Resource management field trip

We went to the Wildlife Trust's Warburg Reserve, near Reading, about an hour and a half's coach drive away NW of London.

Grasslands, shrublands, and woodlands. I guess that's it. Brown... brown... everywhere you look, it's either yellowish-green or brown... and there's lots of poo. Sheep dung, pony dung, rabbit scat. Couldn't help not stepping into any... reminded me of the 1st-year field course at Shropshire, 'cept that thank goodness, this time, hiking boots replaced the loathed Wellies.

We followed the chief warden as he brought us around the 107-hectare reserve. In the initial drizzle we jotted down notes - with smudging ink - about their on-site habitat management practices, how the sheep and ponies were used for land grazing, how the deer and goats kept shrubs in check, how grey squirrels competed with dormice for hazelnuts, and basically a whole lot of the general management of the reserve - when the needs of public access and participation may well conflict with the aims of conservation.

Temperate habitats are boring and they seem so empty and cold. I guess I'm too used to the high diversity of flora and fauna found in the tropics. Did what I loved... photography in the outdoors. Kept me happy for a while, even though the subjects where kinda drab. I love the outdoors... I love the wilderness, where not a single manmade structure can be found in sight.

Wildlife-wise... it's not that impressive. A few lacewings, some midgety flies, an orb-web spider, a few red kites and pheasants (a lifer!), and the normal garden birds.

I admire the enthusiasm and strength of my course convenor. She's ~5 months expecting, and yet she tackles the uphill treks and the uneven slopes with as much zest as the rest of the undergrads (if not more).


About to cross the massive plains of grassland


Sheep... a management tool :P


Typical lowland woodland habitat


Moss... about the only green thing to be seen

posted by Husky @ 3/10/2005 11:57:00 PM  |