Inaugral botany meeting at Maltby

Last weekend was the first official trip out for the South Yorkshire Botany Group. This was run in conjuction with the Rotherham Naturalists Society and took in three different sites close to Maltby, each conveniently in a different tetrad so the records would count as individual submissions.

I volunteered to help with the official recording, so spent much of my time shadowing Kay and Geoffrey, the BSBI recorder for VC63.  The official recording sheet was in abbreviated Latin, and you have to strike through those species that are found. A separate sheet is used for each site.  Although the text was tiny, it was useful to have all the potential species on one side of A4 paper - much easier to work with than my pre-prepared list that went to four sheets of A4, meaning I always seemed to be flicking between pages. The difficulty was that people kept yelling the plants' common names out to us, so we had to try and do a rapid translation into the scientific name.

The weather forecast was mixed with heavy rain expected, but we were lucky and it was relatively mild with just a spot of rain mid-morning.  We met in the private estate of Lord and Lady Scarborough at Sandbeck Park, parking at the old stable block and walking through a walled garden and around the lake. There was a blanket of different coloured bluebells in the walled garden, and many spring flowers starting to come through.  There was a beautiful array of fritillaries by the lake.

In the afternoon, we moved on to Roche Abbey, just a few miles down the road. After a picnic lunch, we had a walk around the site and found many interesting species including mountain currant and greater chickweed (pictured). There was also some Himalayan balsam starting to come through, that will hopefully be dealt with before it gets out of hand ...

Mid-afternoon, we lost some of the group including Kay and Geoffrey as they had travelled quite far. Those that were left walked a short way to Nor Wood. We managed to locate a rather poor specimen of Yellow Star of Bethlehem, but another elite plant was no longer visible. A couple of us had a wander through the wood and I completed a species list as best I could to record the site. By now, it was getting late, so it was by no means a complete list, but a good experience for my first recording effort.

It was a really good day, with 20+ people in attendance, and all very friendly and helpful. I feel my botany skills are slowly starting to improve, and look forward to the next event in a few weeks time.

OU Vegetation & Soils Days 2-4

Well the best intentions of blogging each day went completely out of the window ... the residential course was excellent but very full on, with evening sessions not finishing until 9pm at night, and then more studying or discussions required before the next day.

On the first day, we carried out a practical exercise on an upland area about half an hours drive from the field centre.  The weather was overcast with low cloud and it was bitterly cold - I had to break out my emergency fleece before we even started!

We carried out vegetation surveys in two quadrats in distinctly difference areas - one grass and one heather. We also looked at soil properties - taking some samples back to the lab for later analysis - as well as looking at other environmental factors such as the oreintation of the slope, and the angle of the slope (measured using a gun clinometer).

We returned to the field centre after lunch and carried out some experiments on the soil to test for pH, phosphorus content, loss on ignition and soil density. Each of the groups pooled their results for the vegetation survey to come up with the requisite five replicates needed for frequency, so that we could work out the NVC classification for each area.  In the evening session, we spent some time looking at NVC types and the MATCH software.

All of this was in preparation for our group project. The following day, we were taken to a different area - Stapeley Hill - and each group was allocated an area comprising two different vegetation types. We had to carry out an initial assessment, devise a hypothesis, and then gather sufficient data to test the hypothesis when back at the lab.

Our group had an area of grass and one of bracken, and on the basis of Ellenberg indicator scores our hypothesis was that the soil beneath the bracken area was higher in nutrients than the grass area. We carried out a detailed vegetation survey in five quadrats in each stand, and took ten soil samples from each area.

Although the tutors were on hand to provide support, we were pretty much left on our own to plan the project, carry it out, do follow up work in the lab, and then come up with a conclusion.

Once back at the field centre, we set about testing our soil samples for phosphorus content. This took most of the evening to do. After mixing the soil with distilled water to form a slurry, this was drained into a conical flask then measured into vials. A reagent was added, and the phosphorus content was measured using a colorimeter.

