Winter Tree ID

Today was my third course in less than a week.

On Thursday I attended a Workday Leader course, which was concerned with best practices when running a volunteer task day. We covered off what you should say to do with the group, and in the afternoon had a 'tool talk' looking at the various equipment and how to use it appropriately and safely.

This morning I returned to the nature reserve for a bit of self development on species identification. The aptly named Winter Tree ID course was just what you would imagine.  We wandered around for about two hours, looking at the various trees on site and their features.

In all, we identified 19 different species. I made copious notes and took numerous photographs, so hopefully now I will be able to tell apart all those trees with oval leaves that have confused me in the past.

Being autumn, most of the leaves are now on the ground so it was especially good to look for other features like bark, buds and catkins to help with identification.

Management Planning Course

The last few weeks have been quite hectic - busy in my existing job, and trying to get to grips with my traineeship as well. From a study perspective, I am still waiting for my exam results - due next Friday at the latest - and I'm finding it hard to get motivated in my new course until I draw a line under that.  I am doing a 30 point Level 3 module on Ecosystems, which started on 1st November and runs through to June 2014.  One of our first activities has been to measure the minimum and maximum temperature under the canopy of an oak tree and in the open - to gain an idea of the variety of temperature ranges and the micro-climates that can influence species over just a short distance. I am listening to the rain pouring down outside, and hoping my digital thermometers will still be functioning when I pick them up tomorrow!  I placed them under an oak tree near the reception at work at Potteric Carr, so whilst there are visitors on site it is fenced in and I'm hoping they are less likely to be stolen or disturbed.

My traineeship is on the Invasive Species project. Obviously with it being winter now, there is not much practical conservation work to be done. Tasks I have been involved with so far are updating the website pages on www.ywt.org.uk/invasives; creating a fold-out reference card of the main problem species; and making some videos for YouTube to educate people about the species, what they look like, and what to do about them. My supervisor Jon and I made our first video on Japanese Knotweed in York a few weeks ago, which just needs a final edit before we publish it. I have also been putting together some biosecurity kits and notes, to encourage our own staff and volunteers to clean their kit on site and stop the spread of plant fragments.

I don't get paid on my traineeship but I do get a training allowance, uniform and protective equipment so have already acquired quite a lot of kit.  Today I attended my first real course, which was an internal course about Management Plans: how to put together a five year management/action plan for the site.  In the morning we had a good run through how this should look, what to include, sources of information, consierations, funding, etc etc. In the afternoon, we had a walk around the nature reserve for around 2 hours, stopping and looking at various features and discussing what they were and how they could be managed. It was really useful to put things into perspective in that way and I came home with copious amounts of notes as usual.

Tomorrow I am on a Workday Leader course whilst will hopefully tell me more about running a practical session.

Last week I took part in a workshop that we ran jointly with Aire Action Leeds. There were numerous attendees from a variety of organisations: local council, utility companies, conservation groups, Environment Agency etc. The purpose was to consolidate our knowledge about the location and treatment of Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed in the Aire and Calder catchments. During one session, we had maps laid out of the whole river - literally stretching from one side of the room to the other - and people could annotate actions that were being taken.  There was also a lecture on relevant treatments which I found really informative, as I may be getting involved in such practical work next year.

A new job

I am pleased to confirm that I have been accepted as a voluntary trainee with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. I have also been able to go part-time in my current role, which is great as it means I still have an income coming in whilst I learn new skills to go alongside my academic qualifications.  I start part-time hours on 1st October, and will officially start with YWT shortly after that.

On Monday I met some of my new team, and helped with a water vole survey on Thorne Moor. This was a bit different from the normal water vole surveys, which normally involve checking streams/ditches. This time we lined up and carried out a search along a transect, a bit like a police forensic hunt.

The location is a different type of habitat than that normally associated with water voles. It is a lowland peat moorland. The whole area was wet and boggy, with some ditches and pools, but mostly it was wet underneath with a mat of sphagnum on top. It was hard work, trying not to sink in the bog, and looking for the tiny signs of feeding piles and latrines. We found some good signs quite close to the edge of the area, but had large areas within the centre that yielded no results. This seems to confirm that the water voles prefer areas of open water with tussocky grass and reeds; and avoid the moss covered areas.

The purpose was to establish if water voles were present. This part of the moor has already been artificially flooded to raise the water level and re-establish the wetland.  There is another, drier section of the moor that definitely does have water voles present. We wanted to establish if flooding the drier section in a similar way would have a negative impact on the water vole population there. It looks as though there will be some impact once the moss starts to fully establish itself. There may be some funding available to create small, hilly refuges with linking ditches so there is less impact to the water voles.

It was a fairly long walk from the road to the site, and we saw numerous wild mushrooms on the walk through the wood, including the poisonous fly agaric. I have since generated quite a discussion on the Yorkshire Naturalist's facebook site, and ended up with lots of recommended reading to learn more about mushrooms!

There were also lots of insects on the moor. I managed to get a photograph of a dragonfly starting to emerge from nymph, and also an empty exuvia.

The weather was kind to us despite a forecast that was cold and wet. I felt invigorated when I got home. If this is a sign of things to come, the next year is going to be fun!

Shore Thing

Today I drove out to the coast to take part in a joint event between the CIEEM and the Yorkshire Naturalist's Union. It was a beautiful late summer morning, and the weather stayed kind to us all day. Once we had gathered in the car park at 11am, we split into 4 groups of 4-5 people and made our way to the bay at North Landing, Flamborough.

