Sixth Form biology students spent the first weekend of Spring in the rural setting of Orielton in the Welsh countryside. Arriving in Orielton in good time they braved the weather to explore the 100 acre woodland surrounding the estate. Over the weekend time was spent on ecological sampling techniques on the sand dunes at Freshwater West and on the rocky shore of Sawdern Point.

The groups were exposed to modern ecological field work techniques that included the use of point quadrats along with novel techniques such as the use of iPads to record GPS coordinates of sample sites and to record and annotate pictures of specimens for further analysis back in the classroom.

On the final day the students put into practice everything they had been taught in order to complete their assessed practical tasks. The days were long and the Welsh weather was challenging, with sunshine, rain, bitter northerly winds and hail all in the course of one day. However, the students persevered to collect their results and at one point, with the tide rapidly moving up the shore, even had their hands in the very cold seawater in order to identify all of the organisms within their quadrats.

Well done to all students involved!