Unfortunately the results were completely opposite to our hypothesis!  That evening, we also collated the data from the vegetation surveys to work out the frequency and maximum abundance for each stand.

The next morning was mainly spent doing follow up work and researching our findings. After keying each plant species into the MATCH software, we researched the NVC classifications and concluded that the bracken was actually having a deletrious effect on the soil nutrient levels, as nutrients are being held in the dead vegetation on the soil surface and this takes a long time to break down and be returned to the soil.

After lunch we gave a brief presentation on our findings, and once home we had to write up the project for our assignment.

I found the residential school very interesting and applicable to what I want to be doing in my future career, and was fortunate to be working with a good group of students.

OU Vegetation & Soils Day 1

It has been a fairly relaxed start to the Easter weekend. I finished off the third of four TMAs for my Open University (OU) Ecosystems course, as the deadline occurs when I am way on this residential. Although I procrastinated for a while, it didn't take that long once I got stuck into it.  I had to run down to the post office to pick up a parcel that had tried to be delivered - I am sure I was in the house, but the postman must have knocked really quietly as I didn't hear them. The parcel was a butterfly net I had ordered, but I couldn't figure out how it fit together ... there may be a piece missing?  I will have to have a closer look when I am back home.

Around lunchtime I drove down to Preston Montford near Shrewsbury, the venue for my Open University residential course. This weekend is the first of two residentials for SXE288 Practical Environmental Science. The journey was really smooth, the traffic light and the driving conditions excellent. I arrived too early, despite two stops, so chilled out with a few other students that had also arrived early.

After a delicious three course dinner, we all met up for our first session in the evening. This involved some map reading - but not just any maps, we were looking at geology, soil and drift maps as well as standard Ordnance Survey maps. We then walked into the grounds and took some soil samples using both dutch and screw augers, and practiced describing the soil profile and horizons using colour and texture to decide on a soil type. This involved mushing up soil in our fingers: needless to say I ended up with very muddy hands! These are skills that we will have to use on day three when we carry out an investigation that has to be written up for our next assignment.

It was after 9pm when we finished for the evening. Some of the other student have come from as far afield as Switzerland, Jersey and Ireland as well as from around the UK.  Mike that I met in Nicaragua is one of the tutors on the course.  There are twenty five students in total, with three tutors. Everyone seems very nice so far. I'm hoping the weather stays fine, or at least dry, as we will be outside for most of the next two days. I'm looking forward to the rest of the course.

Amphibian Surveying & Bottle Traps

Another successful trip out with NEW Yorks ARG last night, and a visit to a local outdoor centre to investigate their raised ponds and a more naturalised area. Arriving at 8pm, it was still light so we had a walk around the ponds looking for newt eggs.  We also put together and laid out some bottle traps.

A bottle trap is a simple device made out of a 2 litre drinks bottle and a bamboo cane. The top of the bottle is cut off and the cap removed. This is inverted into the rest of the bottle. A cane pierces the bottle, which has the dual purpose of holding the two parts together, and fixing the bottle into the bank or base of the pond. The bottle has to be set so that it is firmly fixed, the entrance is under water, and there is an air bubble in the bottom of the bottle.  It also has to be clearly marked (we used a 'flag' made from hazard tape on top of the cane) to ensure that all bottles are retrieved the following morning and any captured animals are released. For the same reason, its important to note how many bottle traps have been deployed and in which ponds. 

In practice, it was quite hard to get the angle of the bottle right, so that there was sufficient air in the bottle but this did not make it unstable and too floaty.  The bottle traps did capture some newts in the short time we were there though, so there will undoubtably be more in them when they are retrieved in the morning. The raised ponds had an artificially liner, so we had to be careful not be pierce the bottom of the pond and instead had to use the stone flags along the side to hold the bottle in place. The natural pond was quite shallow, so it was easier to stake into the bank rather than the bottom of the pond.

