Environmental monitoring results: Burbage water table

In our last post we looked at the temperature changes on Burbage. Another variable that our volunteers measure monthly is water table depth. This is done both manually and with an automatic data-logger. The following graphs show how the average water table depth has changed since 2015.

Thanks again to Andy Burn for producing these graphs and to all the volunteers who have been out on the moors collecting this data!

Storm Angus

The UK was battered by rain and high winds in November this year as a storm named 'Angus' made an appearance.

Angus hit the south of England during the 19^th and 20^th of November, but it wasn't until the day after when the heavy rains had moved north and reached the Peak District and South Pennines, that we were able to record the storm.

This blog post looks at how the equipment installed on our Community Science environmental monitoring sites reacted to this event. 

Volunteers collect information from these sites each month, and use the same equipment and methods as Moors for the Future science team do on other sites where conservation works have taken place. In this case though, we're interested in capturing long-term climate datasets on sites where conservation works haven't taken place.

The bar chart below shows how much rain fell on each of our five sites over four days:

Click on the image to see a larger version

Marsden had the most consistent rainfall with 71.2 mm recorded across the four days. Despite Holme only recording rainfall on the second couple of days of the storm (21st and 22nd), it received the second highest amount, with 73 mm in total. The Roaches had 45.6 mm over the four days and Edale had a surprisingly small 33.6 mm. Out in front was Burbage Moor, which recorded a total of 78mm over the 4 days, with nearly 70% of this falling on Monday 21st.

So how did all this water behave once it reached the ground? The line graph below shows how the water table on the sites changed over the days around the storm. The 'zero' mark on the left hand axis represents ground level, and each line shows how close to the surface the water was (in metres) over the four days of the 'official' storm, and a couple of days afterwards.

Click on the image to see a larger version

We can't be certain what is happening here, but from a quick look at the graph we could surmise that despite having less rainfall than the other sites the water table at Edale (the driest of the sites) increased the most, jumping up by around 10 cm, before rapidly decreasing again as water drained away. 

The Roaches water table also had a sharp increase, however as the water on the site is consistently close to the surface, it only increased to around ground level - but then seemed to stay there, possibly because the site has plenty of Sphagnum moss, and clay underlying the peat layer. 

On the Holme site the water was also already close to the surface, and despite having very high rainfall, the water table didn’t change dramatically, or as quickly. 

Marsden did show an increase in water table - but it was gradual and the new higher level was maintained in the days after the storm event. The site is very flat and also contains Sphagnum moss among its vegetation, which could perhaps help to explain this pattern. 

The site which had the most rainfall (Burbage) also showed a small response - the water was almost at surface level; and you can see it even exceeds zero, forming a puddle! This is another very flat site and does have some Sphagnum moss present. 

The complexity of  hydrological data - taking into account the many variables which can affect the way water behaves on a site - means that we cannot draw any firm conclusions just yet. However, our volunteers will be analysing our environmental data in more depth in the near future...

Graphs and text by volunteer Mollie Hunt, and the CSP team....

Wildlife photos from Crisis event - part 2

Last Friday was the second 'Creative Conservation' Community Science event with Crisis members from Sheffield. Member Steve Smith has shared this set of cracking wildlife shots he took on the day:

One of the highlights of the day was a close encounter with this roe buck near Longshaw estate

Another shot, as the roe deer makes a hasty exit...

A beautiful reed bunting seen singing in a patch of soft rush

Just one of the hundreds of millipedes all making their way along the path in Burbage Valley



A stunning meadow pipit; in a classic pose!


 

Wildlife photos from Community Science walk with Crisis members

Last Friday was the inaugural 'Creative Conservation' Community Science event with Crisis members from Sheffield -  consisting of a guided wildlife walk around the Millstone Edge and Padley Gorge area led by the Community Science team and Tom from the National Park Ranger Service, followed by an introduction to Community Science (and lunch stop) at Brunt's Barn near Grindleford.

Peacock butterfly (c) Steve Smith

Crisis member and photographer Steve took some pictures of some of the wildlife which was spotted, including the Community Science target species the Peacock Butterfly (above) - seen and recorded just below Millstone Edge.

