Many spiders and harvestmen can be identified and recorded in the field, with the aid a simple piece of kit called a spi-pot, before being released again.
You will be introduced to the techniques of identifying live spiders and harvestmen. We will collect live spiders and harvestmen around the grounds of the field centre and bring them back into the classroom for a closer look, before releasing them again.
Tutors
Dr Rich Burkmar is an ecologist looking after the FSC’s Tomorrow’s Biodiversity project. He has wide-ranging interests in natural history and has been, for almost ten years, a keen recorder of spiders, more recently playing an active role in the life of the Shropshire Spider Group. He is particularly interested in the use of technology by biological recorders and previous roles have included Managing the Local Record Centre in Merseyside & Coordinating the North Merseyside Local Biodiversity Action Plan. He also has many years experience as a programmer and, in particular, as a GIS application developer. He is the author of the FSC Tom.bio Productivity Tools – a QGIS plugin for biological recorders.
Dr Charlie Bell joined the FSC in Feb 2015 to work on the delivery phase of the Tomorrow’s Biodiversity project. She joined Tom.bio from Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust, where she worked as Living Rivers Officer. Previously Charlie was based at Sheffield University, firstly completing her PhD entitled ‘Protected areas, management and the conservation of the red-billed chough on Anglesey’, then working as a research assistant on a large multi-disciplinary urban river project. Her interests are chalk stream ecology and management, birds and freshwater issues. She is an accredited Anglers Riverfly Monitoring Initiative trainer. Charlie combines her part time role on the Tom.bio project with working as one half of the national Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) Secretariat, based out of Shropshire Wildlife Trust.
Cost
This course is offered at a reduced rate thanks to support from the FSC Tomorrow’s Biodiversity project.
£30
Booking
For more information and booking details, please visit the FSC website.