Applied Ecology, my second year

My second year started off slowly. Most of our time out was taken up with visits to the Eden Project, this was because we had been given the job of mapping the trees for our GIS module. In the first few months one member of our course dropped out and one already was repeating the first year so we were down to 6 in our class. We were split into groups of two and one of three to each map a different biome, but with one person leaving we ended up with two groups of three. I was mapping the tropical biome while the other group mapped the outside biome. After a few visits to get our volunteer badges and learn the rules/health and safety, we were allowed to go off and map 50 trees. As this module was only half a year it was a struggle to fit learning new software and trips to Eden in so they gave us an extension for the report. But I really enjoyed this module and loved learning the software, as I found it so useful I added basic GIS maps to most of my assignments in the second year.

Before Christmas we had little to hand in, which unfortunately meant we had a lot to do at the end of the year. We did get to put up nest boxes for Dormice on Goss moor and also go fungus hunting in some orchards with fungus experts. Apart from that most of our lessons were in the classroom. I think we had better modules this year, as well as GIS we were learning about mammals, invertebrates and consultancy. The consultancy module included learning about current legislation, EIA, how to do phase one habitat surveys, contaminated land and invasive species. In invertebrates we also learnt about invasive species such as the killer shrimp and the zebra mussel, we also concentrated on taxonomy, Hexapoda and Evidence based learning. For Mammals we learnt the ecology for mammals in the UK including bats, dormice, badgers and other small mammals. 

After Christmas we continued our trips to Eden until February. With our invertebrate module we went out and practiced making pitfall traps and doing blanket searches. After half term we finished our GIS module and started two more, Genetics and Reptiles and Amphibians. For genetics we were in a class with another group, they had some knowledge of genetics as they had covered it in the first year but we had not so were a little behind. I spent time learning basic genetics in my own time. We covered quite a lot in this module including mitosis and meiosis, DNA replication, molecular tools, monohybrid crosses and genetic drift and gene flow. We got to practice separating DNA, PCR and gel electrophoresis, which we then wrote up for our assignment. I found these skills very useful, especially molecular tools, now when reading reports I can understand how they came to their conclusions and what tools they used to do this. I think they are now looking to add genetics to the first year which would help greatly. 

Within our college they are running a group, funded by DEFRA called SINNG (Student invasive non-native group). They are working to increase action and awareness on INNS (Invasive Non-Native Species) and reduce the impacts INNS are currently having on native wildlife. Action includes practical fieldwork, research, public engagement and raising awareness. 

http://www.sinng.org.uk/

As this group is based at college and Invasives are being looked at more, many of our modules included them. This could be seen the most in our Reptiles and Amphibians module. Our first trip out with this module was to look at Alpine Newts, an invasive species only just found in Cornwall. Despite only just been identified they have probably been here since at least the 1980s. This was ideal for us as we got to go on many trips and practice our Amphibian search skills. We got to practice netting in garden ponds, bottle trapping in bigger ponds and torch light surveys at the college pond (although there are no Alpine Newts in there).  I found this very interesting and it increased my interest for Amphibians, so much so I have been looking to help carry on this project on Alpine Newts into my third year. We also got a chance to carry out a survey on an area for Great crested Newt, although we do not have any in Cornwall I would now be able to go and survey elsewhere in the country for them. For the reptiles side of this module we learnt how to identify different species and different sexes, we also learnt survey techniques and were able to add refugia to the college grounds.

Carrying on with our yearlong modules we got to go back to Goss moor to check the Dormice boxes we had put up in October. We did not find any Dormice but did find the box we had put up in the Gorse in the middle of the field was being used by Dormice. Most of the other boxes were being used by field mice and we did find two of them in a box. We also got to put out Longworth traps on the college grounds, here we found many field mice too. We visited Camborne to look at a badger den visited beavers and also went to Perranarworthal to do bat detecting. For invertebrates we went to Bude to look for Zebra mussels along the canal and work out the best method for finding abundance and then removal would be. 

Beaver

Overall I feel this year I have learnt much more than the first year. We have spent our time learning practical survey techniques as well as the legislation that goes with it. It’s a shame that the year feels so short as I would love to carry on with these modules covered this year. 

My second year modules are;

Invertebrate Ecology and Survey

Survey and Management of Mammals

Genetics for Conservation

Habitat Survey & GIS

Conservation & Consultancy in Practice

Reptile & Amphibian Ecology & Surveying

Individual Research Project

Summer work placements

In the summer of 2011 I managed to find myself two work placements which would go towards my 100 hours needed for my foundation degree. The first was two weeks with the North Devon Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) based in Bideford, Devon. The second was working with the National Trust Rangers in Bude over the summer.

The Office

The NDBR is a UNESCO biosphere reserve, the first of its kind in the UK. Its main roles include maintaining coastal paths and the Tarka trail, educating the public through volunteer days, working with the public to improve the local area and celebrate local culture, help revive biodiversity and to work on climate change issues, locally and worldwide.

