News Story - Cryosat tracks Arctic sea ice freeze-up

It has been reported that Cryosat, a satellite that measures the volume of the sea ice in the Arctic, has recorded that the sea ice covers 6,200 cubic km in the first few weeks of October. Although this figure is lower than that recorded in 2013 and 2014. It is higher than the values between the years 2010-2012. But there is a chance this is down to normal yearly fluctuation rather than any changes in the longer term. 

Cryosat works by sending magnetic energy that bounces off both the surface of the ice and sea water and measures the area of ice around the Arctic. Although it is unable to produce valid figures during the summer months, due to the melt water on top of the ice being measured as sea water, this is still a valuable tool. The satellite is part of a mission from the European Space Agency and is used to feed information to businesses that must traverse the Arctic, such as shipping. 

It fascinates me that this technology exists which makes an almost impossible tasks so easily done and  not only does this benefit businesses and possibly save lives by providing information to those who need it but it provides the perfect way to monitor the levels of sea ice and how it changes of the next coming decades. Although this project is still fairly new, it has only been active for 6 years, once we have a couple of decades worth of data it will provide clear insight into how climate change is effecting the Arctic and the sea ice levels. 

If you are interested in finding out more about this story then please use the links below:

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34619291

European Space Agency:  http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/CryoSat

Ecuador

On the 3rd August 2015 I set off an adventure to South America. I was travelling abroad for the first time on my own, my destination was an animal rescue centre in Puyo, Ecuador. 

I have to admit that when at London Heathrow airport I was struggling with my anxiety. I nearly turned back and didn't want to get on the plane. But thanks to my Mum and one of my friends, who gave me encouragement and reassurance and due to the fact that there was a rush to get to the next plane and I didn't have much chance to stop, I got on the plane to Miami. From Miami, I flew to Quito, Ecuador. 

I was staying in Puyo for five weeks of volunteering. I had booked through the company, Frontier for this trip. Although it was more expensive I really valued the support that they offered and them booking the accommodation during my short stay in the capital. However, if you are an experienced traveler I would recommend booking straight with the park/place that you are volunteering with as it will be cheaper, by quite a lot. Anyway, back to the travelling! 

White-Throated Toucan

The first week was a struggle, but I knew this would be the case and is one of the reasons I booked 5 weeks not four. My first full day in Ecuador, was actually my birthday. I woke up in the morning and opened a small present that my mum had given me to open. It was a lovely little book that was filled with messages from family and friends, as well as motivational quotes. It was beautiful and brought tears to my eyes. I was getting picked up at 9 am from the hostel and then doing the 6 hour journey to the park. But I was having a bad reaction to the malaria tablets and it meant that on the tram to the bus station in the capital I threw up. It was embarrassing and humiliating, not exactly what I wanted on my birthday. Thankfully I had fresh clothes in my hand luggage which meant I could freshen up before getting on the 5 hour coach. The rest of the day was bearable and I managed to not throw up again. When I arrived at the park I got shown to my cabin where I was sharing with 5 other girls. I tried to socalise that evening but I was just to ill and went to sleep.

The next day I woke up and felt okay, I decided to take my malaria tablets in the evening so that I could sleep off any side effects. Everyone was friendly and supportive, although some people were leaving at the end of that week and didn't make much of an effort to make friends but I can totally understand why. The other volunteer who arrived the same day as me was staying in the same cabin as me, she didn't really like the hard work that was involved on some of the days. It wasn't nice having that negatively around me and made me doubt if I was doing the right thing, if I should stay the whole five weeks or just four. But by the end of the week I realized it was silly thinking and remembered how much I enjoyed volunteering and working with animals.

Wooly Monkey 

Morning Rounds!

From my second week I felt right at home and fell into a regular routine. The day started around 7.30 am when we would go to the kitchen and get breakfast. Usually you would be either on Rounds or Extra Work and it alternated each day. If you were on Rounds, at 8 am you would head to the chopping room to prepare food for the morning round and then get placed onto either; Monkey, Non-Monkey or Small Round. After the animals had been fed and their enclosures cleaned, volunteers would be given small jobs to do. Either cleaning another enclosure, raking paths or any other small jobs that needed doing. Then at noon we stopped for our lunch break, lunch would be served around 1 pm every day and if you were on lunch duty you had to clean up afterwards but other than that you were free until 2.30 pm when work would start again. From half two till four you would get allocated to some smaller rounds. These consisted of cleaning the toilets (not great but the quickest round) and enrichment/food rounds (eggs, leaves, crickets, etc.). Then at 4 pm afternoon rounds would start, these were smaller and you didn't have to clean the enclosures it never took longer than an hour. Extra work days involved taking part in larger jobs that needed doing around the park, like making/improving paths and enclosures, mending fences, cleaning, picking up resources for park (sawdust or sugar cane peelings). Because these days were more intensive you worked 8 am - noon and 2.30 pm - 4 pm.