The aim of the day was to complete a Shore Thing survey, an initiative by the Marine Biological Association. It carries out regular surveys to assess changes in the abundance, population structure and biogeographic ranges of a number of intertidal indicator species. Some of these are indicators for climate change.

The first part of the session involved quadrat surveys of upper, middle and low shoreline. I was surprised at the number of species we found in just a 0.5m quadrat. There were numerous different types of sea weed, and we also found anemones, limpets, barnacles, a lovely blue rayed limpet (middle picture), baby crabs, etc.

I was fascinated to learn about bryozoans (pictured in my hand below). These are colonial animals, a bit like coral. This one is forming a crust around a sea weed, and if you look carefully you can see the individual 'cells' and spikes. We also found some 'sea mats' growing on the long, flat strands of kelp.

The second session involved a 20 minute timed search, where we each went off to look search the shore-line and rock pools for three particular species. I didn't find any of mine, which I later found out was a good thing as most of the species we were searching for were invasives.

Given the number of species found in and around the shore, I think this specialist area is a step too far for me, though it was good fun to take part and learn a little bit more.

Camera Trapping Workshop

Having heard all about the latest gadgets being used by penguin biologists, it was great to come on a YWT workshop today on camera trapping. It was organised by a small company called Nature Spy, who provide the equipment to monitor wildlife in gardens and reserves.

In the morning, we had an indoor session starting with a slide show of still and video images taken using camera traps. This showed the range of shots that can be achieved, some of the issues to overcome, and also some of the history. Camera traps were first used as far back as 1890, but this is another area where the technology has really improved in the last few years, with cameras now much more discreet and therefore less likely to be seen by people and damaged/stolen.  Quality has also improved massively - as well as taking still images, audio, HD video and time lapse images can also be recorded.

We had a comprehensive walk through of a couple of models that the company use, to understand how they are set up and work, and after lunch had chance to go out and play.

We walked to Staveley nature reseve, just five minutes walk from the village hall.  We then had chance to set up the cameras - in a rather false position on fence posts by a path - and walked past to make sure they had picked us up. This revealed a couple of quirks around setting the number of photos to capture per bout, and the interval time between the sequences, with some results better than others. It is one of those things that comes with experience, and you may need to trade off the number of shots taken vs battery life.

We then had a short walk around the reserve, looking for animal tracks and finding the best places to locate cameras. It is a very peaceful reserve, though there was a lot of Himalayan Balsam around, and in a worrying juxtraposition with quite scarce plants like the broad leaved helleborine. Perhaps I can help sort that out in my new role ...

Penguin Conference Day 5

A long and tiring day marks the end of IPC8.  I’m not quite sure what my neighbours in the halls of residence were up to last night, but all the doors slam shut for fire regulations, and there were doors banging into the early hours of the morning. There was no lie in for me either, as we had to vacate rooms by 9:00am.

I somehow managed to squish everything back into my suitcase, and left it at the accommodation to collect later. I think this was the first day I made it to the first session of the morning, but Richard Sherley and Katrin Ludynia, my supervisors on the Earthwatch expedition on Robben Island, were presenting so that was double incentive not to be late.

There were a range of talks today, some about foraging and prey ability, whilst others explored new technologies available.

Richard’s talk emphasised the impact of the migration of sardine and anchovy from the Western to the Eastern Cape.  What he found was interesting about the type of food and when it was needed. He found that sardine availability in the period leading up to the breeding season was most important for breeding to take place, but that anchovy was more important for breeding success, and for chicks to progress to fledging, especially where there are two chicks per pair rather than one.  Also (probably due to over-fishing) the size and condition of sardines has reduced and this has a direct impact by lowering the body condition of adults.

Katta’s presentation was about the penguins on Dyer Island, which faces some severe challenges and may not exist in 5-10 years’ time. Although clutch size is 1.8 eggs per pair, only 0.5-0.8 are surviving to fledging.  Of these, only 25% survive beyond their first year. Many penguins are migrating away. As the island is more to the East, food availability is not a major factor. 7-8% are lost to seal predation; 4% to incidental oiling. This year, 95 chicks died from hypothermia following a major storm. A large culprit is avian predators, with 30 eggs per day taken by a large population of kelp gulls.  Models have been developed to show the impact of each of these factors.

The first really techie talk of the day was a study of egg incubation time in Adelie penguins in the Antarctic.  This involved substituting a real egg with a dummy one (viable only in non-endangered species!), which collected a range of environmental data including temperature and when the egg was turned by its parent. Interestingly temperature and wind made little difference to the egg, but snow did increase the stress level of the adult, lower the temperature and thus increase the incubation time. So ultimately if climate change causes more precipitation, breeding could take longer, eventually leading to a population decline.

A big brother moment came before lunch with Lynch’s talk. This included satellite imagery at 60cm resolution, which allowed the mapping of areas that are inaccessible. As Adelie’s have a certain nest behaviour leading to a set density, numbers of birds could be worked out from guano covered areas. One colony was mapped and measured in 4 hours from the office, as opposed to a 4 week expedition costing £k. What is scary is that the data is available at 10cm resolution or finer – which would allow identification of individual penguins – but it is not widely available for security reasons.

