I think it’s great that our corporate members have this opportunity to get a day out of the office, learn more about the local flora and fauna and experience various aspects of the work we do.
The team of 11 from Cambridge University Press and Assessment (CUPA), looking very smart in their bright blue T shirts, enjoyed a day which began with a tour of the reserve led by Community Conservation Officer, Iain.
Iain explained the importance of this habitat and how WTBCN has been managing it for nearly eight years. Iain pointed out different species of butterflies, moths and wildflowers; Nathan, Corporate Partnerships Manager, identified different bird species from their songs and I talked about making elderflower champagne and cordial – we all have our specialist subjects.
By lunchtime we all felt a lot more connected with the natural world around us and most importantly had ‘got our eye in’ for the important survey work ahead.
An essential part of the work of the WTBCN is the surveying, monitoring and recording we do at our reserves and in the wider countryside across three counties, which you can read more about here.
Small Blue Butterfly Egg on Kidney Vetch, photo by Laura Watson
Part of the CUPA team’s challenge was to help Iain survey how much Kidney vetch is growing in key locations around the reserve. We need to monitor this as it is not only an important species for a variety of insects but it’s the sole food plant it’s the sole food plant for the larvae of Small blue butterfly and so losing this is impacting their numbers.
Small Blue Butterfly, photo by Laura Watson
Kidney vetch was included in the wildflower seed mix sown a few years ago as we began to manage the site and Iain talked about what a joy it was the first time, he spotted a Small blue butterfly at Trumpington Meadows.
The enthusiasm was infectious and we were all very chuffed when we spotted these increasingly rare butterflies, found clusters of Kidney vetch and felt more connected with our environment. In fact, one of the CUPA team told us:
“Great time and hugely informative! Learnt loads and will certainly be using my newly trained eye to spot and ID nature.”
Otter by Elliot Smith
We were all very excited to learn that otters visit the site and the reason we know that is Iain found otter poo there. Now he tried his best to convince us of the often quoted ‘fact’ that otter poo smells like Jasmine tea. However, I can confirm that it smells like fish which should come as no surprise as this is a big part of their diet and you rarely see a group of otters having a catch up over a cup of Jasmine tea…
If you are one of our Corporate Members and would like to find out more about Wild Experience days, or if you would like to find out more about becoming a Corporate Member, then please don’t hesitate to contact us.
