Year 12 Geography:
Ainsdale Sand dunes Jan 14th & 16th
AS level Geography students sit a third module of their course (2682 Geographical Investigation) which focuses on fieldwork, data collection techniques and how to analyse results using statistical techniques. Fieldwork is therefore vital to their studies.
Recently, both Year 12 groups have visited the sand dunes at Ainsdale in order to study changes across a sand dune system (a psammosere). This follows what they have been covering in class on the Ecosystems Topic. This trip also allows students to practice a variety of fieldwork techniques as well as providing them with a valuable case study.
The weather forecast wasn’t good with showers expected all week. The C1C group went out on the Monday and got a thorough drenching. We arrived on the beach, under grey skies, and split the class into two groups. One group were taking measurements of the gradient of the slopes whilst the larger, second group had three tasks to complete; recording climate data, sampling the flora and testing the pH of the soil. Both Mrs. Hibberd and I were impressed with how well the students worked despite it being cold and wet. We worked our way inland taking readings every 30 metres, over the dunes more than one student took a slight tumble (or as we called it, ‘doing a Johnson’!) on the wet, slippery grass but we eventually completed the work with no major injuries.
I think Rebecca and Samantha were secretly quite disappointed not to have seen a rare Natterjack toad or sand lizards found in this area however this time of year they hibernate in burrows in the dunes.
After completing the data collection we stopped off at the Green Beach at Birkdale. This is an area of the beach where public access was limited 15 years ago and since then numerous pioneer species of plants have colonized the once golden sands. The area now is in the early stages of dune formation in turn creating a rare habitat; this is the only place in England where the Baltic Rush is found.
Lunch was had at McDonalds by Southport Pier and the smiles soon returned to the damp faces of our Year 12 students. Despite my best recommendations, the students all opted for fries rather than the fruit bags!
We finished the day by visiting the salt marshes briefly at Marshside where Guy had a surprise visit although you will need to speak to him about that!
On Wednesday, the C1E group repeated the same trip with Mr. Prentice joining us. The weather, although cold, was much better and we were able to spend more time on the dunes collecting data. The group worked extremely well and soon collected a mass of data which we will be following up in class. On both days we brought walkie talkies so that both groups could stay in touch when they lost sight of each other. It always amazes me to see how easily 16 & 17 year olds can be transformed back to acting like six year olds when you give them a walkie talkie!
The Department had developed this trip further than in previous years and overall was a huge success. The students all worked very well and proved themselves to be a credit to the College.
Do have a look at the photographs which you will find on the Social area of the website under 'Geography Trips'.
Mr. Halewood