Pygmy Marmoset enjoying some Baby Food (mix made by volunteers)

In the end, five weeks turned out not to be long enough, I could have happily stayed longer in that amazing place. I really enjoyed the peace out there and although to some people it may seem that you have a lot of time off, for me the free time allowed me to catch up on a lot of reading but also to think freely. This may sound odd but back at home I was always been told to think of a job, constantly being asked what am I going to do with my future but there I could think about when I wanted to. It meant that I had longer to process ideas and actually came away having a better idea of where I want my life to go, although it isn't exactly a laid out plan – anything seems better than nothing. I was also able to pin point what I had got so anxious about when leaving home, it was the travelling alone I had the most worries about. But a good thing about volunteering aboard is that you meet other people who are also wanting to travel and who sometimes have a better grasp on the language than you. In the end I made some great friends there as well as being able to see more of the country than I had originally thought I would be able to.

Ocelot

Tamarian

I would recommend volunteering aboard to anyone! It allows you to see a new part of the world, benefit that area, whether it be the wildlife or local community, meet new people and learn new skills and even things about yourself.

To those people who like me, struggle with anxiety before travelling try and learn some calming techniques, like mindfulness. This will really help during moments where you are feeling overwhelmed. Also go to your doctor for help and talk things through with them, they may be able to offer help either through the form of medication or by reccomending sites or groups that help you cope with the effects of anxiety. I know how tough it can be, but please know that nothing is impossible and although its difficult, believe in yourself!!

Click here for the Yana Cocha facebook page.

Click here for the Frontier website where you can find this and other projects.

Two Macaws 

Thanks for reading =)  

Volunteering Aboard

Hi guys, 

It has been a while but I am writing to tell you about an exciting change to my life. Please read.

In August I will be travelling to help with an animal hospital in Ecaudor, which takes care for rescued and confiscated wild animals.

Whilst I am out there will be helping with animal care, technical functions of the centre enclosure upkeep, advertising and promotional activites (depending on the level of my Spanish when I go out there).  My skills with animal care which I have developed over the years from volunteering in many other animal hospitals in the UK, additionally photography skills will help towards the project for marketing the centre. My aim is to make a difference to the centre by bringing ideas from my past experience to push the centre forward. 

With the experiance I gain from this trip it will help me further my skills and hopefully those skills will enable to me to make a difference elsewhere, not only at home but in future for other places I volunteer.

Please donate. I only need this little bit more then I can make a difference out there. 

If you feel you want something for your donation, then please visit my online shop (link below) which will be updated soon and any profit that is made will go towards this experience and helping other trips around the world. 

If you would like to donate then please visit:  

  https://www.volunteerforever.com/volunteer_profile/charlotte-hamer

If you would like to see more detail about the trip then please visit:
  http://www.frontier.ac.uk/projects/105/Ecuador-Amazon-Wildlife-Sanctuary

If you are interested in looking for another volunteer project then please    visit: http://www.frontier.ac.uk/

You can find my store at:
 https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CharlotteLou4?ref=hdr_shop_menu
Please bear in mind that I currently ntering the final stages of my fourth year so I may not get to update the store as regularly as I would like but there will be more items added over the next few weeks.

Thank you!

Charlotte

News Story: Dippy is being moved!

Well, it was announced this week that the Natural History Museum in London are moving Dippy the Diplodocus out of the main entrance and replacing it with a skeleton of a Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus).

For those of you who have never visited the museum, you are probably wondering who the hell is Dippy? Well, Dippy is a cast of a skeleton of a Diplodocus. Dippy first went on display in 1979 although it was given to the museum on 1905. So it has been greeting visitors for over 30 years.

The museum has been open to the public since 1881, so was there anything else before Dippy?

The first big attraction in the main hall was a skeleton of a Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) this stayed in the hall form the 1890's till 1907 when it was replaced by Geogre the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) who remained there for 70 years until it was finally replaced by Dippy. 

The display change is big news, as the specimen of the blue whale  won't be a cast but it a real specimen which currently on display in the mammal hall, above a replica of the actual animal. So the plan is to remove the skeleton and scan all the bones in so that it will be in a digital skeleton, which could be used to print 3D bones in the future for research. It will then be hung from the ceiling in the main hall in a diving position to greet visitors to the building. 

What does this mean for Dippy? 

Well there are plans to put Dippy into another exhibition or maybe put her on display on the outside of the building. There could also be a possibility of Dippy going on tour to other musuems around the country. 

Changing the display to the skeleton of the Blue Whale should attract many visitors plus it put emphasize on the real skeletons that the museum have and the research that they undertake using specimens that are within those walls. I think this is a great step for the msuem to take and I can't wait to see in unveiled. But don't worry, if you want to see Dippy, she will still be there till 2017. If you want to plan a visit then go to the Natural History Musuem site (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/). 