Another amazing talk by Hart was about camera images. These can be set up in remote parts of the Antarctic, and set up to relay pictures back to base, with batteries lasting up to a year if images are shot in time lapse rather than video stream. It records background information as well, ie. abiotic environmental data like extent of sea ice cover, weather, etc. Or, cameras can focus on individual nests to record behaviour at a finer level. It is a non-invasive way of monitoring populations, and audio capture is being explored. This can identify chicks, and their age from the type of call. The technology is constantly being improved, and they are looking at a citizen science project called Zooniverse to help process the film captured and count penguins. Awesome to think I could take part in a penguin census in the Antarctic without leaving the house!

The last presentation I am going to mention was another technology one, by Handley. In the same way that data loggers and depth recorders are attached to penguins to capture foraging data, he applied video cameras to birds to record a visual of their foraging trips. Results are still being worked through but this helps by showing actual behaviour as it happens, the environment the penguins is working in, species captured and eaten (without the need for stomach flushing or blood isotope tests), and interactions with other penguins.

I finish on that note, because tomorrow I am attending a workshop run by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust on camera trapping. It will obviously be focused on terrestrial mammals, but I am hoping it will give an insight into the techniques that I could use in the future, for example for my OU project courses.

I’ve learnt lots this week about scientific method and process as well as penguin facts, so all in all an excellent week. And one more Gromit bagged at Templemeads station on the way to catch my train home :)

Penguin Conference Day 4

An early start this morning. I nipped down in to work to meet my boss and explore options for moving to part-time hours to facilitate my studying and volunteering with YWT. It was a really positive conversation, and I'm hopeful we can agree a formal arrangement soon ...

It would have meant running up the hill to the university to get there in time for the first lecture, and I'm not that fit, so I dawdled up instead and did a bit of admin while I waited for the coffee break.

Today's lectures were all themed on climate change, so it was good to link what I have been studying in Environmental Science with some of the issues faced by the penguins. Although there was some consideration of heat and increasing sea surface temperatures, more concerns were raised about the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events like storms, winds and waves.

A consequence of rainstorms is that chicks' down gets wet and loses its insulating properties. Chicks less than three weeks old are particuarly vulnerable as they don't yet have waterproof feathers and can't thermo-regulate. Rebstock & Boersma found that 45mm of rain could lead to 100% chick mortality. Whilst such occurences are currently rare (once in every seven years or so), increased frequencies of extreme rainstorms will lead to increased chick mortality and decreases in colony size. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what practical action can be taken to mitigate this?

Noella Tubbs from South Africa gave a presentation on thermo-regulation,which found that the temperature at which adult African Penguins suffer heat stress is much lower than previously thought at 28.6 oC. She did experiments using 'mock' penguins she had built to assess the temperature in various nest locations, and found differences of almost 10 oC in nests just metres apart, but in sun vs shade. Shade is obviously important in providing a more ambient temperature for the adults, and will mitigate them having to abandon their nests in order to cool down in the water. Concrete tunnels seemed to offer a good alternative where bushes are not growing, by providing shade and a through flow of air.

A third aspect covered by several presenters was that of wave action, which increases with the stronger winds that come from warming air due to climate change. There were a couple of points raised. First, heavy wave action makes the water more turbid and it carries lots of sediment, making it harder for penguins to see prey and feed.  Other views considered the location and gradient of the thermocline. In settled conditions, this provides an invisible barrier above which phytoplankton thrive in the warmer waters, and fish will feed on them. This provides a distinct area that the penguins can hunt in, and many fish species will not move into the colder waters below so are easier to catch. In windy conditions, the water is mixed and the water column is a more constant temperature. This spreads out the prey, and makes it harder for the penguins to catch the fish.  In all these instances, if the parents cannot catch fish efficiently, the chicks will suffer, and increased chick mortality means fewer penguins in the future.

On that not such a happy note, be reassured that penguins are watching over us from space :)

Penguin Conference Day 3

Not a huge amount of Penguin Conference attended today I am afraid. I skipped the morning session and got some serious studying done. I sat a past exam paper (and on the basis that I could write at least something for each question I thought it went quite well ... answers not included unfortunately). Afterwards, I went through a couple of things I had queried with myself, and also did a bit more deeper reading on some of the other areas where I wanted to clarify things. It was a very productive couple of hours, with a couple of pages of revision notes and several more flash cards made. I'm feeling a little less guilty about taking a week's holiday this close to my exam.

I went up to the university in time to grab a packed lunch, and had another look around the posters in the foyer. There are probably close to a hundred posters to read, some quite technical, others more graphical and easy to understand. There was a hand-out version of the poster describing the African Penguin chick conditioning index that we used in South Africa, so I took a copy to read later as it is quite statistical and complex. There was also a copy of Leanne's paper on adult condition and breeding success, which had a familiar looking photograph on it.

After lunch one of the talks had been cancelled so there were only two left, but both about African Penguins and so most interest to me. The first by Jo Morten was about the begging behaviour of chicks, and looked at their vocalisations compared to body condition. The study was taken of hand reared chicks at SANCCOB and findings were only preliminary, but there was some evidence that the frequency (ie. pitch) of the call increased when chicks were in a poorer condition, even if the intensity and duration did not alter.

