July is upon us already and I have been booked in to attend an Emergency First Aid at Work course in Colchester run by St John Ambulance. It’s far too hot to be inside putting people in the recovery position, covering them in bandages and giving the kiss of life to a manikin. Joking aside, it was great to have a refresher course especially after an absence of nearly 20 years. As you can imagine a lot of the methods have changed since then!
After coming back from a wedding in the Highlands, I was on the road again, heading up to the Ouse Washes and Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire to attend a three day course on aquatic plants. Day one consisted of the basic identification of aquatic plants in the classroom using recently acquired specimens. This was then followed up with a practical identification session in the afternoon around the Ouse Washes reserve.
The plant guru, Mark Gurney, with his trusted umbrella, describing to the group what aquatics plants he had just dredged out of the river
Day two was a practical study of the aquatic plants at Wicken Fen Nature Reserve and after lunch a trip was organised to Kingfishers Bridge a privately run reserve.
The river teeming with aquatic plant species above and below the water’s surface
The final day focused on the ecology and management of aquatics. We also looked at the problems caused by invasive species and reviewed some specimens.
The course was well organised and it was great learning from such a team of experts in their fields (Mark Guerney, John Day and James Cadbury).