Easter field courses: fun and fascinating

Field courses are a key part of our undergraduate teaching. They help students put the material from their lectures in context, develop a spirit of curiosity, and engage with each other and their teachers in a more informal environment. 

At the start of the Easter break 2025, two groups of 30 students studying first-year Evolution and Behaviour headed west for a week’s field trip led by the Departments of Zoology and Plant Sciences. Staying at Field Studies Council centres in Dale (Pembrokeshire) and Slapton (Devon), the students were able to put the organisms they’d met on their lecture course into context in the real world.

Dr Hamish Symington, Postdoctoral Researcher in the Evolution and Development group at the Department of Plant Sciences writes about the trip to Dale in Pembrokeshire.

Discoveries

The students first explored a local woodland, getting to grips with plant anatomy and identification. They unravelled developing ferns, found liverworts and mosses by the banks of a small stream, and examined the reproductive structures of flowers such as primrose and red campion. Back in the ‘lab’ (a converted classroom), a van-load of kit from Cambridge enabled microscopic study and dissection, giving a practical understanding of concepts which many students had previously only been taught in theory. 

The following day the team headed to Marloes Sands, a Site of Special Scientific Interest.  There they found fossils of creatures which had been introduced in the ‘evolution of animals’ section of their lecture course: crinoids, corals, brachiopods, gastropods and, much to everyone’s delight, some trilobites. There was also plenty of opportunity for birdwatching and an introduction to plant life on a rocky, windswept headland. 

Heading to the intertidal zone on the rocky shores an exceptionally low tide uncovered many unusual organisms, including nudibranchs (sea slugs), cushion stars, blue-rayed limpets, squat lobsters and more. 

On the final day of teaching, the team visited the Gann mudflat, where another very low tide led to the discovery of a wealth of species, including more nudibranchs, whelks, a dogfish and its eggs, starfish, pipefish, terebellid worms, scallops and a sea hare. Again, our lab setup allowed students to carefully examine the anatomy and behaviour of many invertebrate organisms before we released them back where they had been found. 

Project work

One important aspect of the field courses is that they allow students to try project work: formulating a question, measuring data to try to answer that question, then presenting their findings to the group. All the while, their teachers were on hand to help students understand techniques, take appropriate measurements and run statistical analyses.

Projects ranged from the behaviour of toothed periwinkles when placed in groups on rocks, coverage of seaweed over different parts of the beach, how plankton abundances varied with the tide, measurement of microplastics and trial of a new, simpler method for detecting them, and the prevalence of lichens on different surfaces and in different environments (which won the ‘best project’ award).

Student testimonials

The group thoroughly enjoyed their fieldwork, describing it as an ‘amazing trip’ and ‘extremely fun’.

Here's what two of our first-year undergraduates students said about the course.

For me, the Dale trip has been the highlight of the Evolution and Behaviour course this year. It really brings together everything we learn and is one of the best ways to help students find what they're interested in.

It's one thing to learn about things in lectures, but quite another to see and touch the organisms in person. 

Getting to look at the plants under the microscope was especially interesting. You could see not just the structure of the plants, but also the amount of fungi and other organisms living on them, which is something that doesn’t fully come across from lectures. 

The project at the end of the course was particularly valuable. It was an opportunity to apply skills not just from Evolution and Behaviour but from other subjects as well – like having to consider which statistical tests to use to analyse the data you've collected.  

Having to consider how to approach designing your own project work helps you appreciate the importance of experimental design and the difficulty of balancing what would be preferred in ideal conditions with what is realistically feasible.  

My experience made me realise how much I enjoy ecology and plant sciences. I think the Dale Fort course was a real turning point for me and has definitely influenced what I'm thinking of doing in my second year and beyond. 

The field course was an all-round fantastic experience - being able to get hands-on learning experience alongside likeminded people is a wonderful way to learn and develop understanding.

We were introduced to the full process of field study, from planning to executing to adjusting and presenting an investigation into a question of interest. 

It served as practical learning of concepts which had been covered during lectures and lab sessions over the year. Applied learning in this way, by observing and learning in the field, has given me a new perspective on these concepts and, I feel, developed and deepened my understanding of what I had been learning in the Natural Sciences course up to this point.

Talks from the demonstrators about their own academic journeys and their experience with research also gave a useful insight into possible future directions.

Courses like the one in Dale are a great way to introduce field work and research practices in an engaging and enjoyable way. 

I was able to develop both as a person and a student and it’s an opportunity I would recommend to anyone who has the chance. I’m very grateful for the experience and to everyone who made it possible. 

Images:

• Stream: On the first day, the students headed into a nearby woodland to explore the diversity of plant life. Students took samples to explore under the microscope, and uploaded observations to iNaturalist. 
• Person on beach: One team measured seaweed diversity across transects of the beach, exploring the relationship of substrate, species and distance from high water mark. Here, a student is using a quadrat to help her quantify species abundance. 
• Grimace: On the mud flats, we found several large whelks, which will happily wander across the back of a hand.