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Biology Ainsdale Trip

101 of our AS students took to the Sand Dunes in Ainsdale for their annual A Level Biology trip.

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application/pdf Biology Trip Ainsdale 2010

The purpose of this year’s trip was to enable students to observe ‘Succession’ in action and to witness various conservation techniques that are used on the sand dunes at Ainsdale.

Rachel and Billy, the onsite rangers, took the students and staff on a guided tour of the sand dunes, stopping along the way to look at Natterjack Toad and Great Crested Newt breeding pools.

Josh Hassall, formerly of St Peter’s High School, said “It was interesting to hear about the Sand Lizard breeding programme that is happening with Ainsdale and Chester Zoo. They also told us all about how the invasive Sea Buckthorn is removed from Ainsdale & sent to Chester Zoo to entertain the Black Rhinos. It was so useful to speak to experts and see first hand what we are studying for our exams modules.”

A group of students were lucky enough to see several sets of sand lizard tracks but sadly no lizards were spotted.

Rebecca Brown, Teacher of Biology said: “Students have studied succession in class and have practiced sampling techniques on the college field. It was a great day to take them out onto the dunes for them to demonstrate they can do transects, random quadrats and point quadrats. They were able to experience the conditions many ecologists have to work in and have developed new skills.”

Ben Moore, formerly of Thistley Hough High School said: “This trip was a fantastic opportunity to see the sand dunes up close and practicing our ecology techniques in this environment really helped to make the topics we are studying in class more real.”