Kaitlyn

This was one of my favourite days so far. It was on a hot day, and I have never done this survey before, so I was a bit worried at first, but as soon as I started to wade through grass as tall as me, I was ecstatic. Wind was swaying the field, making the grasses look alive, creating waves like a sea with butterflies bursting up out of the undergrowth. It was beautiful. 

I started the day with no knowledge on grass identification, apart from saying “yep, that’s a blade of green grass”, to finishing the day being able to point at patches of vegetation and giving names to some of the grasses such as wall barley, Yorkshire fog, or barren brome. I even ended up taking a collection of grass species home with me where I spent the evening creating my own identification guide.

Lucy

This week marked my second time assisting Henry with grassland surveys, this time at a site called the Northern Loop. You’d think after just a week I’d be feeling confident with my grass ID skills, but it's surprising how quickly it fades! A lot of the names had slipped my mind, so I ended up collecting a bunch of samples during the morning and have since started putting together my own little ID book, complete with notes and sketches to help things stick this time around. The grass at this site was almost as tall as me and wading through it felt like trying to navigate a sea of green. At one point, I had a bit of a comedy moment trying to use the GPS to find our sample points - I ended up walking in circles for a while, which didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the team!

Henry was really helpful, not just with the plant identification, but also in explaining the history and management of the site. It was fascinating to learn how the area’s coastal past has shaped the grassland we see today, and how that influences the way it’s looked after now. It was such a good mix of being out in nature, doing something practical, and learning about the bigger picture.