.94320.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1782621930.94370.0005 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782621930.94610.0024 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782621930.94660.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782621930.94830.0017 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782621930.95010.0018 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1782621930.95070.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1782621930.95120.0005 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782621930.9530.0018 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782621930.95350.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782621930.95520.0017 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782621930.95630.0011Request time: 0.1657
1782621930.95630Process time: 0.1656
1782621930.95630Memory: 1.6241