My Placement at Wilderness Foundation UK

By Douwe Vegter
Day 1 – 21/7/14
Introduction
My name is Douwe Lee and I am an undergraduate at Bournemouth University. I have been given the task of completing a 5 week placement at a facility of my choice, I have decided that the wilderness foundation uk would be best suited to my course in ecology and wildlife conservation and will allow me to build a foundation of knowledge necessary in order to further my studies as I continue onto my 2nd year. During my placement, I will be taking part in a variety of surveys such as the NVC woodland survey, small rodent trapping and butterfly surveys. I will also be working on analysing the data I obtain such as comparing the relationship of the wildlife in the area to the habitats in which they live.
The project in which these surveys fall in to in called the Chatham Green Project which roughly covers an area of 400ha of Hyde Hall Farm, owned and managed by Strutt & Parker Farms Ltd. The farm is under HLS (higher level stewardship with numerous environmental enhancements. Habitats present include meadows, grassland, woodland, ditches, streams, ponds, wildflowers and hedgerows, in other words the area contains a high biodiversity which benefits my overall project. It will also be interesting to see how the foundation and the farmers around the area work together in order to preserve/manage the land.
I have read up on what the foundation hopes to achieve and they have kindly allowed me to aid them in completing objectives necessary in order to expand and manage the foundation and the project as a whole. Their main aim of the surveys is in order to provide not only an educational resource for student who wish to further their studies but also to schools and any other visitors by providing a necessary knowledge base which links in with an area of study but also giving the community and schools an idea of how the farming industry and wildlife conservation interlink with each other and to show the importance of understanding how habitats and wildlife depletes and expands and in the long run what can be done in order to improve whatever the situation may be.
I began my day by being given a general tour of the area and where the surveys will be conducted which gave me a general understanding of the foundations goals and how the area can expand and improve within the next few years. I have been given the opportunity not only write a blog about my experiences within the foundation but also aid the foundation in terms of advertisement, record keeping, data analysis and logging everything that is recorded in the area which in turn is useful experience that I can apply in my future studies and career.
Day 2 – 22/7/14
Today we conducted a survey of both the canopy and ground floor in order to identify the NVC code (National Vegetation Classification) so that we are able to get a general idea of what type of woodland that is situated in the surrounding area of the wilderness foundation. Firstly we took a measurement of the area of the woodland in order to survey sections, making it easier to take down what we see in each section then putting it together into the same chart without making mistakes.
We recorded the type of vegetation in the canopy which mostly consisted of mature trees such as ash, hazel, hornbeam, oak and others as displayed in figure a. In order to acquire the NVC code it is necessary to note down the varied species diversity and tally the total amount, from this we are able to note the percentage coverage. We then went on to apply the same procedure to the ground flora which consisted mostly of a variety of ivy, plantain, nettles and others shown in figure b.
After we had recorded the woodland survey we began setting up small mammal traps so that we could have a general idea of species abundance and distribution, in order to do this we set up 50x50m bamboo canes set up 10m apart in order to obtain comparable results and due to the fact that small mammals occupy small areas and distribute themselves apart so that they can forage for as much food and shelter as possible without being disrupted by others. We then placed bait in the traps to entice the mammal into the trap and placed hay inside as a substrate so that the mammal is comfortable in order to reduce stress and to prevent pain and injury at 8:30pm we set 2 traps at every 10m point and went back at 4:30am due to the fact that we are in the middle of summer and do not want the mammals to overheat out of the 50 traps set we captured 5 voles and 1 pygmy shrew.
Woodland survey (NVC record):
Canopy Survey:
Site and vegetation description:
The area consists mainly of Mixed deciduous woodland and has an area of 120x50m which is Relatively species rich although contains Limited under story there are a couple of areas for recreation as 30% area covered in dead woodland which makes it easy to manoeuvre around the woodland, 80% of the area is covered in upper canopy and some parts of the woodland is structured with a London clay formation.
Location: Little Woods Woodland Survey. Region: Essex
Grid reference: 716 160 Altitude: 57m

Figure b.

