Field trip: intro

Start the way you intend to go on, they say! We totally didn’t. And I’m glad. The weather forecast for our first field day of the annual 3rd year estuary field trip was horrid. On that first day, we just introduce them to the environment and what we intend to do there. No samples or measurements are taken that day. 

We transported the students to our headquarters; we did that late morning, in order to avoid the Sandman triathlon that was going on in the area. Once in Newborough, Martin (who leads this) did a bit of a general introduction. By the time he was done, it was11:45 and he suggested lunch. In the building. Outside it was the kind of weather that was chasing Rick out of the hills! So the students accepted that proposal. 

Looking out of the door of our HQ at the bad weather

After lunch we braved it. We had agreed to skip a few of the locations we tend to visit on intro day. Soaking wet students are not the most likely to absorb information! So we started at the head of the estuary, and then headed to the salt marsh. And from there we went to a beach. There the weather cleared. So at the last stop, overlooking a more southern beach, the weather had actually turned nice. 

Looking over the estuary 

I think we did manage to give the students an idea of what’s going on in the estuary and why it matters. And that’s the point of the exercise. And the good news was: the weather forecast for the rest of the trip was very pleasant. So once we would get our hands dirty, we would be doing so in glorious sunshine. Quite an improvement!