The second talk was by Peter Barham, and was about research impacting on penguins. It raised some very interesting questions, including how do we prove research is impacting penguins, as we would have to research them to prove not researching is the way to go!  It was good to relate the set up on Robben Island to the wider experiment - as volunteers, we stuck to set routes and only visited certain nests, to ensure that only parts of the colony were disturbed. In fact, the results surprisingly showed that infrequent disturbance was bad, but nests that were regularly disturbed actually bore chicks with a better condition, presumably because they got habituated to the researchers to a certain extent. Of course, those with no disturbance at all did the best. The main message though was to carefully think about the research being done, and how it could adversely impact the species you are trying to save.

There were no more lectures in the afternoon, so I took myself off on another exploration and Gromit hunt. I found lots, and I think my favorite today was Pirate Gromit (pictured). This time I set off west and explored some of the older parts of the city. I discovered some more lovely parks just minutes away from the office, and finally got to have a look around the cathedral.  It was another hot day, and after a few hours wandering around I was glad to settle in a bar for an hour and cool down over a refreshing drink.

At 6pm, there was a public event at the impressive Great Hall in the Wills Memorial tower building, part of the university. It was entitled "Penguins on Film" and there were talks from five different presenters, all with a different slant. The first gave an overview of penguins on film, from the first moving pictures done by Frank Hurley, through to modern documentaries and cartoons. It questioned our portrayal of penguins in anthropogenic terms, and some of the misconceptions films can give the public, such as penguins being faithful for life, and living in the north. The second presentation was by BBC producer Elizabeth Stone who worked on Frozen Planet, and gave a behind the scenes view of the conditions the film makers had to contend with, as well as some of their most successful film sequences. There was then a review of the Yellow Eyed Penguins, a family of whom were captured on film from egg to fledge as far back as the 1950s.

The final two presentations were more technological. The penultimate talk was 'Penguin Poo from Space' which I remembered reading about a few years ago, I think as part of my college reading. It explained how guano had been spotted using satellite images, and how this led to the discovery of new penguin colonies in inaccessible parts of the Antarctic. It ended on a somber note that similar techniques are showing the extent of sea ice reduction, with implications for the Emperor Penguins that rely on this for the duration of their breeding cycle.

Finally, there was a summary of computer image recognition. It showed some of Peter Barham's work that has used computers to capture the chest spots of penguins, and so create an ID parade from a video stream. Similar technology was demonstrated on a human, by identifying their gender, age and mood from computers working off a video feed. The video feed was provided by 'penguin cam' - yes, the real one used in the 'Spy in the Huddle' documentary.

It was an excellent evening (probably more my level than some of the lectures ....)

Penguin Conference Day 2

I skipped the first session today, but very studiously stayed in my room and finished my S216 notes and started some revision on water and rivers.

I arrived at uni for the session before lunch. Most of the lectures were about foraging habits. There was some interesting work on the African penguin colony at Stony Point, highlighting the issues for penguins in mainland colonies: big cats, tourists, wild fire etc. There was also a view of fish acoustic surveys around Robben Island and comparison with penguin foraging which was interesting but a little inconclusive.

After lunch, there were a further five presentations, with some interesting talks from non scientists about liaison with the fishery industry, and setting up biodiversity action plans. Professor Dee Boersma gave an inspiring lecture about the Galapagos penguin, which she has been studying for as long as I have been alive!

At the end of the day, there was a special presentation made. Dr Bernard Stonehouse was presented with a life-time achievement award for this work with penguins. Now in his 80's, he has been studying penguins for 60+ years and has been an inspiration to many generations of penguin scientist.

After lectures, I walked up to the zoo and managed to have a look around for the last hour before it closed. I went into the lemur enclosure but they didn't want their photograph taking. There is a baby gorilla that was running around the enclosure like a typical toddler - but my photos came out blurry. I went into the underwater viewing point to see the penguins swimming, but there were only the inca terns splashing about. So not much luck from that perspective!

I then managed to get myself completely lost in and around Clifton. I did manage to find Observatory Hill - more by luck than judgement - and got good views of both Avon Gorge and the Suspension Bridge. I have visited Bristol many times before but these landmarks have been elusively just round the corner. I managed to 'bag' a few more Gromits on my way home.  After a couple of hours walking in the warm late summer sun I was glad for a shower, microwave dinner and beer then chilling out for the rest of the evening.

Penguin Conference Day 1

I arrived in Bristol yesterday afternoon and dropped my bag off at the university halls of residence. The room is basic but will do for a few nights - quite a trek down the hall to the shared bathroom though! I walked up to the zoo and registered for the 8th International Penguin Conference, and got a huge wad of freebies including back-pack, t-shirt, pen, USB stick, highlighter, stickers etc as well as agenda and abstracts. We had chance for a quick wander round the zoo, then had an informal ice breaker consisting of a glass of wine, canapes and networking.

Today the conference started officially up at the main university building. There was an introduction by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, then the talks began. I attended the morning and late afternoon sessions, but being self funding didn't feel obliged to stay for all the lectures. The standout lectures for me were on the power of poo (Julie McInnes et al) which looked at DNA analysis of both penguins and their prey by examining penguin poop. This is much less invasive than stomach flushing, which has traditionally been used to examine prey eaten, but can harm penguins and their chicks as their food is taken away.

Another interesting talk was on minimising nest disturbance, and using heat sensitive dots to monitor when an egg is being sat on, ie. a breeding nest is occupied.