After retrieving torches from the car, armed with my new Clulite CB2 mega torch, we took a second sweep of the ponds to count the newts.  The raised ponds revealed numerous palmate newts - male, female and juvenile. The webbed feet and tail filament were obvious (even from the slightly dodgy underwater photo) and some were obviously pregnant females with swollen bellies.

There were also several alpine newts. The females were larger than the males and the palmates. They also had a blue-grey appearance from the top, and a bright orange underneath (our native newts are also orange underneath but have speckled bellies). The alpines are non-native and can spread chytrid disease - they were humanely removed and will take part in a university project.

In the natural pond, there were more tadpoles than in the raised ponds - both frog and toad. There were also unfortunately a number of dead toads in the water; there were no clear signs of predation, though their babies were starting to make use of the extra protein ...  We also saw several fleeting glimpses of great crested newts - at least half a dozen, with some juveniles. We were unable to catch one for a definite ID, but they were obviously larger than the palmates, and had a silver flash on the bottom of their tail.

A very successful ARG outing, with five amphibian species identified on the site.

Closer to home, my own pond is also thriving. My frog spawn has now hatched, and I have thousands of colourful tadpoles. We also have some newly laid frog spawn, a few weeks behind the initial batch - perhaps a more cautious adult frog unwilling to be caught out by a sudden cold spell like last year.

We have been blessed with good weather over the last few weeks. Last week I carried out a torch survey at my local nature reserve. I was disappointed with the number of toads: given there were hundreds there last year, we could count on one hand the number seen this year. Perhaps our timing was just a little late; we did see toad spawn though not much.  Though the weather was good, the water was very murky in places.  However, we did see a number of smooth newts in ponds that we hadn't seen them in last year, and there were some still making their way to the ponds (like this female).

Apart from amphibian surveys, I have also been getting involved in activities with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.  On Sunday, I ran a stall at the Wildlife Discovery Day at Roundhay Park in Leeds with another of our volunteers. We had information on invasive species for adults, and some fun invasive games for the kids, as well as some 'mini beast' invertebrates for 'pond' dipping using containers, which always goes down well. Unfortunately we had to fnish early as it got rather windy and the gazebo took off(!), but we had 325 visitors through the door so every little helps.

Yesterday I also took a trip out to look at the first invasive plant report received directly from a member of the public. The message is obviously starting to get out. I was able to confirm the sighting of American Skunk Cabbage. Luckily, it looks like a small and isolated incidence - the chap that reported it believes it was deliberately planted, and it does not appear to be spreading yet. It should be relatively easy to dig out, once I have figured out who owns the land and can get their permission to do so.

Torching at Gallow's Hill

Last night I took part in my first nocturnal pond survey, organised by the NEW Yorks ARG.  We met at Gallow's Hill nature reserve in Otley, a small but varied plot of land on the banks of the River Wharfe.

With the clocks changing and it being a beautiful clear day, it was still light when we arrived at 7:30pm so we had a stroll along the river bank looking for bats. We saw at least two different species: a large bat that looked as though it's wings were too short for its rather plump body (probably a Noctule), and a smaller, more flitty bat.  I think the West Yorkshire Bat Group are surveying in Otley next week, so there should be lots for them to see.

Although there were only two ponds, we spend over an hour and half slowly moving around the edge and shining our torch to see what we could see. Although my LED Lenser was initially complimented, it was woefully inadequate compared to the Clulite so I think I am going to have to make an investment in some new kit. We had a really successful session, counting over 160 toads (some in pairs and some alone), 20 smooth newts, horse leaches and water boatmen. There was also frog spawn and some newly hatched tadpoles, so it is obviously quite a healthy pond.

I took a few photos but only on my smart phone as I didn't think to take my camera - as a result they are a bit blurry and not worth posting - must be better prepared next time!  It was great to get out and do some proactive field work with like-minded individuals. I am looking forward to the next survey in a few weeks time.