Environmental Stewardship (Dumfries Campus)

Fieldwork and field classes

The School of Interdisciplinary Studies is uniquely located for the study of environmental stewardship with easy access to estuarine, maritime and terrestrial environments such as the Southern Uplands, the Merse, peat bogs and moorland. These features together with the extensive agricultural and forested environment of the region present a vibrant and diverse ‘laboratory’ in which to study; having these appealing features on the doorstep cannot be claimed by most other institutions offering an environmental undergraduate degree! 

Implicit in this programme is a need to understand the processes operating in the natural environment, the interaction of society with natural systems and the resulting environmental problems. Through the use of case studies, field visits and independent project work, students will explore environmental issues and debate some of the approaches used to address environmental problems in the pursuit of stewardship of the environment.

The degree makes ample use of the natural laboratory that is Dumfries and Galloway, and therefore offers students the opportunity to engage with a variety of fieldwork and field classes at all levels:

Level 1 courses:

• Field class to a local wind farm
• Fieldwork on erosion and soil properties on the Crichton Royal Farm, Scottish Agricultural College
• Field class to Grey Mare's Tail to investigate glacial processes
• Experimental design project (lab or field based) on a topical environmental issue e.g. acid rain, global warming
• Field class to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Caerlaverock

Level 2 courses:

• Field class to the Crichton Royal Farm to investigate agricultural stewardship on a working dairy farm
• Field classes to a number of energy generation sites within Dumfries and Galloway.
• Weekly fieldwork on the Research Methods for Environmental Scientists course which includes skills such as: Phase 1 Habitat Surveys, Landscape Character Assessments, plant identification, soil sampling, topographic surveying
• Field class to Moffat CAN to examine aquaponics
• Field class to Forestry Commission forests near Dalbeattie to look at sustainable forest management

Level 3 courses:

• Field work on Kirkconnell Flow lowland raised bog to investigate restoration of the peat bog
• Field class to Edinburgh Zoo to examine the role of the modern zoo
• Crichton Placement - usually involves a significant amount of field work e.g. previous placements included: working with the red kites (RSPB); working with the Barnacle geese (WWT); working with Vendace prior to their re-introduction into Loch Skeen, and trout (Barony College); assisting a tourism based SME achieve the Green Tourism status; developing a 'water' teaching pack for use in primary schools (Eco-Schools).

Honours year (level 4):

The Environmental Stewardship Project will enable a student to study in depth an environmental topic or issue that interests them. This will naturally involve fieldwork of some sort!