I took a few hours off after lunch and had a wander around Bristol.  I managed to find a few of the Gromit statues - I won't have time or transport to find all 80 or so, but it was good fun and exercise looking for them. It was quite warm out, especially after climbing to the top of Cabot Tower, though there was a nice cool breeze and amazing views at the top.

The last session of the day was in the evening and was a series of short presentations from various conservation groups and charities, including SANCCOB that I visited and would love to do so again. It was good to get a slightly different, less scientific, perspective on practical steps being taken to help the penguins.

I haven't managed to get much studying done today, but have a few hours free in the morning.

Limnology Part 2

We started today with a biology lecture, concentrating on the phyto- and zooplankton that we would be looking at later in the day. Whilst the other took a break, I accompanied one of the centre staff down to the weather station to get a closer look and see how they take measurements. It helped to bring things to life, and was good revision for my course, especially seeing how the hours of sunlight are measured.  This is done using a Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder - the instrument focuses the Sun's rays through a spherical glass lens and on to a piece of card, scorching a line on to the "burn card" every time the Sun emerges from behind the clouds. Sunshine hours correlate to the length of the burn. There are different slots for the card depending on the season, as the sun is at a different level in the sky.

After the mid-morning break, we all kitted up and got ready to face the wind and rain on the lake.  The rain wasn't too heavy, and my new waterproof jacket kept me dry. We took both boats out at once, and took it in terms to collect phyto- and zooplankton samples. Nets of different mesh sizes were used for each, and the method also varied.  Phytoplankton float so the net was pulled horizontally for 2 minutes, just below the surface of the water. Zooplankton are noctural and more likely to be lower down in the water column, so they are collected using a vertical sample. We then dropped anchor and used it to pull up some macrophytes (plants) growing on the bottom of the tarn.

After lunch, we settled back into the lab and set up microscopes to see what we had found. The tutor was a bit dissappointed that we hadn't found any diatoms, but I was more than impressed with the range of phytoplankton I found which included anabaena, microcystis, gleotrichia and ceratium.  Volvox (pictured) was particularly pretty. I could have spent hours looking at it. We were a bit less successful with the zooplankton, and I found it quite hard to identify things - I know it was a copepoda but couldn't be more specific - more practice needed! 

The course finished mid-afternoon, and after a brief wrap up session we were on our way. Naturally I hit the rush hour traffic so it took nearly two hours to drive home. I treated myself to a hot bath to recover from a tiring but very enjoyable few days.  Just a few days at home, and then I am going to Bristol for the week, attending International Penguin Conference 8 (IPC8). I am sure much of it will be over my head, but it will be good to meet the guys from South Africa again and catch up on their research.

Limnology Part 1

I arrived at Malham Tarn Field Studies Centre yesterday late afternoon for the start of a two and a bit day course in limnology - the science of the lakes. After dinner at 6pm, we had a short introductory lecture and then had an early night to settle in to the accommodation. I was very studious and did a past exam paper ... and picked out a few more things I need to revise.

This morning was a fairly leisurely start, with breakfast just after 8am and lectures starting just after 9am. Being Bank Holiday week, the centre is quite quiet and there are only seven delegates on our course, which is a good number. We had somewhat of an information download this morning, but it was very good revision for me covering the physics and chemistry of the lakes, including wave action, temperature profile, gas exchange and nutrients. 

After lunch, we carried out practical activities in alternate groups.  My group was first to take the rowing boat out on the lake and take some water samples. This was done using a ?Rettner tube, and dispensing the contents from various depths into glass collecting bottles. As we were measuring dissolved oxygen, the key was not to let there be an air gap/bubble at the top of the bottle. We also had a bit of a paddle around the lake looking at the adjoining peat bog - quite a unique juxtaposition to have an alkaline marl lake next to an acid peat bog.

Whilst the other group went on the boat, we had a graphing exercise to do which was to create a isopleth of temperatures for various depths and dates. It was a bit like an intellectual join the dots exercise, quite time consuming - I'm sure there must be a computer programme that does this now!

When the other group returned, we went to the lab to analyse the water. The first test we did was theWinkler method, which involves adding various chemicals in turn to the water sample, creating various reactions. At the end of the process, you can determine how much oxygen was in the sample by how much of the final chemical needed to be added to make the sample clear.  I took pictures of each stage, so will no doubt write up some more precise instructions in due course.

For the second test we used colormetry to determine the pH of water. This used various colour dyes, and the comparison against a colour chart to match to the closest colour and read off a value. It was accurate to 0.2 pH, but there was a little subjectivity in it, as different members of the group did not always agree on the colour match!  It is definitely more reliable that litnus paper, and allegedly more so that electronic meters that need to be constantly recalibrated.

After dinner, we had another short lecture on the history of Malham Tarn itself. We then had a walk out to the sluice gate, then on to a sink hole, a round trip of about 3km. It was getting dark when we got back, so I just settled down for the night, ready for another action packed day tomorrow ...

Bats and Sea Shores

Last weekend I had my first outing with the West Yorkshire Bat Group. The task was to check bats boxes in Northcliffe Woods in Shipley. Well, I had a nice morning wandering round the woods, getting a break from work and studying and I even managed to drag Robert out with me. We met some nice people, but unfortunately the bat boxes were all empty so I didn't get the close encounter I had hoped for.

