As most of you that have read my first blog may know (and if you haven’t here it is: Experiencing joy employed at Northumberland Wildlife Trust | Northumberland Wildlife Trust) last year I had the luck of being accepted to work for the Northumberland Wildlife Trust and had been given the grand opportunity to learn and develop through training and visit many community groups in Northumberland.

I write this for anybody thinking or considering of joining a job for the Wildlife Trust in the near future. In this role I am given something we refer to as ‘flexi’. For anybody that doesn’t know this is ability of having flexible work hours; meaning if something important comes up at home I have the time to deal with it. If an emergency arises for example I can make up for the time I’ve taken off work by working to make up those hours at a later time.

Thanks to this system I have been able to finish the things that are important to me both at work and home. As example, taking flexi hours to go to a community womens group that means a lot to me - in June 2025. the group needed help to lift multiple layers of Sedum plants onto the roof of a straw bale building that they have created from scratch togehter as a strong team of women. Thanks to flexi it was no worry for me to tell my team officer and get the okay to go ahead and help the group out - before we knew it the wood was measured, cut, drilled on and before us above our very heads stood a very proud building adorning a vibrant nature caressed roof. Now when the rain falls, the roof will soak up the majority of the water allowing the flowers among itself to bloom brightly, leaving just a slow trickle of water that exits into the gutter; lessening the odds of overflow and providing a safe space for nature as well a pretty view for all to see!

At Hauxley, The Nextdoor Nature team works with a large range of different community groups focusing on any from Amble all the way up to Berwick. To maximise our chance to help we sometimes need to accept meetings and event that fall outside of our normal 9-5pm work times. The hours taken outside of our normal work time then get added up up and can be used as hours we can spend off work DURING our normal 9-5pm work allowing us to make up for much needed rest, doctor appointments, etc. So the Flexi system is a great way to combat overworking and allow time off to rest in-between. This does mean hours can be a little less predictable but... with meetings mostly agreed upon in advance - this doesn’t pose much of a problem and hasn’t posed a problem to me so far in my experience.

Much needed sometimes. Especially when you have animals at home that need some time out, or in my case, naughty budgies that misbehave for attention!

Or... sadly, the time to grieve as and when needed - when my oldest budgerigar girl Tae of 8 years passed away unexpectedly in the morning :’(