Student Research

More in this section

• Stewardship Plan
• Squirrel Woodlands
• Marsh Fritilary
• Cattle
• Archeology
• Forest
• Monitoring
• Student Research

Wild Ennerdale offers a number of opportunities for research we have listed below those that we are currently interested in but by all means suggest your own.

Heather condition survey - Mapping the condition and extent of heather on an area of the fell. Using archive aerial photos to compare change in heather distribution and condition over the last 40 years.

Cattle tracking - Compare the tracking collar data with actual movement on the ground

Cattle Behaviour - Understanding how the cattle interact with each other and the environment through continuous observation to answer questions such as how far apart do they graze, what species do they prefer, how often do the interact with each through "social pushing.

Cattle Impact - Using GPS map the areas of grazed vegetation, access corridors, glades and ungrazed woodland to get a detailed picture of the animals use of the ground.

Visitor Experience Survey- Carry out surveys of people visiting the valley and analyse the responses to see if there are any trends. We have a prepared survey form or you could produce your own.

River Liza - Map the rivers changing course and compare this to archive aerial photography.

River Liza - How long does a gravel shoal take to become vegetated and why dow some grave beds survive longer that others.

River Liza - How far does woody debris travel dow the river from where it was growing.

Woodland development - Repeat some or all of our base line forest monitoring plots and make a comparison with the original data.

Woodland development - Investigate the link between canopy gap size, regeneration, light levels and vegetation.

Habitat development -can you help us understand how the valley is developing by modeling the valley or areas of the valley and how they might develop over the coming years.