In my time spent here I learnt how to identify plants, surveying techniques, working with and managing the public, designing posters, displays and map reading. The surveying included Rhinanthus minor (Yellow rattle) and Crocosmia (Montbretia). Yellow rattle has been tried out in hedges along the Tarka trail and in Northam as a growth control as local councils have cut the amount of times the hedges are cut from 18 a year to 2. Montbretia was surveyed at Spekes in Hartland and is being surveyed over a 5 year period (2011 is the 4^th year) to see how much it is spreading. At the end of the 5 years the information collected will be evaluated to find the best method to remove or if it needs removing at all. I also got to help work on their Biodiversity Action plan, take photos of Braunton Borrows for a magazine article, make public information posters on recent coppicing along the Tarka trail and talk to Bideford College about putting up Apus apus (Common Swift) boxes.

Crocosmia (Montbretia) at Spekes

With another volunteer I also got to help organise and take part in a Balsam bashing day, set up to help clear some of the Impatiens glandulifera (Himalayan balsam) along the Tarka trail. Impatiens glandulifera (Himalayan balsam), is originally from the Himalayas, between Kashmir and Garwhal, also known as Indian balsam and Policeman's helmet, among others. It has since been introduced and become widespread in Northern and central Europe, temperate North America and New Zealand, which shows Himalayan balsam can adapt to different climate conditions from its native home. In 1987 it was ranked one of the top twenty invasive species in the UK.  The plant was brought to the UK in 1839 for ornamental planting in gardens, so is not a native plant and the collapse of many rural estates introduced it from gardens and into the wild. Himalayan balsam is an annual plant and is known to grow to around 2.5 metres which shades out other flora and can reduce their germination. It grows very fast and is generally found on riverbanks although it has also been seen elsewhere such as waste lands. Studies have shown it can reduce species richness within an area by 25%. 

Pulling Himalayan balsam

Working with Himalayan balsam was very interesting and this helped me decide on my second year project. My time spent with NDBR was very educational. I felt I learnt how work is really undertaken when in the work place and I would be expected to work if I got a job in this field. It has made me more interested in plants, especially non-native plants, after my work surveying them. I also got to continue work for the NDBR over the summer by helping out with a beach clean they had organised and again visiting Spekes to survey the Montbretia when it had started to flower.

Braunton Burrows

My second work experience was with the National Trust. This work involved more maintenance instead of surveys. The work included beach cleans, repairing fences, painting, putting up and taking down fences for events, making bird boxes, recycling and building a dry stone wall. I stayed at the National Trust from July to the beginning of September, just before my course restarted. 

Dry stone wall

I tried to pick to different work placements so I could gain different skills and have a clearer idea of what it is I could or want to do when my degree is finished. 

Applied Ecology degree, my first year

Having spent many years working in an office I decided I wanted to do something more worthwhile and take on a challenge. I have always been an outdoors person, growing up in Cornwall and have always been interested in the wildlife around me. I decided to do a foundation degree in Ecology as I felt it would be relevant to our changing environment.  I decided to stay in Cornwall to do my foundation degree and Newquay offered a very practical degree which I felt I would be better suited to, and after spending years in an office I was looking forward to getting out and about more.

I started the course in September 2010.  The first year of my course concentrated on learning about the Cornish countryside and the processes that have changed it such as mining. We also got too learn about different habitats and communities that make the environment that our wildlife lives in and also bird survey techniques. As well as the practical side we learnt how to collect data and then how to present it in a professional manner as scientific reports. This included doing a timed count of Birds along the Hayle Estuary, surveying hedgerows in Perranarworthal and recording ancient trees with the Woodland Trust in Colan Woods. We learnt how to decipher this data and use it correctly to make conclusions for our reports. 

Colan Woods, Newquay

Other techniques we got to practice included kick sampling and netting for invertebrates in rivers as well as scrub clearance to help improve a site for Marsh Fritillaries and building Cornish hedges. In the classroom we got to practice putting our data into the Shannon Weiner and Sampson Indexes to find the diversity of the college grounds as well as how to use taxonomic keys to identify slugs and plants. Field trips included those to Kennel Vale Woods, Perranporth, St Agnes, Marazion, Golitha Falls, Falmouth and the River Gannel in Newquay. We had lessons on diversity, classification and evolution as well as an introduction to the basics of Ecology. These have proved handy when explaining certain aspects in reports or to people. We also got to write two management plans, one on the primary school pond at Perranarworthal and one on a species chosen for each group; we got the Southern Marsh Orchid.  

My tutor, laying on our new Cornish Hedge

As this was the first year the College had run this Degree there were many hiccups along the way. Some lessons and trips had to be missed of as we run out of time which I have heard they have since corrected. Unfortunately we missed out on mammal trapping, phase one habitat surveying and learning statistics amongst other things in the first year which was a shame. As our group was small (only 8 students) and it was the first year of the course we were not able to choose between the two options (global or consultancy) for our second year, we all had to do the consultancy route. At the end of the first year if I had a choice I think I would have chosen the global route, but now I am not sure.

My modules for the first year were;

·         Ecology of Aquatic Systems

·         Birds of the Western Paleartic

·         Personal & Employability Skills 

·         Development

·         History of the British Countryside

·         Habitats and Communities

·         Diversity, Classification & Evolution

·         Environmental Enterprises

·         Introduction to Ecology

·         Fieldwork

Searching for Dog Whelks at Fistral

Newquay aquarium

Out in the snow

Burning Gorse

Pond management

Cornwall