Citizen Science & Invasives Conference

On Friday, I travelled down to London to attend a free conference organised by UKEOF (Environmental Observation Framework).

It was an early start and a long train journey, but I put the time to good use and made lots of progress in writing up my MMU Mammal Survey.  The conference was held at the British Ecological Society's HQ at Charles Darwin House, just a short walk from Kings Cross station. I arrived early, so had time to work my way there slowly and stop for a coffee en route to perk me up a little after my 5:30am alarm call.

The conference was a unique blend of citizen science and invasive species, so fit perfectly with the work I have been doing on my traineeship with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. It was interesting to hear about other organisation's experiences of using volunteers to help in the fight against invasives. Many organisations, like my project, are using members of the public to carry out surveying and monitoring work, and to gather data to be collated to improve our knowledge of certain issues.  The distinction was also made between these Citizen Scientists and so-called "Citizen Killers" who carry out a different but equally valuable role involving killing plants or despatching squirrels/rats/mink.

It was also great to meet people and be able to put faces to names, such as the team behind the PlantTracker app that we have been using to collect invasive plant data in Yorkshire. There were also colleagues from the NBN Gateway and the Environment Agency that were all keen to share experiences. It was a really enjoyable day and a great opportunity to network with like-minded people.

Brushcutting

With the end of my traineeship looming, I have been reviewing the skills and experiences I have gained on my placement with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.  As might be expected, these are very focused on invasive plant species, so I was fortunate when a place became available on a Brushcutter course.

A brushcutter is a heavy duty strimmer that is used to cut anything from grass to bracken to small saplings. Before the course I managed to get some tuition from my local reserve's officer Kate, and spent a morning cutting back tall herbs and scrub from the clearings around Hollinhurst Wood. This experience was invaluable, and made sure I had a some experience before attending the training.

The training course, held with other trainees at Potteric Carr, included maintenance skills. In the morning, we took the engine to bits and learned how to clean and replace various parts such as filters and spark plugs. We also learned how to exchange the cutting head (and matching guard), and sharpen the blades.  In the afternoon, we had some practice using different cutting heads and cleared some vegetation in the pond areas.

Overall, an enjoyable day and I now feel confident that I can use brushcutters safely and competently on the reserve. And I have another qualification too :)

Mammal Surveys at Fairburn Ings

My post course assignment for the MMU/FSC Land Mammals course was to carry out a mammal survey on a site of my choosing. I was lucky in that one of the other students, Heather, lived close by, so we worked together to carry out the survey at her workplace which is the nature reserve at RSPB Fairburn Ings. This had the benefit of us being able to share the experience and support each other in helping confirm identification. It also meant we could share the workload and could visit the traps frequently, one of us being able to do so even if the other was working.

It was quite an intense couple of weeks, but I must say the most fun I have had on a project!  We carried out 2 x 2 days of trapping with a short pre-baiting period to familiarise the small mammals to the Longworth traps. We set up twelve traps along a disused track separated from the main reserve by a locked gate, which gave a little confidence in being able to leave traps out safely without worrying about them being stolen or disturbed. We had good results: with a 75% average capture rate we caught a mixture of Bank Vole, Field Vole and Common Shrew.  As well as getting lots of experience in setting the traps, we had lots of practice handling the voles and even had a go at sexing them (though I think a bit more practice is needed here!).

The staff at the RSPB were all very interested and friendly. On several occasions, I turned up in the afternoon to empty the traps and was greeted by a small crowd of people, as Heather's colleagues were keen to see what was going on. One of them came in very useful, being a vetinary nurse in the past, as she was able to remove ticks that were infesting one of the captured Bank Voles.

In addition to the small mammal trapping, we carried out wider surveys around the reserve, concentrating our efforts on those places we were most likely to find field signs. This was repeated on two different days. We walked through a reed bed and found more Field Vole signs and, to my delight, a Harvest Mouse nest.  In the woods, we found numerous burrows. These looked too small to be badger. We set up a trail camera which confirmed the burrows belonged to rabbits, though we did capture a fox on the camera too.

At the eastern end of the reserve, we walked along a path known as The Cut which runs between two lakes and joins to the River Aire. We had hoped to survey for Water Voles, but it was too overgrown to get down to the river bank. We did survey in small patches around bridges and where there were gaps in the vegetation for anglers, and were really pleased to find a fresh otter spraint as well as mink scat and rat droppings, but sadly no sign of Water Voles.

Writing up the project was really useful too (dare I say enjoyable) as we had to consider which species we had not found as well as those that we had. This involved further research via the NBN Gateway to find out what could potentially be found in the area.

