Come and Study at Moulton College!

Student Research Leads the Way!

Our higher education students are now nearing completion of their studies for this year and many of the students are busy collecting data for their undergraduate dissertations. This is a terrific challenge for students who are faced with researching, planning, carrying out and then writing up their work in a 10,000 word document! Over the years the work has been so well received it has led to conference presentations and even publications and articles to be published to the wider scientific community.

This year the range of projects being undertaken is very diverse and reflects some very under-researched areas within agriculture and conservation. For the BSc Land Management course, here is a list of who is doing what so you can see what we mean:

Agriculture & Farming

• Affect of lamb breed on lambing success in England and Wales - Aileen
• Evaluation of one pass soil seed rape establishment using different drill types at Lamport Hall - Guy
• Use of bioelectrical impedance analysis to predict carcass traits in live lambs - Prosper
• Effectiveness of biofertilisers on the growth of winter wheat - Tom
• Use of e-technology in calculating the green area index for winter wheat - Nick
• Use of e-techonology in calculating the green area index of oil seed rape - Steve

Conservation and Ecology

• Open mosaic habitats and their associated Coleopteran assemblages - Carole
• A study of non-target wildlife species feeding from gamebird hoppers on intensively managed shoots - Dan
• RFID method for the spatial determination and tracking of harvest mice in the wild - David
• Impact of ride management on native butterfly assemblages in ancient woodlands - Jamie
• Effectivness of deer deterrants in influencing spatial distributions of free roaming deer in parkland and woodland - Jarvis
• Habitat preferences of marsh tits and blue tits at Monks Wood National Nature Reserve, Cambs - Lewis
• Ecological impact of muntjac deer on ancient woodlands and potential ecosystem services - Luke

To learn more about research in the Agriculture Subject Area, visit: http://www.moulton.ac.uk/the-college/research-at-moulton 

The Skys Above Moulton are Filled with Birds of Prey!

Countryside Management, Animal Welfare and Agriculture students were wowed by a birds of prey demonstration from Icarus Falconry of Northamptonshire on Monday 20^th May.  The demonstration covered a wide range of topics including the care and training required to keep and raise birds of prey along with the importance of the conservation of these birds of prey.  The birds that were brought to the demonstration and flown on the day included a young Bateleur Eagle, a Black Kite, a Harris Hawk and a Barn Own.

 

 

National Agricultural Colleges Clay Shooting Championship

A team comprising Countryside Management and Agriculture students along with Gamekeeping lecturer Bob Farmer attended the 2013 National Agricultural Colleges Clay Shooting Championships at Warwickshire College last Saturday. Students, David Ferriman and Reece Brown tied for 2^nd place with a team from Harper Adams University in the Flush Competition resulting in a bit of cash coming their way! The team also came 8^th in the Championship.

 

Countryside Students Bridge the Gap.....

A small group of countryside students used the skills they have gained over the last two years to construct a small bridge using just the timber they have cut from the woods. Rob, Dave and Tom took a while to get warmed up but once they got going there was no stopping them! As Tom busily felled suitable trees, Rob and Dave were hammering away fixing the bridge together. By the end of the session the group had constructed a simple yet affective wooden bridge.

Farming for Wildlife at Rectory Farm

Yesterday, Higher Education students were hosted by farmer George Eaton at Rectory Farm in Buckinghamshire. George farms an idyllic small farm in a traditional manner, but the difference is he has fully embraced environmental grant aid to farm for wildlife. Working with Natural England and Kings Seeds, George was able to explain how his commercial farming ventures (which include producing beef for waitrose) achieve a balance with managing the natural environment for conservation.

Alongside expanses of wheat and grassland leys, George manages two county wildlife sites (both traditional wildflowet meadows) and a stretch of river where water vole and otter both occur. He obtains some funding through the environmental stewardship suite of grants and students were able to see the diverse range of options employed on the farm. You can find out more about Rectory Farm here: http://www.rectory-farm.org.uk.

Cover Crop Gets Laid....

Countryside management students have been preparing the colleges cover crop, having completed their NPTC ATV & Tractor driving certificates as part of their course they had a chance to put their qualifications into practice. They used the colleges new Case tractor to disc the soil to break down the clods to prepare a fine seed bed.  They then drove the quad bike and grain spinner to broadcast the mixture of seeds which would form the bulk of cover for the college game birds.  

 

The cover crop they have sown contains maize, red and white millet, sunflowers, kale, buckwheat and forage rape. This will produce a cover crop that will provide additional feed, cover and shelter for the pheasants and partridges found on the college’s 430 hectare estate.