Slapton Field Course - Student View

Field course attendee Jodie Thompson on the fieldcourse from a student perspective:

"As a student who has already visited the Slapton Ley Field Centre as part of A-Level Biology, this second trip has by far surpassed the first. The activities we participated in were much more fun than say looking at the effects of trampling on plants. I never quite realised how many species of birds looked extremely similar so identifying them was somewhat difficult, especially if they were flying away really fast! Invertebrates were also not so easy to always identify as sometimes we could only go as far as the order name. The weather for the most part stayed either sunny or overcast so that certainly raised our spirits out in the field! Although admittedly going to Down Farm on the first day dampened our high spirits due to the bitter cold, our hands almost felt like they had been frostbitten! I’ll never say my hands are cold in such vain again... Some of my highlights of the field course were visiting Prawle, the woodland area, going bat watching, constant pranks in the Mercer Ground Floor corridor due to no lecturers being present [responsible adults and all that - Ed.] and most importantly getting to know my course mates a lot better. I think we’ve become a much closer stage group through this trip and that’s definitely a positive. If future students read this, you should look forward to the trip but definitely be prepared in terms of different weather conditions and as Sarah says, “bring a sense of humour with you!”

Fundamentals of Ecology Days 3 and 4

The last two field days were spent around Slapton Ley itself looking at the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on the fauna. The Ley is a really good place to study this as at one end, there is the town of Torcross where Ducks are fed and used to people while the other end is closed to all except for a handful of researchers. Likewise, some of the woodland is open access while other parts are closed. This allowed us to look at how the fauna both reacts to people and at the distribution of mammal, birds and invertebrates around these contrasting environments. The final day consisted of group presentations on an aspect of the field course and the identification spot test before returning to Plymouth!

Feeding the ducks at Torcross



Identifying Invertebrates




Partial group photo



The Ley

Scanning the Ley



The sun came out at least!




The group at the field centre




Tufted Duck on the Ley

  (all photos copyright of Jodie Thompson)

Fundamentals of Ecology lab work

The FSC centre here at Slapton allows us to use their classrooms for some "lab" work when we come back from the field. Students are able to collate and analyse data and use the microscopes to identify invertebrates. It also allows the staff to give briefing and debriefing sessions.

Fundamentals of Ecology Day 2

The second rotation of the first two days was a visit to Down Farm on Start Point. This farm is managed under Higher Level Stewardship for wildlife by Richard Voss. The students looked around the farm and saw the methods being used to make it more wildlife friendly, sampled for invertebrates and met some of the animals.

Rob Parkinson extolling the virtues of good old fashioned manure management for farming and wildlife (again!). (The author of these notes is trying very hard not to write "Rob talking crap again")

Invertebrate sampling - are there any bugs brave enough to put their heads above ground on another cold, misty and windy day. Students also looked whether there were more invertebrates in rough grassland than arable fields.

Long walk back up the valley to the farm for lunch

 Meeting the residents of Down Farm (on the right......). They were friendly!

A well deserved lunch in the barns

The other half of the group was at Prawle looking at the Cirl Buntings which allowed for more gratuitous Oil Beetle shots!

Not so nice was this Guillemot that seems to have some problems with its feathers, possibly due to the polyisobutene spill that is affecting Guillemots in Devon and Cornwall. Incidentally, it was the Environmental Research Centre at Plymouth that first identified this compound as the cause.

Each evening, after the excellent dinner provided by the centre,  small groups of students are going on Bat Walks looking at two roosts locally and using bat detectors to detect feeding bats on the Ley.

Fundamentals of Ecology Day 1

Half of the group went down to Prawle point in south Devon early this morning to look at the habitat and try and see why it is particularly good for Cirl Buntings.

Cirl Bunting

Not the worst place in the world for fieldwork!

Part of what we wanted to do was to look at invertebrates and their abundance in the areas good for the Buntings. That required some invertebrate surveying techniques like sitting in Gorse bushes!

One of the more impressive things we found was the Oil Beetle Meloe proscarabeus, quite common on the south Devon coast.

Meloe proscarabeus

Admiring the Oil Beetle

Fundamentals of Ecology Fieldcourse

By the wonders of modern technology it seems I can now send blog posts from my phone. Currently on the bus with our first year Animal Behaviour and Welfare students on the way to Slapton Ley. We are there all week staying at the FSC field centre and taking advantage of local sites like Slapton Ley itself, nearby farmland and the excellent Prawle Point. There will be lots of different aspects of ecology that we will be covering and if there is reasonable Internet access, I hope to update the blog daily so people can see the types of things we are up to. Might even manage some pictures.

Hoping for some better weather than this!

Never work with children or animals

by Ashleigh Kent-Stallwood

On the Roadshow with the Green Schools Bus

I don’t know what I want to do after graduation. So I saw my placement year as an opportunity to discover a possible career path, or at least to cross one off the list. I stumbled across environmental education which led me to working with Groundwork. Groundwork began in 1980 as a government-backed experiment, initiated by the Countryside Commission, which aimed to find new ways of improving the environment on the edge of industrial towns and cities. Groundwork is now a federation of 48 locally owned Groundwork Trusts in England, Wales and Northern Island, working with over 100 local authorities between them to deliver solutions faced by the most deprived communities. Since September I have been working as a voluntary intern for Groundwork South, the local Groundwork Trust for West London, Heathrow and the Thames Valley area.