A couple of the boxes contained lovely nests, probably blue tit, but most of them just had a mixture of moths, millipedes and spiders.  I did manage to get a photo of a speckled wood butterfly flitting around the forest floor - another ID to add to my collection.

I've just watched an excellent programme on BBC1 called 'Britain's Big Wildlife Revival' as part of their Summer of Wildlife series. This week the focus was on marine and coastal wildlife, and it brought back lots of memories about my trip to South Africa, and made me reflect on all the things I have been fortunate enough to get involved in so far.

Puffins - I had limited success on my photo shoot to the East Coast earlier this month, and the programme confirmed that puffins are in decline in the north of the UK. The issues seem similar to those faced by the South African penguins, in that much of the problem is down to food availability. The programme showed nests being surveyed on the Farne Islands, and we got to see a chick just a few days old and it's parent being ringed.  And yes, naturalists aren't supposed to use the word 'cute' ... but sometimes you just have to! I'll never forget holding my first penguin chick ...

Sea Eagle - I had my first encounter with a sea engle when I took a group of air cadets
on an activity week to Mull. As we drove along the road, an adult was sitting on the fence post just metres away - what an amazing creature. In the programme, a 6 week old chick was removed from the nest to be weighed and ringed. Again, I can relate this to my penguin experiences. The sea eagle chick appeared much calmer than my penguin chicks though, and didn't peck its way out of the bag ... At 6kg, it was also somewhat heftier - it's a good job it was so complacent otherwise it would be a real handful.

Litter - A whole pile of weird stuff was washed up on Northumerland's beaches ... not as much as around Robben Island though. One thing I can confirm - ear buds and straws from drinks containers are a world wide problem. Please dispose of litter carefully, and don't flush weird things down the toilet.

Grey Seals - I did a project on seals as part of my A-level General Studies. I wrote to the BBC and got sent lots of amazing material from a documentary they had run; I think there was a disease like canine distemper affecting seals at that time. It's good to see the seal populations around Britain are recovering. It would be amazing to swim with the seals. When we went snorkelling and sea kayaking on the west coast of Scotland I was desparate for a close encounter, but they were always out of reach.

I've signed up for the CIEEM regional event at Flamborough in a few weeks time, so I'm now really enthused about going along and learning more about coastal species ID and recording.

Bees

Bees are really hard to photograph! I've been on a bit of a mission the last few weeks to try and take some good pics, with mixed success. Here's one of my better ones ...

There was an excellent document on BBC on Friday evening - a Horizon special on the decline of bees in the UK. "What's killing our bees?" was hosted by journalist Bill Turnbull who is also a bee keeper. It was a good summary of the issue, explored some of the causes and also some of the latest research to improve things in the future.  A recommended watch - you can still get it on i-player.

When the paving in my back garden is finally sorted out, I will be planting up a mini wild flower meadow to help the butterflies and bees.

Citizen Science

Today I managed to get some of my work colleagues involved in a science project!  I mentioned the Society of Biology's flying ant project last week, and today when I came in to work this morning my colleague Ian presented me with a small tupperware box containing two flying ants. He had obviously paid attention to my enthused ramblings, and had humanely killed them by putting them in the freezer.  As we were chatting, some more colleague overheard the discussion. They too had seen flying ants, so I helped them log the sightings of the website.

As far as my S216 studies go, I did manage to get my project submitted a week early. The deadline was yesterday, and I am hoping my tutor will be kind and not make me wait too long for the result. I enjoyed the fieldwork, searching for amphibians in my local country park. I also found out lots by researching various scientific papers. However, my results were inconclusive and I found it really hard to stick to the word limit.  I was only a few words over, but I am sure I will get criticised for leaving out some vital facts.  Fingers crossed I will get a reasonable result.

It's only three weeks until my next assignment deadline, so I need to get motivated. This hot weather is not very conducive to staying indoors and reading text books!

I got my joining instructions through for a Limnology course run by the Field Studies Council. It takes place at the end of August at the Malham Tarn centre. It will be a nice break, and hopefully will embed some of the learning points for my environmental science course, as well as giving some practical experience of taking water measurements.

East Coast Visit

Last weekend I took a bit of time out and my husband and I went to the East Coast. We finished work early on Friday, and had a pleasant drive out to Scarborough with the roof down. After checking in at the hotel, we had a meal at the local pub, then went to the Spa complex for an Amy MacDonald concert.  The warm up act was a guy called Martin from Sunderland: The Lake Poets. His song "Edinburgh" is my favorite in a long time! A very talented young man - you should definitely check out his music.

The next day, we drove down the coast and visited a couple of nature spots. Although I spent all my childhood summers at Scarborough and often visited other places up the coast, I have never visited the area around Flamborough. The first stop was the RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs. The weather was beautiful, and we got there before it got too hot. We wandered up and down the cliffs looking for puffins. They were being quite elusive, but I did manage to get some pictures. 

I had the zoom lens on my camera, and got some good shots of bees and butterflies as well as the sea birds. In fact, when I got home and looked at the photos on the computer, they were much more interesting than I thought ... I managed to photograph some young birds in nests that I didn't even realise were there!

I also managed to capture this young gannet, with the distinctive ink spot pattern on its wings, and beautiful facial markings.

Next we made a quick stop at North Landing, near Flamborough, just a few miles down the coast. I had a wander along with cliffs, which are part of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve, and took some more photos.

