Citizen science at Preston Montford

Citizen science is becoming more valuable to the scientific world. It simultaneously engages the public in important, modern scientific issues and gathers large amounts of data for scientists to analyse.  Since 2010, FSC Preston Montford has taken part in a survey which has  recently been published. The paper, titled “The Success of the Horse-Chestnut Leaf-Miner, Cameraria ohridella, in the UK Revealed with Hypothesis-Led Citizen Science”, can be found here (http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0086226).

Figure 1. Picture of the effect Cameraria ohridella has on horse-chestnut leaves. Picture from Pocock and Evans, authors of the paper.

Using the diagram in figure 2, we scored the level of damage to leaves from 0 to 4. Photos were also taken and sent to the authors using a smartphone app, this let the expert recorder confirm the accuracy of our results. 

Figure 2. Diagram of how to score the damage to the horse-chestnut leaves. Diagram from Pocock and Evans, authors of the paper.

The study found that leaves were more damaged when there were more leaf-mining moths residing in the leaf and that the level of damage increased rapidly in the first 3 years of infection but levelled off after that. The authors then found that the level of parasitism of the leaf-miner moths increased after this period, due to parasites already in the area multiplying vastly by taking advantage of the increased numbers of moths in which to reproduce.

Figure 3. Picture of the Leaf-Miner moth, Cameraria ohridella, in 2009 taken by Pete Boardman at FSC Preston Montford, Shrewsbury.

Interested in becoming a citizen surveyor? The following link has a great summary of easy, quick surveys across the field of biology. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/22694347).

For more information about Leaf-Mining moths, why not book yourself onto the Identifying Moth Leaf-Mines course at FSC London on the 11^th or 25^th October 2014?

A hectic summer at Preston Montford

Successful activities celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the British Ecological Society and the FSC 70^th birthday celebrations contributed to a busy summer at Preston Montford.

These celebrations allowed the Centre to make progress in engaging with a wide range of learners and strengthen work with partner organisations.

In July co-inciding with the FSC AGM as our FSC Birthday present we hosted an end of year picnic for Condover College which works for young adult students with profound difficulties we also welcomed the local Rainbow group for a pond dipping session on warm summer evening.

The event celebrating the BES centenary was a Family Wildlife Adventure Day that was open to all. After leading an excellent publicity campaign Senior Tutor Jenni Duffell was little nervous about how many people would attend. She had worked with various local groups, such as the Shropshire Mammal Group, who put on displays and demonstrations whilst a combination of Centre Staff and Volunteers lead wildlife activities around the Centre grounds. In the end the balance of numbers was just right- a steady stream of people totalling around 300 came through the Centre and making bird boxes, looking at specimens and talking about wildlife.

Preston Montford summertime

Mrs Duffell was also the key to the success of the first Preston Montford Bio-blitz which set out to record as much as possible about the wildlife of Preston Montford in one day at the end of August. This involved many local and national experts in the fields of botany, ornithology, entymology and mammalology as well as local natural history groups, FSC Preston Montford and Head Office staff as well as members of the public.

In between the two public events Head of Centre Adrian Pickles and FSC Charitable Development Officer Cathy Preston lead a walk and hosted afternoon tea as an FSC members event. Adrian described the work of the Centre and how it is planned to develop the work we do by upgrading the 1950s standard accommodation in the Main House, relocation of offices and developing the estate and grounds. The quality of afternoon tea and cake was highly praised and a very pleasant afternoon was had by all.

These events were all new, but this sort of activity was part of the Centre Action Plan for 2013, so it was good to have two additional reasons for promoting Environmental Understanding to new audiences. Other activities that built on previous experiences included hosting the FSC Darwin Scholarship for young professional workers from around the world, a visit by the Taiwanese Forest Bureau brought by Chris Millican Head of FSC in Pembrokeshire and the second group of FSC Young Darwin Scholars. Our FSC Young Darwin Scholars arrived on the day of the FSC Members Tea Party causing Mr Pickles and Mrs Preston to rely heavily on Sue Redding from FSC Head Office to ensure that both events ran smoothly.

As well as these events there was a full programme of Leisure Learning courses, four Open University courses, specialist photography workshops, providing accommodation and marching space for military bands performing at Shrewsbury Flower Show and hosting the visit of a group of Lacemaking Ladies who enjoy the space cake and freedom the Centre provides.

The collage of photographs in Figure 1 catches most of these activities in some way. There is a small prize for the person who most closely matches the images to the activities mentioned in this article; entries to Adrian Pickles at Adrian.pm@field-studies-council.org  by December 1^st.

FSC Preston Montford Public Relations Team