*This blog was written in October… sorry for the late posting* Having 30 field sites has been very taxing at times, during the fieldwork season. With butterflies needing perfect weather conditions to survey; dummy caterpillars to put up and take down within 24 hours; and moth pheromone traps to check 3 times per farm in
Read MoreLately, I have had some very peculiar reactions when explaining the current chapter of my PhD that I am working on. Maybe I’m not explaining it perfectly, or most eloquently, but these reactions include: staring; bemusement and confusion; and outright laughing-in-my-face, before asking me, “so this is your… job?” Some friends of mine have taken to
Read MoreThis post was originally published by myself during my time as a PhD student at the Centre for Agri-Environmental Research(CAER) in Reading and you can find the original blog here. After reading this blog you will come to realise that lots of things changed in my PhD after I wrote it – mainly my whole study
Read MoreWe are half way through our orchard bird surveys now with all 31 orchards surveyed once already. Early mornings are very hard for me on a normal day, but with dawn getting more and more towards the 4.30am mark and some farms nearly an hour away, I am beginning to wonder if camping on site
Read MoreI thought it was time to tell you all why on earth I have been getting up at silly o’clock to count birds in the orchards of Herefordshire. It was also too windy for the birds today, so I’ve had a day off! A recent BBC article writing about the benefits of organic farming to
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