On 21st September 2021 we hosted 44 Abingdon School students and their teachers at Wytham Woods for a day’s field work skills development. The day was designed and run by the teachers themselves and was totally brilliant. Our role was to show they what was available at Wytham Woods in a recce visit, and one of the ecologists we work with supported them on the day.

The students were kept very busy. One group did carbon measurements in the morning, and the other did soil infiltration measurements, and then they swapped at lunchtime.

The carbon measurements were done in the 1950s Thuja and broadleaved plantations at Wytham which are adjacent and easily accessible from one of the main paths through the Woods.

Their field work involved laying out 25m square plots, measuring every tree at chest height, measuring the height of every tree using an phone app, collecting and weighing 4 metre squares of leaf litter, and measuring percentage cover of shrubs for 4 separate square metres. They were then going to analyse their data back at school.

The infiltration measurements were largely about learning about how best to conduct experiments. The students were encouraged to try out their technique and refine it as they repeated it, thinking about how to minimise errors.

It was really interesting to see how smart phones were being used as tools. Students used an app to measure tree height, Siri to generate random numbers to pick random sampling plots, timers for the infiltration measurements, and the Seek app to recognise trees.

The students then had to think about what projects to choose for their NEA coursework. They were also going on a trip to Birmingham to consider human geography projects. We hope several of the come back to Wytham to collect data for projects.

To bring your students to Wytham for field work do get in touch. kim.polgreen@ligc.co.uk.