A northern hairy wood ant nest (c) Steve Smith

Some of the other species also seen/heard and talked about were: orange-tip butterfly; early, white-tailed and tree bumblebees; willow warbler, chiffchaff, redstart, pied flycatcher, meadow and tree pipits, stonechat, buzzard, great spotted woodpecker, northern hairy wood ants, bluebells, lesser celandine, wood sorrel and birch polypore fungus (also known as razor strop) and red kite.

Female pied flycatcher (c) Steve Smith

Red kite (c) Steve Smith

Thanks to Steve for sending in these great photos, and also to everyone else involved for making it a very enjoyable day.

Mountain hares on BBC Look North

Yesterday morning didn't look promising -  a thick fog hung over the summit of Black Hill as the Community Science team set out with Danny Carpenter from BBC Look North and Dave O'Hara from RSPB to film mountain hares for a piece about our new hare survey.

A very stealthy Danny and Dave filming a hare

Luckily, the fog started to clear as we reached one of the areas where we had seen hares previously - and hoped we would see them again. 

Pretty quickly they started to appear, but filming them proved a little tricky - as one of the UK's fastest land mammals they could exit the frame at top speed! One particularly accommodating hare, still in its brown summer coat, posed very nicely; but another hare with a patchy white 'transition' coat was very camera shy and determined not to be filmed.

Sarah being interviewed by Danny

Sarah Proctor (Community Science Project Manager) spoke to Danny about the project, why we are interested in recording sightings of mountain hares and their coat colour, and the possible implications of climate change for hares. 

Once we know when the piece is going out, we will let you know. In the meantime, if you have seen any hares and want to let us know, or you'd like more information about getting involved in our surveys, please head to our website: http://www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk/community-science/haresurvey

How to monitor a moor...

This short film made by one of our fantastic volunteers shows how we go about monitoring an area of moorland, and even includes a short cameo from a mountain hare:

You can see volunteers laying out quadrats (randomly placed squares used as a 'sample' of the moorland), installing equipment like peat anchors (for measuring peat depth), dipwells (for measuring water table) and a rain gauge (for measuring rainfall) amongst other things. Data from this kit will be downloaded monthly and used to see how the moorland is responding to climate change in the long term.

The film also shows the initial survey of the plants on the site - our volunteers answer questions like: Which species of plants are present? How tall are they? What condition are they in? Are there any signs of wildlife? This information will be collected every year to see if there is a trend or pattern of changes. 

Many thanks to Sergio for filming, to Eastern Moors Partnership and Sheffield City Council and all the volunteers who helped to set the site up. The film was mostly shot on Burbage Moor, with the hare footage captured near Bleaklow.

If you'd be interested in getting involved in moorland monitoring like this, please get in touch with us at moorcitizens@peakdistrict.gov.uk

Photo Competition - Top Tips from Paul Hobson

This year's Community Science photo competition, themed 'Moorland and Wildlife' is now open for your entries.

Black Darter by Paul Hobson

Local wildlife photographer and author Paul Hobson has kindly donated one of the prizes  - a signed copy of his fantastic book 'Wild Derbyshire' -  and will be helping to judge the competition alongside Kate MacRae, also known as Wildlife Kate.

The prizes - 2 fabulous signed wildlife books worth over £40

To help give you some inspiration and ideas, Paul has provided 7 top-tips for entrants:

1. The background is as important as the subject. More images are ruined by a poor background than any other reason.

2. Use a tripod, it slows you down and allows fine tuning to your composition.

3. Make sure you understand depth of field and f numbers so you choose the best depth of field (dof) for your image. Landscapes tend to want big dof's at F16 or higher. Portraits of animals and plants can look great at lower dof's using f numbers like 4 or 5.6

Red Grouse in a Peak District landscape by Paul Hobson

 

4. Make sure you understand the basic rule of composition, the rule of thirds. At its most basic try to get the subject to one side of your image and looking into the space.

5. Try to get away from auto and use one of the main modes like aperture priority, this allows you a far greater control over your camera and images.

6. Don't copy other images, try to be original and create a style of your own.

7. You don't need to travel far, all my best images are taken close to home because I can repeatedly visit and perfect my images.

To find out more about Paul's photography, and to see details of his new book 'Wildlife Photography Field Skills and Techniques' head over to his website.  

To enter the photo competition, please head to the Community Science website.