Dogged Pitfalls

Monday has come and I am nowhere nearer the completion of my report. But not to fret - for I am not alone. At least I am not data-less or needing an extension, but neither am I as great a freak as the likes of Xi. 

The Leather group had our last meeting this morning. The Refectory was crowded… much more crowded than other mornings. Dr Collins was there with her most adorable daughter Edith (oh, that cute chubby bubbly baby!), who crawled on all fours on the floor and took a liking to bottle caps.

Tucking into our free breakfast, courtesy of Leather, we started off with a review of the World Cup matches - Leather showing the same enthusiasm he has for football as he has for aphids - and talks slowly moved towards the topics of women giving birth, Leather's African nanny and ripe banannas, and our plans for summer. It took a while before we finally discussed our projects. An oldish dude joined in, introduced himself as Mike and by Leather as "the Dean". I did a little search when I returned… he's Prof Mike Hassell - an FRS and a "Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to Population Ecology", the Dean of Silwood, the Principal of my faculty, and appointed by the Prime Minister as a Trustee to the Board of the Natural History Museum. All pretty cool! 

At lunchtime I got to meet all my favourite people. Ian has become much friendlier and has gotten back onto my goodlist, but I am still buggered by the fact that the only few lines of dialogue Timmy (*cough* that's Dr Barraclough to you) and I have exchanged all this time in Silwood were along the lines of "how are you?" and "I'm good" and bashful smiles. So much so for a personal tutor. I think I should at least tell him that I got an offer for Env Tech, and unleash unto him my gratitude for him having written me a dashing reference! I bumped into Mick Crawley twice. He's my viva assessor, but I doubt if he recognises me since we hardly get him for lectures and the last time he taught was for invasive species during Applied Eco. As for my 2nd marker, Dr Reader, I've no idea who she is, other than she was the lady who got me my detergent-baits at the start of my project. Oh, 'Research Officer' it says on the Imperial bio pages. Forest Entomology. 

I am itching all over. Xi and I went for a midnight shooting session in the woods last night, braving midges and mites for a chance to get star trails. We managed a 15-min exposure before the clouds came, but since we weren't pointing north, and I didn't have a tripod, the outcome was less than a-okay. 

I've packed up my things in the field lab and wiped my presence clean from the Leather lab. Nobody will know that I've been in the woods save for the rabbits near my plots. I'm ready to leave. Tomorrow. 

Comments(0)

The computers and printers were down since last night; was supposed to pass Leather my intro and proto discussions but none of the computers would allow us to log on. We called the IT office, nobody answered, so we got the South Ken IT office, and they then rang up our Silwood IT office… and so on… 

Sigh… 

Hester's traps got messed up too. She says she's seen the jackdaws at them. Ahh… makes sense. I have seen the crows on the floor of the woods - but it just didn't cross my mind that they'd want to go for my detergent-baited cups! Leather says it's perfectly fine that I've absolutely no data from this week - it's something that we can't control and like the problem with the computers, we should never get stressed over things we have no say over. Haha. And apparently, 8000 words for our final report is "just cruel", says he, "6[000] would do." Gotta love the Silwood Way.

Got back to my room after the morning meet-up, received a call from Soph and I had to scramble in 10 minutes. She was leaving Silwood now(!) and I was totally unpacked. So much for preparing to leave Silwood for good. There are too many things to pack and paperwork (and keys) to settle before saying goodbye to the rabbits. Plus, Leather wants a meeting-cum-party next Monday so I gotta be back. 

Comments(1)

All the pitfall traps I've come across in my wanderings around the grounds have been upturned, and they're usually by rabbit warrens. I remain convinced that this is all the rabbits' doing! I shall complain to Leather at tomorrow's coffee session.

A couple of the tadpoles have sprouted their forelegs overnight. They're looking quite like little aquatic aliens. 

I made my first trip from Silwood Park to the rail station on foot, a good ~3.2km each way, passing by some farms and stables along the way; Ototo-chan came to visit. 

On the way there I met Ian Owens who was on a bike. The Prof waved and said hi as he cycled by. Then when I was back in Silwood, there was Prof Wright speed-walking and panting from behind me! And there was a coachload of school children and strangerly-looking adults all around campus… a school visit to Silwood?

Tonight might be the last night I spend in Silwood. Oh, I really don't know. There's no reason for me to stay here, but yet, I'm not fully ready to leave…  

Comments(1)

We explored uncharted territory today, venturing north-west. It turns out that it isn't that exciting after all. It was still woods and shrubs and things flying into your face. The only noticeable difference was that the path was made of concrete! Towards the edges of that corner, we saw what the ordanance survey site plan simply called 'The Tower' and three odd objects in front of it… a triple-monostatic doppler sodar.

At night we went tadpole-hunting. Someone was having a fag near the pond so we detoured a little, trodding on the south-west path and ended up at the South Lodge exit. We turned back, and after innocently greeting a security guard near the pond we launched into action armed with plastic cups and specimen containers. These taddies are huge… it's hard to identify but they might be Common Frog tadpoles. Most already have their rear legs. There were also loads of daphnia… and a few leeches…

As for my traps… I'm highly annoyed right now for someone or something has upset my set-up and turned 3/4 of my traps upside down and inside out, dug out of their holes. I had an awful shock when I went to check on them on Tuesday. It couldn't have been the wind, and since I can't name any Silwoodian as suspects (being biologists all, they should know better), I am placing all the blame, as usual, on the rabbits.  

Comments(0)

On Friday after lunch, Xi, Photo Simon and I spent ages at the Tree House 'pond' shooting damselflies. There were emergents everywhere - Common Blue, Azures, Large Reds. 

And it seems I'll be leaving my traps open for one week this time.

Comments(2)

The main shower is a goner - the bottles of shampoo and shower gel in that bathroom have all but disappeared into the other dodgy bathroom and there were two dead crane flies near the drain. I used the shower in the bathtub in the dodgy bathroom, and it was horrible. Two-thirds of the water runs out of the tap and not the shower head (the switch-lever thing doesn't work) and the temperature is never warm. Turn the knob half a millimetre to the left and it becomes scalding hot, and to the right it becomes a'freezin cold. Urgh. 

Then… after dinner when I went to show Xi the beautifully-shedded moult of Slowfie's tail… I couldn't find her. She was just… gone! Nada, disappeared! Totally missing. The tank lid was shut tight, the holes at the top were far to high for her to have reached and even if she could reach the ceiling, her wide girth would have prevented her from sliding out of those circular holes. No signs of a body or any remains inside the leaf litter - the both of us poured the tank contents inside-out and forcep-ed through the compost. Checked all visible corners of my room… she was nowhere to be found. How very mysterious! In all my years of animal-keeping, there's nothing like this. Unsolvable. It is practically impossible for her to have escaped by herself. The only explanations I can think of are 1) someone must have broken into my room when I was out and lizardnapped her, 2) an uber-skinny predator of slow worms squeezed through the tank lid and ate her up, digested everything and crept back out, 3) the rabbits… I don't know what they're capable of, but when they're up to something, they can do anything, and 4) she was vapourised by aliens… it's Silwood after all. 

*hic* Too much Pepsi *hic* Poor Slowfie!

And I'm quite dead, haven't got the intro done. Group meet-up tomorrow morning at nine. Can't concentrate at all!! I don't really really have to get it done but I might lose Brownie points. 

Comments(3)