As events and research slowed down before Christmas, I got to work focusing on content for the website and a short piece for the latest edition of Gamewise. I have also started to evaluate and organise the rest of my time on placement in the new year. Despite the start of this winter’s stormy weather, I still managed to venture from my home office to meet with my team to understand and talk about the research by Prof Mariecia Fraser on Pwllpeiran farm, as well as to record and ring woodcock found across the Llyn Peninsula.
Pwllpeiran research farm
Before arriving at the site, I researched into the types of experiments I can expect to hear more about at Pwllpeiran. It seemed there was a wide variety of projects, from DNA barcoding grassland vegetation to the impacts of introducing different grazing species to pastures.
Me and the team had further clarification on the projects from talking to Prof Mariecia Fraser, as well as a tour of the full landscape and the animals. It was exciting to hear about the projects in more detail and the context of the importance of the work. I enjoyed hearing about the mixed grazing systems in particular, and how alternatives to sheep and cattle effect abundance of worms and vegetation structure on the pasture land. Because of the decline of cattle rearing across the UK, alternatives such as alpacas and goats have been involved in experiments investigating how they graze in comparison and whether these species are more economical and better for the environment.
The team also discussed the potential for future collaboration work that would crossover with our existing research in farmland and bird ecology and conservation.
Woodcock ringing
Thanks to the help of Lee Oliver, Andrew Hoodless and Bleddyn Thomas, I managed to get the full beginners lowdown on ringing woodcocks. I spectated and helped take records of each bird caught to later summit to the BTO. This data contributes to a wider database that can help to track bird movement and demographic data, like age, group and size.
The most surprising bird we found already had a ring with ‘MOSKWA’ scribed on it, inferring this woodcock had migrated from Russia!
During the day when waiting to ring woodcock, Kaylee and I brushed-up on our photography skills across the coast and wetlands, where we found a great biodiversity of birds to practice on.
