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You won’t know until you try: taster weekends in the UK
Summary
Our taster weekend conservation projects are just what they say they are: weekends that will give you a unique insight into what it’s like to be in the field with Biosphere Expeditions assisting scientists with wildlife research and conservation. They are always set amongst the stunning scenery and wildlife of Britain’s National Parks where you will be part of a small team, alongside a park ranger and your expedition leader. You will discover expedition and wildlife research and conservation skills such as working with a map, GPS and compass, collecting important animal data, reading animal tracks and signs, using telemetry equipment and wildlife camera traps. You will also learn about the national park you are in, its fauna and flora, history and the conservation work going on inside.
DetailsEach taster weekend follows the same basic plan of creating a mini expedition. Just like on expedition there is an assembly point that you have to get to under your own steam (and where you will meet at 09.00 on Saturday morning) to start your taster weekend. And just like on expedition we’ll start with introductions, a safety talk and a brief overview of what’s to come. Below is a general outline of the weekend, but please remember that plans can change, for example due to the weather, and that you need to stay flexible and approach things with a sense of humour – just like on expedition. Saturday morning Introductions, safety talk, brief outline of the weekend ahead and the people and parties involved. Introduction to research techniques and equipment such as GPS, compass, map, hand-held radios, camera traps, radio telemetry equipment, data sheets and data collection techniques, recognising animal tracks and signs, etc. Coffee break and sandwich lunch at the hotel base. Saturday afternoon Into the field with your expedition leader and a park ranger/guide to practice the skills learned in the morning. You’ll be locating radio telemetry transmitters, setting up camera traps, doing a bit of navigating and learning how to recognise animal signs & tracks and record them just like a conservation scientist or a team member on expedition would. Your expedition leader will be your link to our expeditions, so if you find a fox track, for example, your expedition leader may use this as an opportunity to talk to you about wolf tracks on expedition and how to record and measure them. Your park ranger/guide will create local relevancy and teach you about the local flora & fauna, the National Park and its conservation work, history and other interesting historical and social facts. After our field walk we go back to our hotel base for a three-course dinner (vegetarians and other special diets can be catered for on request). Saturday evening
After dinner, there’ll be a couple of presentations. One on Biosphere Expeditions and all its expeditions and projects worldwide to wet your appetite; the other on the National Park. After this there’s time to chat, relax and socialise before turning in for the night. Our day starts with a hearty breakfast at the hotel base, where we will also receive our lunch packs. After a brief overview of the day, we go into the field again, this time to a different habitat, but not before we check the results of our camera trapping from the day before. In the field we continue to try out our newly acquired skills and learn more about the local wildlife and its conservation. Lunch will be in the field, just as it would be on a working day out on expedition. By the end of the weekend you should have a very good idea about the National Park and what being on expedition is like. We return to the hotel base at around 14.00 for a final coffee and farewells. On some weekends, there is an optional add-on of an hour or so to go for an off-road drive in the expedition Land Rover. On this drive, the expedition leader will show you what the vehicle can do and what kinds of skills you will need and be taught on expeditions that involve Land Rovers.
National Park locationsThe Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, lying mainly in northern Derbyshire, but also covering parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire and South and West Yorkshire.
Most of the area falls within the Peak District National Park, whose designation in 1951 made it the first national park in the British Isles. It is an area of great diversity and conventionally split into the northern Dark Peak, where most of the moorland is found and where the geology is gritstone, and the southern White Peak, where most of the population lives and where the geology is mainly limestone based. The New Forest is an area of southern England, which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and old-growth forest. The New Forest habitat covers south west Hampshire and some of south Wiltshire.
Like much of England, the New Forest was originally forested, but parts were cleared for cultivation from the Stone Age and into the Bronze Age. The New Forest was created as a royal forest in 1079 by William the Conqueror for the hunting of (mainly) deer. It was first recorded as "Nova Foresta" in the Domesday Book in 1086. The Broads are a network of mostly navigable rivers and lakes (known locally as broads) in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Broads are Britain's largest protected wetland and third largest inland waterway, with the status of a national park. The area is also home to some of the rarest plants and animals in the UK. The Broads Authority was set up in 1989, with responsibility for conservation, planning, recreation and waterways. For many years broads were regarded as natural features of the landscape. It was only in the 1960s that Dr Joyce Lambert showed that they were artificial features, the effect of flooding on early peat excavations. The Romans first exploited the rich peat beds of the area for fuel, and in the Middle Ages the local monasteries began to excavate the "turbaries" (peat diggings) as a business, selling fuel to Norwich and Great Yarmouth. Then the sea levels began to rise, and the pits began to flood. Despite the construction of wind pumps and dykes, the flooding continued and resulted in the typical broads landscape of today, with its reed beds, grazing marshes and wet woodlands.
Maps
Pictures
BriefingThe taster weekend briefing contains detailed information on all our weekends. Briefings are provided as pdf documents and you must provide a name, country of residence and valid e-mail address to be able to download one. You can access briefings via the Download Centre.
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