After lunch at the cafe at the top of the slipway, we set off home, and I managed a spot of sunbathing in the car with the roof down and my shades on. Very relaxing! A few enjoyable hours were spent in the evening sorting through my photos and submitting sightings to i-spot. I started using that website when I did the OU's Neighbourhood Nature course, and have just kept up with it as the process of logging things helps me remember species names and acts as a record and reminder too.

I even submitted a few photos to the Society of Biology competition "Feeding Life".  I don't think they are nearly good enough to win, but you don't know if you don't try.

I got an email from the CIEEM about an event running at Flamborough in early September. It sounds like a good opportunity to practice species identification and surveying, and I now know its a lovely part of the world, so I am going to sign up.  Another practical event to look forward to.

Bat Ecology

I attended a really interesting training course on Monday, run by the Bat Conservation Trust as part of their foundation training programme. It was held in the beautiful Clumber Park, that I have not visited for several years, and run by Dean Waters of Vespero Consulting.

It was a fairly small group of six delegates - all of us beginners - so there was plenty of opportunity for questions without feeling too stupid. A large part of the course was spent on bat features and identification. After a picnic lunch in the garden, there was the chance to put this into practice during a practical 'test' using key features to identify the different British species. This was mostly straight-forward (just a couple of the trickier ones needed a second look) - though no doubt it would be much harder with live specimens that don't want to be held and measured!

Now I just need some time and opportunity to get out and put this into practice!

Give Nature a Home

I saw an advert on TV today and must say I thought it very inspiring. Great to see an advert for something positive, easy and free, rather than just more consumerism (or on-line gambling, or loans for people who can't afford loans ...).  It also references Kevin Costner's Field of Dreams: "if you build it, they will come".

The RSPB campaign Give Nature a Home encourages everyone to take a few simple steps to encourage wildlife back into their garden. Having visited their website I'm also impressed by the simple project ideas, with step by step instructions that anyone can follow with little or no cost and just an hour or so spare.

With the best / hottest / sunniest weekend of the year so far looming, it's given me plenty of ideas of things to do ...

 

 

 

PS. 17th July 2013

 

Pleased to report that my bug hotel is now constructed (see below), and I have also been providing food and water to the birds in this hotel weather. I'm also thrilled that a pair of mice have taken up residence in my compost heap!  I went to harvest some compost as a mulch for my potatoes yesterday, and they popped out to say 'hello'. When you think about it, I guess it makes quite a good home - the plastic bin shelters them from rain, wind and predators, it is nice and warm, and they get a fresh supply of food scraps every day. What more could a mouse want?!

 

 

Killer Shrimp

On Tuesday I attended by first CIEEM regional event, a talk given by aquatic ecologist Rob Harrison at Ecus in Sheffield on the killer shrimp (Dikerogammarus villosus).

This species was first recorded in the UK in 2010 and is one of the UK's top 100 most invasive species. It has spread from the Ponto-Caspian region of eastern Europe via the Rhine-Main-Danube canal (or Europa Canal). This now links the Danube and the Rhine/Main, creating a navigable river all the way up to the North Sea and Atlantic ocean. Of course, this doesn't just benefit commerical traffic - nature is also taking advantage of this new route and species are moving to areas they weren't previously in.

Rob gave a one hour presentation covering the taxonomy of killer shrimp, key identification features, environmental tolerance and its impacts to ecosystems and biodiversity.  We also learnt about biosecurity measures that can be put in place to stop the spread of invasive non-native species.  Happy to say I am using these for my pond surveying!  The mantra check, clean and dry was reinforced.  If found, occurances should be reported to alert_nonnative@ceh.ac.uk

As with any invasive species, it threatens native species because it is slightly larger and preys on existing habitants. We saw a slightly gruesome video of the killer shrimp devouring its prey, which can be smaller shrimp species, newt eggs, tadpoles, small fish, etc.  So the presence of killer shrimp can alter the make up of aquatic ecosystems and have wide reaching consequences.

After the presentation, we had the chance to look at specimens of the killer shrimp and others under the microscope. It is a very small creature about the size of a 5p piece, but can grow up to 3cm across. It may have a strippy appearance, as it is often found alongside zebra mussels. It can only be accurately identified from other members of the family by three hairs on a cone protusion at the base of the back, visible under a microscope.

It was good to meet other people working in ecology, and to learn more about the current topics in aquatic ecology.

BSBI Training at Old Moor

Another excellent training day - good to get out, meet some new people and gain some practical experience rather than burying my head in books all weekend. The weather couldn't make it's mind up - everytime time I got too hot and took my waterproofs off it started to rain! - but it kept dry most of the day which made things much more enjoyable.

I met with the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) for a regional training day led by Mel Linney. This was aimed at beginners like me, though there were more experienced members also attending who were happy to share their experience.  Also helping out was Kate from the RSPB who I had previously met on a water vole training course.

We met at RSPB Old Moor reserve near Wath on Dearne, about 40 minutes drive from home.

In the morning, we walked the half mile or so to Gypsy Marsh, another piece of land managed by the RSPB but outside the reserve itself. It took us a while to get there, as we kept stopping and looking at things: mainly hedgerow and pond marginals. The session was well organised, focusing on the pea, buttercup and daisy families and with a leaflet provided that showed the key species and features.

At Gypsy Marsh itself there were orchids within a grassland meadow. I don't think I have ever seen an orchid in the wild before - by the end of the day I was getting quite complacent as there were so many of them.

