College staff attend the Kelmarsh Game and Country Fair!

Well - did you see us there?! College staff Paul, Lou and Jonny went along to meet prospective students at the annual Kelmarsh Game and Country Fair last weekend. If you missed us - there's always next year!

Lewis York in line for national award!

Recent BSc Land Management graduate Lewis York has been nominated as one of three student undergraduate finalists for the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) awards of 2014. 

Lewis worked closely with supervisor Dr James Littlemore and staff from the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology at Monks Wood in Cambridgeshire on his undergraduate thesis which examined the habitat preferences and population dynamics of woodland birds at Monks Wood National Nature Reserve. It is a remarkable achievement for Lewis who was up against the best ecology Graduates from all participating UK Universities – he will find out if he has won at a special awards luncheon taking place on 26^th June at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. 

To learn more about the CIEEM awards, follow the following link: http://www.cieem.net/cieem-awards-2014.

We run a range of interesting higher education programmes in countryside and wildlife management, land management and agriculture supplying Graduates to all areas of the land-based sector – to untap your potential, why not drop us a line now?

 

Conifers for Colleges - a Unique Collaboration between Moulton College and the Royal Forestry Society

Moulton College is about to participate in an innovative new venture being led by the Royal Forestry Society to put coniferous trees back on the map! 

The mainstay of the forestry sector, conifers (or softwoods) grow quickly in poor soils and contrary to belief are native both in England, with ancient Yew woodlands, and in Scotland, with Scots Pine clothing great swathes of the Highlands. Working with project leader Phil Tanner from the RFS, staff from the College are looking forward to receiving 400 coniferous trees made up of 18 different species and 100 additional broadleaf trees, with 500 additional tree guards to protect from hare and rabbit damage kindly donated by Tubex.

A site for the new wood has already been identified and as Senior Lecturer James Littlemore explains, this offers a unique opportunity for students studying countryside management and arboriculture at the College….. ‘We are very excited as a College to be involved in the ‘Conifers for Colleges’ scheme with the RFS and the new woodland will not only enhance the extent of woodland cover on our estate, but students will be involved at all stages from planting design to planting to maintenance and aftercare’.  

He adds, ‘The new woodland will be planted in the autumn and we will work with the RFS to ensure that students realise the value of conifers is not just in forestry, but in landscape aesthetics and conservation too’.

Interestingly some species of conifer are native to these shores, including Scot's pine (of the famed Caledonian Pine forests of Scotland - see below) and yew in central England. 

From artists charcoal to spoon carving - all in a days work for countryside students!

Countryside management lecturers Jonny and Paul have recently been experimenting with producing fine artists charcoal, the results of which are seen below. A long term plan put forward by the duo is for students to produce charcoal from both lump wood for BBQ's and coppiced willow for boxes of artists charcoal with the countryside management students.

Creating charcoal is a specialist skill and air dried oak gives the best return by weight. Indeed, 6 tonnes of air dried wood will give about 1 tonne of charcoal. The secret to producing charcoal is in controlling the amount of air fed into the burn - the kiln needs to be hot enough to drive out moisture and impurities but not too hot that the contents is reduced to pile of ash!

A few years ago we inherited a charcoal kiln for Hazel Woodland Products (http://www.hazelwoodlandproducts.co.uk/) for which a controlled burn is planned in the summer term. Such is the size of the kiln that this will require 24 hour surveillance!

 

In his greenwood craft sessions, Jonny has also been instructing students in the noble and skilled craft of spoon carving. Check back to the blog to see the results soon!

An Eye for Plant Identification!

In the original course design of the Foundation Degree in Countryside & Wildlife Management, employers emphasised the importance of sound wildlife identification skills. With this in mind, a specific module was created to enable students to improve their botanical skills.

This week students took a trip out to Crowfields Common Local Nature Reserve in the village to examine the development of the wildflower planting that was seeded some years ago. Even given the time of year, some interesting species were appearing including cowslip, bird's foot trefoil and knapweed.

Students from Moulton will have involvement with the management of this site from September, so watch out for more news soon!

Course Opportunities in Countryside Management for 2014/15!

Woodland Products Survey

The last decade has seen a resurgence of interest in items produced sustainably from our native woodlands. Yet in our region, there is no information on markets for greenwood products. Can you help us out?

Moulton College students studying Countryside and Wildlife Management have teamed up with the Small Woods Association (http://smallwoods.org.uk/) and the Rockingham Forest Coppice Group (http://www.ncfed.org.uk/) to design an online public survey to help identify the current and future demand for woodland products and training courses in this region. It is hoped that the results from this questionnaire will assist local forest crafts people and woodland owners and help them to manage their woods more sustainably for both wildlife and timber production.  

So this is where you come in - we would greatly appreciate your thoughts so please help us by filling out the brief online survey and send it out to as many other interested people as you know. This is the link to the online survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HQFR3JB.

For more information on this project or on courses at Moulton College, contact Dr James Littlemore at James.Littlemore@moulton.ac.uk or 01604-491131.


Thank you!

Countryside Blog Back Online!

Well after a slight hiatus, the Countryside Management blogger (James)  is back with a vengeance!

Our lovely BTEC Countryside Management level 3 students have been busy under the expert guidance of resident Countryside lecturer and all round expert Paul. It’s been a very busy winter for them and now that spring has truly sprung the full extent of their labours can be showcased. This includes:

• Hedgelaying
• Post and wire fencing
• Path work

And to finish off, a superbly made bridge officially opened by the Director of Higher Education, Linda Furness!

The learners can now concentrate on flora and fauna surveys which will culminate in an enjoyable, productive and very educational year at Moulton College.

Look at their happy faces below.......!

Moulton Wars: Attack of the Drones!

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or ‘drones’ are increasingly being used in the land-based sector for bolstering farm performance, promoting sustainable land management or assisting in wildlife conservation or forestry objectives. Showing its commitment to new technologies, Moulton College are now the proud owners of a remote controlled quadcopter drone with integrated GPS and sophisticated wide angled lens camera (or ‘payload’).

Today Learning Technologies Manager Andrew Bailey capably demonstrated the equipment to BSc Land Management students, who were then able to view live feed aerial footage as Andrew expertly piloted the quadcopter in blustery winds on the farm. Students then debated how this technology could be applied to the management of the land. In related news, BSc Arboriculture student Alan Elderton is currently using a UAV to try and identify fungal diseases in London plane trees for his final year dissertation, and recently received a travel bursary from the Studley College Fund.

To learn more about the use of drones in tropical forestry, watch: http://www.ted.com/talks/lian_pin_koh_a_drone_s_eye_view_of_conservation#t-9355. Moulton College will also be hosting unmanned vehicle expo conference later on in the year and you can see some footage of the College estate from here: http://www.uvxpo.com/#!news/c1x8h.