Putting wildlife on the map

Last week I had the pleasure of teaching my first course for the fantastic Field Studies Council, at their Epping Forest centre. The day seemed to go well, and for me it was great to be out talking about wildlife-watching among the venerable old trees of the Forest.

I've added some of the materials from the course to a new biological recording section of my website, including information on recording, tips for photography and using keys, suggested surveys to try out, links to further resources and some field exercise sheets (downloadable). As ever, feedback welcome to improve what's there and fill in any gaps I've missed.

While reading up for the course I went back to the late Oliver Gilbert's very enjoyable book The Lichen Hunters. Despite not being any sort of lichenologist myself I loved reading about the exploits of Dr Gilbert and his colleagues in tracking down unusual lichens in a range of habitats, from pristine rocks high in the Cairngorms to the 'ancient tarmac' of abandoned WWII airfields. Finding lichens in mountainous habitats requires impressive feats of physical endurance - anyone want to start a campaign for lichen-hunting as an olympic sport?

The book contains one of my favourite biological recording quotes, capturing some of the emotions that come from close contact with wildlife and wild places:

“You go to look for lichens and find in addition familiarity, beauty, companionship, laughter and the warmth of friends.”