Nine Months “Rangering”

Orley Common limestone grassland.

I recently completed a 9 month position with Teignbridge District Council in south Devon working as a countryside ranger. This was a fantastic opportunity for me to undertake as it is the career path I intend to go into once I graduate. It allowed me to really get a feel for not only the day to day responsibilities of the position but also for how the work changes during the seasons.

Teignbridge currently have 28 different nature reserves covering a large area of south Devon, these reserves feature a huge range of habitat types including, woodland, limestone grassland, heathland, reed bed, scrubland and wet grasslands featuring fens. There are few other placements where you get the opportunity to work on such as wide range of different habitat types!

While with Teignbridge I was able to take part in a hugely diverse range of projects including but not limited to:

Warren Copse woodland.

• Dormouse box surveys at Orley common
• Heathland habitat management removing encroaching scrub and felling invasive conifers at Ideford common
• Woodland thinning and coppicing at a number of sites
• Cutting and maintaing fire breaks on the heathland sites
• Swailing heathland as a management tool
• Using “green wood work” skills to create site furniture such as gates and styles from felled timber to be put back onto the sites
• Installing fencing, gateways and vehicle barriers to protect the reserves
• Creating boardwalk “bridges” to allow visitor access in wet weather conditions
• Digging a tidal water channel at Jetty marsh nature reserve to encourage a range of wildlife species
• Restoring a dry stone wall at Churchills local nature reserve
• Precipitating in planning and running a grazing programme at Churchills local nature reserve to promote Wild flower and Invertebrate biodiversity
• Woodland glade formation at Warren copse wood to increase ground flora diversity
• Further scrub control this time on limestone grassland at the iconic Orley common site
• Working with volunteer groups to further our public relations and to educate about the green spaces serviced by the Green spaces rangers

These are only a few of the many tasks that I took part in while on placement but they are some of the more memorable, as with any job you have your day to day essentials such as path way maintenance, Grass cutting, vehicle maintenance, bird feeder refilling, Chainsaw sharpening, litter picking and site safety checks (especially after big storms!).

Green wood bike trap.

Dry stone wall at Churchills.

Splitting logs in the "round".

Initially I was only scheduled to have a 3 month placement with Teignbridge however when these three months were nearly up I was offered an additional 6 months work and a training budget of £1000. The next 6 months were a lot more intensive with me getting many more responsibilities and tasks, but at the same time this comes with a new level of respect and trust from your co-workers as it becomes evident that you can handle the work given to you. As mentioned earlier I also had access to a training budget which I chose to use for the following:

• NPTC chainsaw (CS30 and CS31)
• Lantra Brush cutter operations
• Emergency first aid at work

These are probably the most essential “tickets” you can get a hold of if you are considering a career in habitat management and they are the minimum ones that employers will look for you to have. Also if taking part in any winter management (Sept – Feb) you will need to be competent on chainsaws and brush cutters as you will be in the middle of felling season.

Swailing at Little Haldon heath.

Being from an agricultural family and working part time in horticulture certainly allowed me to hit the ground running in this placement as you really do need to have an already healthy set of practical skills to take full advantage of opportunities offered on a practically based placement such as this. Also the ability to think for yourself and effectively budget your time is essential as you will be expected to carry out lone working tasks and navigate your way around the different sites, consequently you must have a full driving license and a decent amount of road sense, the off road sense can be picked up at a later date!

In conclusion this was an amazing placement, yes there were days when you go home completely knackered, broken and soaked to the bone (in sweat or rain!) but if you love your countryside and really want to be on the front line doing something to protect and safeguard it then this could well be job for you, I know it’s the direction I'm heading in!

A snowy Ideford Common!

ViP Green Team volunteers needed

ViP Green Team have two tasks coming up on Saturday 16th March and Wednesday 20th March.

For Saturday 16th March we will be joining some volunteers from Exeter Uni at Houndtor Woods for a project with Natural England. The task is to clear and burn some brash, plant some hazel whips and fence a series of 20m² enclosures in a conifer plantation, as an experiment to discover the best way of bringing back the natural deciduous woodland.

The ground is quite rough and steep so you'll need sturdy shoes and old clothes. Don't forget your packed lunch, a MUG for hot drinks and waterproofs!!

We will be leaving the Hive at 09.45, arriving back at Uni at 16.30

For Wednesday 20th March we will be working with the Wildlife Hit Squad at Bovey Heathfield. The task will involve scrub clearance for important heathland wildlife such as Dormice, Fritillary Butterflies and Birds of Prey.

Sturdy shoes and waterproofs are recommended and also a packed lunch and a MUG for tea and coffee that I will provide.

We will be leaving the Hive at 09.30, arriving back at Uni at 16.00

There will be separate sign-up sheets for each event in the Hive situated within the SU and you are welcome to sign-up for either project or both if studies allow you the time!!

If you have any questions regarding the events please contact the volunteer team in the Hive (volunteer@su.plymouth.ac.uk).

I look forward to seeing some of you there,

Cheers,

Simon Stringer and Alice Hedges (Green Team Project Leaders)