Surveying

The last day in the field, we would go surveying. We do that every year, but some years, such as the previous one, I am not needed for that. But this year I was.

Martin had been liaising with NRW, and we would largely survey lines that they had already been working on. We skipped one of the lines that was too far away from the road, and we added one line at was of specific scientific interest to what we were doing there in the estuary, but otherwise we were just adding our efforts to the ongoing monitoring of these beaches. Beaches have a habit of changing, and Newborough is no exception; the most striking aspect of its motion is that the beach is moving backwards, eating away the dunes.

Low water was in the late afternoon, but the students needed to work on the field books. So we already picked them up from the main campus at 10:30, and brought them to PJI. We the staff could then just make the last preparations for the surveying, and frankly, just have a coffee and a chat. And help the students a bit if needed. And in the afternoon we gathered them all, did a small surveying demonstration, and then we set off. We had four groups in three vehicles, and I was going to take my group in a people carrier to the vicinity of Llanddwyn. In a way, we had won the lottery; Llanddwyn is very beautiful, and we would have the best views on it of everyone. 

The first thing we needed to do was find the start of the transect. This was a wooden stake, hammered in by Martin. We had the GPS coordinates, and one of the men lead us to it. So we could begin! This first transect line was short, but there was quite a lot going on on the beach, so we needed to take a lot of measurements.

Our first transect. Llanddwyn on the right.

While we were setting up, the School photographer suddenly appeared. He asked me where the other groups were, and suggested he would go to Martin’s group first, who was the furthest west, and then work his way back east.

We went surveying. The beginning is always slow if you haven't done it for a fair while! But soon we got into the swing of it. And we had better; we were supposed to do two lines, but by the time we got to the end of the first line, it was already low water. From then on, the waters would rise! We surveyed back to the stake  as quickly as we could, and then moved to the other line.

The next stake was easier to find, and the beach was largely flat. We also were in the swing of things now, so we did this second line a lot quicker than the other one. By about seven we were done! By that time the evening light was beautiful, and temperatures were dropping. We went back to the van, and my phone was showing messages suggesting everybody else was either already out of the field, or soon would.

The second transect 

We gathered again in PJI, and then we made sure to tidy the place up. We had loved the place and wanted to make a good impression! Especially since we wanted to come back next year. We loaded everything up in the vehicles, and then we were ready to ferry the students back to Bangor.

The fieldwork was still timetabled on Saturday until lunchtime, but the decision had been made that we didn’t need that time. This was the end! I think it went well…