Volunteer Pond Survey Training
To get ready for the 2021 survey season we are going to hold some training events for our volunteers.
We hope that these sessions will enable our volunteers to carry out practical pond surveys around the project area during Spring and Summer. The sessions are open to all volunteers, whether you are new to the project or carried out surveys during 2019.
This training will start with a live zoom session on Friday March 5th at 10 am until around 12.30 pm. To join us please use the following zoom link:
https://zoom.us/j/95153600691?pwd=VDlFODFsYzR2VGhTUkFNOVFMdjl3QT09
This session will be recorded and available online afterwards, for anyone who isn’t able to join us on the day.
The talk will be followed by 2 days of outdoor practical sessions at Moccas Park National Nature Reserve on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th March. To enable us to provide practical training safely we have decided to offer training to individual household/ bubbles rather than a whole group. This limits the contacts between households, and provides a more tailored session depending on previous experience and needs. If all sessions are full, you can add your name to a waiting list and we can arrange to offer training again at a later date.
Each bubble will visit 2 ponds on the Moccas Park estate, one with our project geologist and one with one of our project ecologists. The full session will last approximately 2 hours and each pond visit will last 45 minutes and give you the opportunity to practice completing the pond survey forms, and provide an opportunity to ask questions and feel comfortable with the data collection process.
While the practical sessions are designed to be a follow-on to the talk on Friday 5th March, they are open to all volunteers who wish to undertake practical pond surveys this year. For those volunteers who have previously completed the pond survey training, they will provide an opportunity to see the new pond survey form (revised following volunteer feedback) and try out the new water testing methods.
All practical sessions must be booked in advance through Eventbrite. This is to ensure that we keep numbers to a minimum at our session and we are fully compliant with Covid regulations.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ice-age-pond-survey-training-2021-day-2-tickets-142250293457
As follow – up training we will then be offering further short zoom sessions on:
Friday 12th March – Pond selection process and any Q&A following practical pond work.
Friday 19th March – Aquatic invertebrates and amphibians – help identifying animals you might spot when surveying.
Friday 26th March – Pond site selection – Please join us to help identify any landowners that you might know or areas that you would be happy to survey. Plus, details on how to get your survey kit and forms ready to start surveying in April.
Friday 9th April – Prof. Ian Fairchild – Glacial landscapes and ponds in western Herefordshire.
More details about these talks will be posted nearer the time on our project pages here: https://www.herefordshirewt.org/iceageponds/training-events-resources
Beth Andrews, Ice Age Ponds Project Officer.
