Let it snow...

Community scientists Mollie and John visited Kinder Scout this weekend to carry out the monthly downloads of data collected by the loggers on our environmental monitoring site. Their job was made more challenging (but also more fun!) by the thick layer of snow which fell there on Friday night...

Mollie surveys the scene...

As Mollie explained: "We dug through over 2 feet of snow to find the rain gauge, air pressure logger and humidity and temp logger. Luckily the auto dipwell was sticking out so we had a reference point to start our digging from!"

John connects the rain gauge logger to the shuttle

John and Mollie were rewarded for their efforts with spectacular views of a magical looking landscape...

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me...

...11 bags for brashing,

 

One of the first stages in the bare peat re-vegetation process carried out by Moors for the Future Partnership, is to spread chopped heather - known as 'brash' - on to the peat surface. After being flown to site by helicopter in one tonne bags (such as those pictured), the brash is spread by hand to form a lattice over the surface. The contents of each bag should cover about 50 square metres when spread. The brash forms a barrier to reduce erosion from weather, and also contains the seeds of heather and any other plants present when it was cut, plus moss fragments and spores. The brash layer is crucial in stabilising the peat surface. Without it, seeds would be washed away before they had chance to germinate.

 10 geese migrating,

 

 

9 plants a-pluggin',

 

 

8 Sphagna growing,

 

 

7 sites now set up,

 

 

 

6 leaves a-prickling,

 

 

5 red deer!

 

 

4 hare prints,

 

 

3 lizards,

 

 

 

2 mating toads,

 

and a bilberry bumblebee!

 

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me...

...4 hare prints, 

 

Mountain hares (Lepus timidus) have several special adaptations which mean they are able to live in the cold, inclement conditions found high up in hills and mountains. In winter, their fur becomes thicker and turns white - to help camouflage them against snow. They also have shorter ears than brown hares to help minimise loss of body heat, and large feet to help them bound across the surface of snow. In the Peak District we have the only population of mountain hares in England, and we're collecting sightings of them through our Community Science hare survey to help learn how they may be impacted by changes in climate.

3 lizards,

 

 

 

2 mating toads,

 

and a bilberry bumblebee!