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
• 3 afternoons of fieldwork to install rainfall run-off plots to assess the effects of field management on soil erosion processes at the Crichton Royal Farm, Scottish Rural University College
• Field class to Grey Mare's Tail to investigate glacial landforms
• 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 e.g. Galloway hydro, Torness Nuclear Power Plant, Steven's Croft Biomass Power Plant, Dumfries and Galloway Informary's biomass boiler.
• Weekly fieldwork on the Research Methods for Environmental Scientists course which includes skills such as: Phase 1 Habitat Surveys; Landscape Character Assessments; vegetation surveys; biological and chemical methods to assess water quality; soil sampling with chemical and physical analysis; woodland surveys involving tree growth dynamics; GPS.
• Field class to the Carse of Ae trout farm to observe aquaculture
• Field class to Forestry Commission forests near Dalbeattie to look at sustainable forest management.

Level 3 courses:

• Field classes to the River Clyde to examine invasive non-native species with the River Annan Fisheries Trust;
• Field class to Edinburgh Zoo to examine the role of the modern zoo and see the pandas!
• Field class to Clatteringshaws Dam and Black Water of Dee to investigate river quality and human impacts;
• Field visit to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust to look at conservation in action with Mr Brian Morrell;
• Field visit to the Solway Firth to look at coastal impacts and management;
• 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 trout and Vendace prior to their re-introduction into Loch Skeen (Scottish Rural University 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!
• The Restoration Ecology Field Course will involve one week of field work in Glen Affric with Trees for Life and one week of field work in Dumfries working on meadow restoration.