Introducing Kaysie Ryan! The Newest Member on the Project.

Hello and welcome back to the blog! This week, we are thrilled to welcome a brand new member of staff on to the MCRP team. Today we are hearing from Kaysie, one of the new Project Officers- She is a great addition to the team, full of new skills and ideas and we can’t wait to see how she gets on!

Welcome onboard Kaysie and over to you! 

Good day readers! My name is Kaysie Ryan and I am very pleased to be joining the MCRP team and starting this new journey with my colleagues.

Growing up, I always loved animals and wanted to become a vet, however I came across a video from our neighbours in Antigua documenting the challenges around restoring the wildlife and biodiversity on Redonda. I found this really fascinating and considered how I can work on similar projects. When I received the news that the MCRP were recruiting two new candidates to join and develop in the National Trust, I jumped at the opportunity with hopes to work towards being an animal conservationist.

Although I am new to the MCRP team I am not unfamiliar with the mountain chicken project. I interned at the Department of Environment in 2013/2014 and part of the field work I carried out included capturing cane toads & tree frogs for swabbing, weighing & measuring to assess whether they had the chytrid fungus. 

I am excited to experience even more this time around in my new position with caring for and rehabilitating the Mountain Chicken on island. I’m keen to learn more about what happens behind the scenes, interact with our various partners overseas and also, contribute to the success of the project. 

Since starting my new job, I have already learned so much through training and meeting the various stakeholders of the project.

Seeing the frogs thrive in the semi-wild enclosure is very cool and I am very excited for the future of the Mountain Chickens. I hope to witness the success of tadpoles in the semi-wild enclosure which will then mean the thriving species can be better studied.

I am very excited for the next two years and you’ll definitely be hearing from me again with updates about the Mountain Chicken and their progress.