I learned two new buttercup plants I had never even heard of: celery leaved buttercup, a small pond plant with elongated seed heads (pictured); and greater spearwort, another pond plant but this time a giant reaching > 1 metre tall and with elongated leaves.

We had lunch at the centre, then went into the reserve itself. Our first task was to survey orchids in a field closed off from the public. We counted 1000+ orchids, and it was interesting to relate their distribution back to the topography, with the majority occuring in the damper areas in a depression. What a shame I have already done my S216 project - it would make a great little project studying a transect and comparing plant abundance to soil water content!!

We spent the rest of the afternoon meandering down 'Green Lane' which is the main pathway through the reserve. We saw numerous different plants, including more water loving plants in the stream running alongside. It was interesting to see how big some of the Southern Marsh Orchids were growing (around 2 feet tall) due to a combination of plentiful water in the ditch and competition from grasses.

I filled four pages of my notebook with plant species and a brief description, and took numerous photographs (though did struggle to focus on some of them - must take my SLR next time).

I was so impressed with the centre and the staff that I have now joined the RSPB.  A great day, and if I can retain half of what I have learned I will be very happy :)

Peat Workshop at Nethergill Farm

Arrived safely back in the UK after a long but thankfully uneventful trip: my flight even arrived early at Heathrow so I had a nice relaxed transfer to my plane back to Leeds.  It now seems ages since I was away on my adventures.

I didn't do as much studying as I should have whilst I was away, and have paid the price over the last few weeks: my head has been buried in books, procrastinating because this month is all about rocks and landforms which isn't my favorite part of the syllabus!  I've just submitted my 4th assignment out of 7 so a little pressure is off, but I am still behind with my notes which I will regret when the S216 exam starts to loom and I have nothing to revise from ... My goal is to finish all of my 'cycles' notes this weekend.

I'm feeling very commited to my OU studies, having just paid for another course. I am now enrolled onto Level 3 Ecosystems starting in November, and Level 2 Practical Environmental Science in February next year.  I have also signed up for the revision weekend for my current course, as it is over 10 years since I last did a written exam - I've got good marks in my coursework so far and don't want to let myself down at the last fence.

However, I am still trying to mix course work with more practical experiences. I spent another excellent weekend in the Yorkshire Dales on a Peat Workshop at Nethergill Farm, organised through the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and Yorkshire Peat Partnership. The weather was again superb. There were a number of talks during the morning, each giving a different perspective on peat moorlands, including conservation methods and their importance to water quality and flood alleviation. In the afternoon, we had a practical session looking at gripes and erosion. We also carried out a vegetation survey, identifying several different species of sphagnum as well as other plants including tormentil.  The highlight for me though was seeing a sundew, Yorkshire's carniverous plant!  Another rare species to add to this year's list.

I also took the opportunity to collect some grass samples, as I have recently received my "Grass Species ID" course by distance learning. It doesn't look too hard so far - but I have only got to Unit 1!  I have already collected 20+ samples, many of which are different from one another. These are currently being diligently pressed and dried so that I can create voucher specimens for my assessment. I have yet to identify them ... I have already learned how to tell the difference between a grass and a sedge by the shape of the stalk, however I have had to order a dissection kit so that I can get to the next level of detail and start examining the minutia of seed heads and ligules.

Sea-bird Rehabilitation at SANCCOB

I had a morning flight from PE to Cape Town, arriving mid-morning on what promised to be another very hot day.  I had my case shrink wrapped and left it at left luggage before catching the myCiti bus into Cape Town – wish I had known about this before as it’s a very clean, safe and efficient rapid transport route into the city, is direct with no stops and much cheaper than a taxi.  The trip took about 30 minutes, and at the Civic Centre I changed bus for Table View.  The next bus did stop, but it had a dedicated bus lane for much of the way, and gave me chance to see a different part of the city.

I arrived early at Table View so had lunch at the nearest convenient place – MacDonalds. I then walked to SANCCOB about a mile away. Once I had crossed the very busy main road, it was an easy walk along the side of a nature reserve with up-market houses on the other side. I was comforted by the proximity of the police station and quiet of the area, otherwise I wouldn’t have walked myself.
 
I was still a bit early when I arrived at SANCCOB, the sea-bird rehabilitation centre, so watched the resident penguins in their pen before my tour commenced. These are the penguins that cannot be released back into the wild for various reasons – some are amputees missing a flipper or foot, one had a disfigured beak. Others seemed healthy, but they have genetic or other diseases which means they are not wanted to breed and spread the problems further.

During my 1:1 tour I saw all the different stages that an incoming bird goes through. Oiled birds are washed, which takes four people two hours; there is an Intensive Care Unit for the most needy; then the birds progress through various groups as they recuperate until they are finally fit enough to leave. There is also a hatchery and chick rearing unit where abandoned eggs are artificially incubated until they hatch, and the young penguins are hand fed every two hours until they are big enough to join other penguins on the path to release.  It was really interesting to see the work SANCCOB do.

To finish I had a cuddle with Rocky the rockhopper penguin, who is too far from home to be released and is now acting as SANCCOBs penguin ambassador. She was a lot friendlier than the penguins on Robben Island!

The trip back to the airport was hot but uneventful – bag recovered, checked in, cleared security, and ready for the long flight back to the UK.