Ground Flora

Figure c.
Day 3 – 23/7/14
Today we began by resetting the small mammal traps to ensure they are prepared for later in the day, we then went out across Whitbread’s Farm Lane, around to the neighbouring farm and around the meadow behind the centre and along Hyde Hall Lane in order to conduct a butterfly survey which was very dependent on the weather although due to the low wind speed and sun, this wasn’t a problem. We surveyed the area in 9 sections as there are a selection of different habitats which include hedgerow, plantation, woodland, wheat fields and country lane, this is so that we could get a general view what type of butterfly are located in these areas and the quantity.
As you can see in figure c. Gatekeeper, Meadow brown and Peacock species dominate most of the surrounding area although not in sections 2 and 7, this is mainly due to the location as there is not as big a variety of wildflowers surrounding these area as there are in areas such as the pollen/nectar mix field and they can mostly be located in grassland areas. During the end of my day I continued on with small mammal trapping as we will carry on the process for another 2 weeks, we applied the same process and as you can see from figure d. we were very successful in terms of trapping voles although we are still yet to catch any mice, this may be due to the amount of competition created by both field and bank voles in the surrounding area.
Temp: 26 Butterfly Survey Date: 23/7/14 Wind Speed/Direction: 3/5 ENE
Species: Section 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Small Skipper 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Small/Essex skipper 0 0 3 2 0 2 0 0 0
Large white 0 0 0 1 0 2 5 1 0
Red admiral 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Peacock 5 0 3 10 0 0 0 0 0
Ringlet 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Painted lady 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Small white 0 0 1 2 1 0 1 4 2
Meadow Brown 6 1 3 9 11 7 1 4 3
Gatekeeper 3 0 3 6 8 2 2 9 17
Figure d.
Day 4 – 24/7/14
I Began by day by taking down the data of the small animal trapping as previously conducted earlier this morning, I then went on to record the data on an excel spreadsheet by which making it easier for both myself and the reader to understand the data, tis was also achieved via the table displayed as figure e. After I had completed the data for the small mammal traps I then went on to apply the same procedure with the butterfly and NVC woodland survey as displayed in fugues b, c and d.
A record of the overall surveys that are done over the year are kept in order to obtain comparable results, this is due to the fact that to be able to improve the welfare for the wildlife in the surrounding area we need to know whether or not the habitat I which they live is being hindered due to noise pollution, invasive species and other contributing factors such as the use of pesticides and this then allows us to discuss preventative procedures that can be put in place. I have been given the task to proceed on making a record book including the surveys that I have taken part in so far and also to include an introduction as to why the surveys are important in terms of conservation, welfare and education and I must also write down the method in which these surveys are done, this gives the general public an understanding of what the foundation is trying to achieve and due to the fact that it is a foundation that is funded via charity, it is important that the generous donators have an understanding of what their donation is going towards.
Within the next few weeks I will be carrying on with my blog and keeping up to date with the on goings of my experience at the wilderness foundation, not only does this contribute to the foundation itself but also my university assignment and in order for me to compete this assignment to the best of my ability not only is the foundation helping me make the most of my experience here but they are opening me up to a variety of different survey options so that I am able to get a better grasp of surveying in order to proceed successfully into my second year.
Study Area: Top Meadow Small Mammal Trapping Time: 4:30/5:00

Figure e.
Day 5 – 25/7/14
Today I began by proceeding with my blog in order to keep up to date with this week’s findings. Volunteers are a very important part the wilderness foundation organisation as they help in terms of advertisement, education and as general help when it comes to field work and In order for volunteers, staff and students to survey the surrounding area which may contain dormouse tubes we need to be able to access certain areas such as the hedgerows and small ponds therefore one of my tasks today was to clear the vegetation that is obstructing these areas in order for us to obtain the data we need. The organisation also allows schools to come in and learn about the relationship between agriculture and conservation and help give a basic understanding of why organisations like the W.F UK are important to conserving our wildlife and their habitats. To be able to give volunteers an understanding of what we collect and to help them make the most of the opportunities provided it is necessary to have the appropriate equipment to do so and today I was given the task to search for new equipment so that we can create more surveys not only for the benefit of the foundation and their conservation motives but again for the educational benefits of the volunteers and schools.
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