The Field Course saw 25 Undergraduates visit Malham Tarn in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Image by Dr Wiebke Schuett.

Georgios Kalogiannis came first in the photography competition with this photo of a Bird's-eye Primrose

Tatiana Bell came second in the competition with this photo of a Spotted Flycatcher

Ella Byrne was third in the photography competition with this photo of a House Sparrow

The first Life Sciences field course to take place in over a year, due to national Covid-19 restrictions, allowed students to explore the ecology of the Yorkshire Dales.

The Upland Ecology Field Course saw 25 Zoology and Ecology, Conservation and Environment undergraduates visit Malham Tarn, a glacial lake in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

FSC Malham Tarn, a Georgian fishing lodge owned by the National Trust and situated on the northern shore of the lake, was home for the 6-day field course.

The students, a mix of first and second years, explored a variety of habitats and species in this upland setting and studied a mixture of animal and plant ecology, providing valuable field experience.

A friendly photography competition to see who could best capture the nature and landscape of the area was also held, with the winners announced on the last day.

Dr Alan Stewart, a Reader in Ecology, accompanied the students on the trip, along with Lecturers Dr Wiebke Schuett and Dr Claudia Drees. He said: “I’m so pleased we were able to run the field course this year. It was touch-and-go as to whether we would be allowed to go or not. It was a lot of work to make it Covid-secure, but it was worth it after such a long time under lockdown.

“Many of the students had never even met each other before and we received really positive feedback from them, helped by a week of sunny weather and no rain; with a scoring system of 1 (awful) to 5 (brilliant), the average score was 4.6!”

As the trip could not take place last year due to national Government guidelines, second-year students were invited to join the first-year students.

The field course was permitted this year with strict safety measures in place. These measures included regular lateral flow tests, mask-wearing in indoor spaces, individually allocated equipment (which was sanitised daily) and briefing sessions that were delivered as pre-recorded videos, to limit time spent in indoor communal areas.