{"id":95,"date":"2021-02-01T11:25:12","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T11:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/?p=95"},"modified":"2021-02-03T09:47:51","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T09:47:51","slug":"lundy-island-field-trip-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/2021\/02\/01\/lundy-island-field-trip-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Field trip to Lundy Island: a ray of sunshine during lockdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>In autumn term 2020, during the second UK lockdown, thirty students from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/study\/pg\/life-sciences\/ecology-evolution-conservation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MSc Ecology, Evolution and Conservation<\/a> programme were granted permission to go on a residential to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.landmarktrust.org.uk\/lundyisland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lundy Island<\/a>, a 1&#215;3 mile rocky outcrop off the Devon coast. During their time on the Island they learned essential field skills, and explored its natural history, behavioural ecology and the evolution of its resident house sparrows. So how was this expedition able to go ahead, and what measures were put in place to ensure everyone&#8217;s safety? In this blog, Course Director, Dr Julia Schroeder, and student, Fahmida Nitu, reflect on their experiences during the trip, and the planning that went into getting it off the ground.<\/em><\/p>\n<h1>Video diary<\/h1>\n<p>You can watch the group&#8217;s video diary here!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lundy Island Field Trip 2020, Department of Life Sciences\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MVQm-GxVSK4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h1>Travel during lockdown<\/h1>\n<p><em>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/people\/julia.schroeder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr Julia Schroeder<\/a> &#8211; Course Director, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/study\/pg\/life-sciences\/ecology-evolution-conservation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MSc Ecology, Evolution and Conservation<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>As it took place during lockdown, the trip required meticulous organisation to ensure social distancing was maintained and that no government rules were broken. I had excellent support from the Faculty&#8217;s head of Health and Safety, Stefan Hoyle, and the Departmental Management Team \u2013 together we sorted out all the logistics to make the trip possible. This included, among other precautions, the testing of all participants for COVID-19 (all negative) and subsequent isolation before embarking on the journey, and the distribution of students among accommodation being matched with pre-trip household groups.<\/p>\n<p>Lundy and its islanders were already practically quarantined from the rest of the UK, with the Island being closed from the beginning of the lockdown onward. This meant no flights and no boats. To get to Lundy, students took an exhilarating helicopter ride from the mainland \u2013 talk about social distancing!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1571\" height=\"645\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-99 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/files\/2021\/02\/Lundy-e1612175730451.png\" alt=\"A photo showing the helicopter that took the students to the island of Lundy\" \/><\/p>\n<h1>The student perspective<\/h1>\n<h2>Lundy Island, my Chevening journey #1<\/h2>\n<p><em>By Fahmida Nitu &#8211; MSc student, Department of Life Sciences<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The degree programme that I\u2019m studying at Imperial \u2013 the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/study\/pg\/life-sciences\/ecology-evolution-conservation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MSc Ecology, Evolution and Conservation<\/a> \u2013 is full of computational ecological courses, but that doesn\u2019t mean we spend all our time sitting at our desks in front of computers doing models and so on. Recently we went to an island in the middle of the Bristol channel. Thanks to the Chevening scholarship, the cost of this exciting field trip was all covered.<\/p>\n<h3>Lundy Island<\/h3>\n<p>At about 3500 BC humans first arrived on the Island of Lundy from mainland Europe. The Island is located off southwestern England in the county of Devon, and its biodiversity-rich landscape is isolated from the mainland, which has helped to keep its wilderness intact. Over time, large granites have built up over considerable parts of the Island.<\/p>\n<p>After the outbreak of COVID-19, it remained closed for several months. However, we were lucky enough to get the opportunity to visit in November 2020! Before leaving on our journey, we were required to test for COVID-19 and fortunately the whole group tested negative.<\/p>\n<h3>The journey<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"937\" height=\"629\" class=\"alignright wp-image-96\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/files\/2021\/01\/Lundy-1-e1612178273903.png\" alt=\"A student takes a photo of Lundy from the aerial view of the helipcopter\" \/>We started our journey in the early morning of November 30. We were taken to the helipad of the Hartland point of Bideford. The journey from Imperial to Bradford took approximately five hours; from there it took only ten minutes from the Heartland to Lundy Island by helicopter! I was a bit nervous, but at the same time was amazed to see the beauty of the Bristol channel and the granite outcrop from the sky.<\/p>\n<p>After landing on the Island, we were split into several small groups and assigned to separate cottages for our stay. Each group was supplied with groceries that had been pre-ordered \u2013 in fact, the island always collects its groceries from the mainland. It only produces dairy products from its sheep farms.<\/p>\n<h3>Picturing the place and exploring every corner of the island<\/h3>\n<p>The island is managed by Lundy Landmark Trust and is popularly called Puffin Island as puffins are the most common bird found there. Other waterbirds, sparrows, and starlings, plus wild horses, deer, and goats abundantly populate the Island too.<\/p>\n<p>There are granite cottages for tourists to stay, a souvenir shop and also a tavern for community gathering. Lundy Castle is a 13th-century building that was always the residence of the Island\u2019s owner and governors. It is still standing and represents its history; a church is also situated at the entrance to the Island.<\/p>\n<p>I first spotted wild deer running over the grasslands and it was the first time I\u2019ve ever spotted a seal in the wild! Sheep grazing here and there was also a common sight.<\/p>\n<p>We were assigned group tasks related to our research projects, and we took part in the Lundy Treasure Hunt too, which was exciting! During our five-day expedition, we explored every corner of Lundy Island.<\/p>\n<h3>Thanks to the Landmark Trust<\/h3>\n<p>We are grateful that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.landmarktrust.org.uk\/lundyisland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Landmark Trust<\/a> allowed us to visit the Island, enabling us to experience a real field trip, and also allowing us to complete our course module in biodiversity. Credit goes to our Course Director Dr Julia Schroeder for her dedicated efforts to get the approval to visit \u2013 thanks Julia!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In autumn term 2020, during the second UK lockdown, thirty students from the MSc Ecology, Evolution and Conservation programme were granted permission to go on a residential to Lundy Island, a 1&#215;3 mile rocky outcrop off the Devon coast. During their time on the Island they learned essential field skills, and explored its natural history, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1510,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/natural-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}