Last weekend, the YWT LAV volunteers with help from the Mammal Society held a small mammal trapping session at the Ledston Luck reserve. This is less than three miles from Fairburn Ings, so I was interested to see what would be found.  As well as the three species seen at Fairburn Ings, we also caught numerous Wood Mice and a Water Shrew, which is the first I have ever seen. This gave me some new data to work into my project write-up. These species could feasibly have been present at Fairburn Ings but were missed, so I could consider where we might have placed additional traps to carry out a more comprehensive survey.

It was good to meet members of the Mammal Society local group at Ledston Luck, and I am looking forward to attending some more of their events in the future.

Lower Aire Valley Volunteers

Today I took part in a practical work day with a group of local YWT volunteers. My traineeship will be ending soon, and I am keen to get as varied an experience as possible, so I thought it would be good experience to spend one of my volunteering days this week doing something a bit different.

I joined my local Reserves Officer and helped install a gate and some fencing at the entrance to one of the small nature reserves that we manage for Leeds City Council.  A kissing gate had already been fitted allowing pedetrian access, but we needed to install a large gate for vehicular access.  Finishing off some wooden fencing would make the site secure, as it has unfortunately been subjected to fly tipping recently.

Most of the morning was spent digging holes, which had to be three feet deep. Before lunch, we managed to install the gate posts and set them with concrete.  After lunch, we were then able to finish off the wooden fencing and fit the gate.

A hard day's labour but good weather and good company and a job well done :)
I think I may ache a little tomorrow though!

Land Mammal Identification - Days 2 & 3

On Sunday we spent a full day on site at Preston Montford. Over the course of the day, we set and revisited the small mammal traps several times and had better results, proving that acclimitising the traps beforehand does work. The animals had had chance to go into the traps without setting them off, and got a nice free meal of oats, seeds, raisin etc, as well as a warm bed and shelter for the night. A few had even moved in and lined the tubes with their own vegetation!

Along the farm track we caught several bank voles, and also captured a Wood Mouse and the slightly rarer Pygmy Shrew.  We had the chance to handle the animals and have a go at sexing them. We also placed out some footprint tunnels that we made out of drainpipe, felt and food colouring, to see if any other species would be tempted in.

Our focus for Sunday was on medium and large sized mammals though. Obviously these are bigger, often more elusive, and not easy to trap. We therefore learnt about the other ways of identifying them, namely field signs.  We had a couple of short walks around the grounds looking for field signs and did some footprint analysis. In the afternoon we carried out dietary analysis, which basically involving mushing up some poop in water, smelling it, then looking at it under the microscope. It was amazing what you could learn with a bit of knowledge - you can identify the fish species eaten from the shape of the scale, and the family of bird from the shape of the node on a feather.

Each evening we had a short lecture about one of the three protected species in the UK. On Sunday, we learned more about otters and had some myths dispelled.

Later on in the evening, around dusk, we went out and watched the bats emerge from the stable block and fly around the woodland track. These were mostly Soprano Pipistrelle. However our main aim was to see badgers, so we quietly walked through the woods and sat on a ridge overlooking the sett. We had also set up a camera trap to try and capture any action. We sat there for around half an hour, but at that time of night the light plays tricks with your eyes and I wasn't sure if I had seen anything or not! The camera trap didn't pick anything up, so we think the badgers used a different entrance and avoided their audience. So I have still yet to see a live badger!

Our final day, Monday, was focused on feeding remains. We had a look at marks typically left by squirrels on pine cones. Our main focus though was on dormice, the third of our protected species.  At the start of the day, we had a short lecture on bite marks and looked at hazlenuts and how different species opened these.  We then travelled to Wenlock Edge, about half an hours drive away, to carry out a survey.  The procedure is to spend twenty minutes within a given area looking for feeding signs, ie. a hazlenut with a characteristic offset hole with a smooth inner rim.  I found a dormouse hazlenut within about ten seconds, but it was fun looking for other examples and those made by other species. We managed to find hazlenuts eaten by squirrels, birds, bank voles and wood mice for comparison.

We returned to the centre and after lunch had the dreaded end of course assessment. This consisted of a photographic identification of eight species, then identification of a further eight by field signs.  I felt fairly confident with the test, but won't get the result for a month or so. 

The second part of our assignment is to carry out a full mammal survey. I am actually quite excited about this, and have made arrangement to meet up with another student and carry out the fieldwork jointly at her nature reserve. We then just have to write up the results and submit our report by the end of September.

I think this has been my favorite MMU module so far, and I am looking forward to getting involved in more small mammal fieldwork in the future.