Hi everybody,
Clearly something amusing under the microscope! Or I’m not very good at having my photo taken…
My name is Emma and I’m the new Riverflies Apprentice. I’m based in Northern Ireland working with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and the Ballinderry Rivers Trust (BRT). My main focus is identifying freshwater macro-invertebrates in order to assess water quality and identify areas for improvement; however I’m interested in all areas of freshwater and riparian ecology and looking forward to expanding my knowledge in as many areas as possible.
One of thirty trays of invertebrates from a single sample waiting to be processed.
I’ve been in my position for nearly a month now, so I feel like I’m just getting my head around things, however I’m sure that’ll change shortly! At present I’m based primarily with the NIEA, from whom I’ve been learning about best practice procedures for sampling and identification of freshwater macro-invertebrates. Theoretically identification is simple, but given that there are up to 85 different families that count in the BMWP scoring system, and an additional 27 that can fall into the new WHPT system, that’s a lot of names and ID features to remember! I do feel like I’m well on the way to getting the hang of it when I’ve got an ID key with me, but I’m certainly still prone to getting the names mixed up (e.g. hydroptilidae/hydrophilidae – one letter difference, two rather different beasts!) or just looking at one and going “I know what that is” but drawing a complete blank in regards to the name.
Hydroptilidae –micro-caddis fly larvae – (above) and hydrophilidae – water scavenger beetle larvae (below).
So the outline of my post is that I’m going to be learning best practice from the NIEA in regards to freshwater macro-invertebrate sampling and processing, and then getting the opportunity to implement my new skills with the BRT whilst also learning more about riparian ecology as a whole. My first shot of this will be in January when I head over to work with the BRT for a month when I’ll be encouraging volunteers to engage with the Riverfly Monitoring Initiative, which is a scheme which uses the general public to perform bankside assessment of water quality thereby increasing the area surveyed and allows for the rapid discovery of problem areas. Later on in the year I’m hoping to be helping out with more of the trust’s activities including the freshwater pearl mussel breeding and reintroduction programme, the white-clawed crayfish arc site, habitat improvements to the Ballinderry catchment and electrofishing surveys to assess fish populations in the river. Whilst with the NIEA as well as getting valuable practical education from the river ecology team I’m also assisting with the ongoing official monitoring of water quality of Northern Ireland’s rivers, which means that my skills need to be up to scratch! As such despite being here only a month I’ve already undergone my first internal audit with the rest of the river ecology team, which despite being a little nerve-wrecking went well, and means I should be trusted to survey in the months ahead.
NIEA River Ecology Team
L-R. David, Colin (moved to lakes), Aideen, Ciara, Me, Alan, Shelly, Claire, Bruce and Imelda.
So a bit of background about me. I’m a graduate Ecologist from Scotland and since finishing my masters I’ve spent time working and volunteering with the Ayrshire Rivers Trust during which time I conducted Invasive Non-Native Species surveys, and assisted with electrofishing surveys and volunteer training. Aside from this I’ve also got a background in Amphibian conservation having worked for both the Durrell Wildlife Trust and the Zoological Society of London on the Mountain Chicken Project (they’re frogs, not chicken, promise… www.mountainchicken.org ) during which I bred, reintroduced and radio-tracked frogs being released into the wild. I’ve also volunteered a little with a range of other organisations including the RSPB, the East Ayrshire Coalfield Environment Initiative and the Montserrat Animal Protection Society. One month in and I’m really enjoying my placements and looking forward to the rest of the year ahead. This apprenticeship is providing me with a wonderful opportunity to learn both theory and skills in relation to freshwater and riparian ecology, and I hope I can both get as much out of it and provide as much back to the two organisations who are kind enough to host me as possible.
That’s it for now, best wishes to everybody,
Emma