Hello and welcome to my field!

What's in a name?

At the start of any project, arguably the most important thing is getting the name right. Of course. the simplest way would be to use the acronym - USCCE - but that's already in use. I could have named it after someone - my supervisor, any of the other people involved in the initial conception or development or construction..... my dad..... Sir David Attenborough.... but that's a very boggy area to get into, egos being what they are (Dad would've been delighted) and would have been bound to miff someone. After the main field? Yes, possible, but Upper Seeds is the field and not the project; and Upper Seeds also has form in that it's the site of the TIGER and Gibson experiments, so there may be confusion over which project I'm referring to. Rat Pen Field is the name my part of Upper Seeds is fondly known, but no-one else seems to like the name "Rat Pen Field Experimental Platform"...... So, I'm currently toying with Druscilla - Doctoral Research at Upper Seeds Climate Change Impacts Laboratory. Or maybe Muscari - Millenium Upper Seeds Climate change research installation. All suggestions in a hat and the winning one gets to head up my blog :)

Let's do some introductions.....

I'm a research student with the Open University, looking into some of the impacts of changing climate patterns on plant communities. Over the next three years, I'll be spending a lot of time out here, running the first field study on the Upper Seeds experimental platform, investigating changing rainfall regimes and developing the baseline data for everyone who comes along after me. I'll be talking more on my project in other posts, as things really get underway; for the time being, I'm busy project managing the on-site works involved in the setting out of the experimental blocks, and the construction of the rainshelters.

Upper Seeds - from quiet green field to experimental platform (in several moves)

The blank canvas that was Upper Seeds in February, before groundworks got underway

February 2016, prior to groundworks

The first thing to do was to survey in the location of all the experimental plots, using high-precision GPS technology, and marking them with canes and pegs so the contractors, Darran and Josh, would know where to excavate post holes for the rainshelter legs.

High tech and low tech kit - guess which I got to use....

Once the plots were all marked out, over to Darran and Josh to dig post holes and put together the rainshelters before erection. The site slopes down towards the east, and has surface undulations, so it was important to ensure accurate profiles were in place for each plot.

Profiles on marked plot

Monitoring visits during the excavation of the post holes gave me the opportunity to have a good look at the soil profile and to take some undisturbed soil core samples from which I can gain some initial information about the soil structure and hydrology.

Taking soil cores - I found the best way was to just hit it with a hammer!

While I'm down on my hands and knees looking down holes, Darran and Josh were busy putting the rainshelters together and getting them fixed securely in the ground. If Ikea did rainshelters, they'd probably come like this - flat-packed in kit form, and not as straightforward as perhaps you think they're going to be.