Thanks for reading =) 

Big Butterfly Count

So the Big Butterfly Count is over! My total number of counts is about 6, if I had more of a garden I would have done several more. I have seen a few butterflies that I haven't seen before, which is always a nice a surprise, the biggest of which was on my birthday. So the total count of my counts is:

Large White (Pieris brassicae) x1

Speckled Wood (Paragre aegeria) x5

Small White (Pieris rapae) x8

*Small Copper (Lycaena phlaes) x1

Green Veined White (Pieris napi)

*Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus)

*Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithanus) 

The (*) butterflies are the species that I have never seen before. My personal favourite was the Clouded Yellow. I spotted this when out for a walk on my birthday, its bright yellow wings flashed in the Himalayan Balsalm. We chased after it and thought it may have been another species but the shape and brightness of the wings proved that it was in fact a Clouded Yellow. It is a migrant to the UK, so not something you are able to see that often.

There were plenty of other butterflies that I saw out of the count, like Peacock and Red Adrimals. But butterflies wasn't the only firsts for me this summer. I was lucky enough to see Gooseanders and a Black-Tailed Skimmer, photos of both are below. It just shows that once you get out and enjoy nature, even if you are just sat around in a field you will see lots of new things and increase your knowledge of the area around you.

Top (left to right); Red Adrimal, Speckled Wood
Bottom (left to right); Gooseander, Black-Tailed Skimmer

You can still upload your results from your surveys until the end of August by clicking on this: Big Butterfly Count


I hope you guys have seen special things this summer. What is your total surveys and what did you see? Please comment and let me know.

Keeping yourself busy in the summer

So I have finished university for the summer and now I have lots of spare time on my hands. Despite attempting to get work experience in many places, those plans have fallen through and as August approaches (my busiest month), I see no point further perusing the chance for experience in my field. So, along with my craft stuff (more on the other blog) I am using my summer to do surveys of the wildlife in my area.

There are many surveys that anyone can take part of, as it is citizen science, which means anyone can contribute to the results. Most surveys do not take up a large proportion of time and some you can do on the go, whether your in a walk in the local park or out and about in the car and you manage to spot a bird.

So far I have taken part in the Big Butterfly Count and a bee survey. The Big Butterfly Count is done every year and is run by the Butterfly Conservation, it is to monitor the population and distribution of butterflies throughout the UK.

All of these surveys are vital as it is important to record the populations and distribution so that we can observe the impacts of the many potential detrimental factors to our wildlife, such as urbanization and climate change. So if you have the time to get involve even if it is just for one occassion then please do check out the links below and see if you could contribute to any of them, you never know you may find a new hobby!

Hope you are all enjoying your summers and coping with the warm weather we have at the moment. If you have any nice photos from surveying then please don't hesitate to post them in the comments.

Scottish Wildcat Project

Holt Blackbird Project

Parakeets

Hedgehogs

Gannets - you can do this one from home

Bioblitz

Ladybirds

Barn Owls

BeeWatch

Hunger Games Book Thoughts

So I am ashamed to say that I had never read the hunger games series until after the second film came out *hangs head in shame*. But I have caught up and now I have read all three =). Here is what I thought on them. Well this is my first sort of review, it isn't in depth and probably not that good. But it contains no spoilers. Hope it is okay.

The Hunger Games (First Book)

I really enjoyed this book, it hooked me straight away. I liked the back story of Katniss Evergreen. When I saw the film, everyone was saying that it wasn't that great, whereas I thought it was awesome. I can now understand there point of view, as I thought the background to the pin was interesting and it was a shame they missed it out in the film, however I don't think it would have been pulled off as well. I did struggle to put the book down throughout my read. If you haven't read the book or the film, then I would say watch the film first as you then learn to love both.

Catching Fire (Second Book)

Now this didn't grab me as much as the first book. I have to admit, watching the film first helped me continue with the book as I could imagine it better. But I found there were a few inconsistencies with the first book, but nothing major. A lot of the book is description based, obviously there is a lot to try and describe, the author does a great job to build up the environment in your mind.  The ending of the book does leave you on a cliff hanger, so I am grateful that I didn't have to wait for the third book!

Mockingjay (Third Book)

Again I found this book difficult to get into. Although it is a good book, it goes really slow in the beginning and then suddenly everything happens all at once, so much I did get a little lost at the end and had to reread to see if I had missed anything. I am curious on how they will pull the film off as with the other books it is all in 1st person and a lot of it consists of thoughts and feelings, which can be difficult to portray in films. There are also plans to split the last film into 2 parts, I am struggling to see where they will finish the first film, especially as I said nothing really exciting happens in the first half of the book. Although I do have one or two ideas I will just have to wait and see what it ends up being.