Lederman Trainee blog - October 22

Emma Chaplin
, 01 November 2022
Lederman Trainee blog - October 22
Mark Newton and Rosie Hutchings with the Stedham and Iping volunteers


Rosie

The time is flying by and we’re now 11 months into our traineeship! We’ve been very busy out on reserves practising skills we’ve learned, including woodland and heathland management strategies.

At Eridge Rocks, I used a chainsaw to open up an area of Willow, Hazel and Silver Birch. This was a really great opportunity to practise using different felling cuts and working out directions for fells. It was a lot of fun and I loved trying out different techniques and practising dealing with hung-up trees. I find it really satisfying to look at the site after the work’s done and see how much light has been let in. Later in the month, I spent the day with some volunteers on the same reserve, opening up a pathway by coppicing hazel using hand tools. It’ll be nice to revisit in the near future and see how this reserve has changed.

I carried out pesticide training this month. It was something I was initially sceptical about, as I don’t really like the idea of using chemicals, however it’s a very good skill to have as I now know how to use them safely on specified target areas and avoid contaminating other habitats. It’s sometimes necessary to use pesticides to control unwanted plant species in order to maintain a more biodiverse habitat.

Recently at Woods Mill, I supported Ryan Greaves who was running a Forest School session along with a research project titled ‘Risky Play’. We provided a morning of activities for a small group of children who were accompanied by their parents. Researchers from the University of Sussex observed the children and will use the results to explore how time spent outside and exposure to challenges will effect children’s emotional well-being and hormone levels. It was interesting to get involved with this group and I’m looking forward to hearing what the research shows!

Mark

At the start of October, I had the exciting experience of ringing a juvenile male Sparrowhawk at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve (RHNR). While bird ringing we usually encounter small songbirds like migrating Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, or resident Blue and Great Tits, so having the chance to ring a bird of prey was very special. Over the last year Rosie and I have been trained to ring birds by our BTO-licensed trainer (and RHNR Reserves Office) David King, learning how to identify, handle and care for the birds during the whole process. Gathering this data is important for conservationists, so that we can understand how bird populations are doing and then respond with the right kind of action to help them.

Like Rosie I also worked at Eridge Rocks reserve, joining Reserves Manager Jamie Parsons and his regular volunteers to improve the woodland habitat there. I was able to put my recently acquired chainsawing and tree-felling license to good use, thinning out the Birch, Sweet Chestnut and Hazel to create glades that will support species like Purple Hairstreak butterflies.

At the end of this month, we worked at Stedham Common with our boss and mentor Steve Webster, who continued our training on how to lead volunteer work groups. Our task was to cut down the hundreds of small pine trees that had grown throughout the heathers. Left to grow, they’d soon outcompete the heathland plants for light and space, and we’d lose the habitat to a less biodiverse coniferous woodland. Our volunteers did a fantastic job of removing the saplings and the heather should be blooming well and buzzing with heathland insects next year.

Leave a comment
Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1792277683.93090 [907] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1792277683.96170.0308Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1792277683.96180.0002Server address: 216.73.216.236
1792277683.96190.0001Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1792277683.96190Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/lederman-trainee-blog-october-22
    [s] => lederman-trainee-blog-october-22
    [1] => lederman-trainee-blog-october-22
)
1792277683.96220.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1792277683.96310.001 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1792277683.96490.0017 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=25088098
1792277683.96550.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=25088098
1792277683.96590.0005 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-10-17 22:54:00' AND saleTo>'2026-10-17 22:54:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1792277683.96710.0011 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='lederman-trainee-blog-october-22')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-10-17 22:54:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1792277683.97120.0041 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1792277683.9720.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=2917 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-10-17 22:54:00'
1792277683.97310.0011 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1792277683.97360.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1792277683.97430.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=235 LIMIT 1
1792277683.97510.0008Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1792277683.97530.0002 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1792277683.97630.001 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-10-17 22:54:00' AND postSlug='lederman-trainee-blog-october-22'
1792277684.00510.0288Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1792277684.00550.0004 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1792277684.00690.0014Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1792277684.00710.0002 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1792277684.00790.0008 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1792277684.00910.0012 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1792277684.01330.0042 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1792277684.01410.0008 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1792277684.01640.0022Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1792277684.01640 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1792277684.01710.0007 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1792277684.01750.0004 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1792277684.01970.0022 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1792277684.02060.0009 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1792277684.02120.0006 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1792277684.02330.0021 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1792277684.02440.0011 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1792277684.02770.0033 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1792277684.02830.0006Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1792277684.02860.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='20' LIMIT 1
1792277684.02940.0008Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1792277684.02970.0004 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='lederman-trainee-blog-october-22')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-10-17 22:54:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1792277684.03180.0021 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1792277684.03240.0005 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1792277684.03440.0021Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1792277684.03530.0008 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=2917 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1792277684.11480.0796 [0] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1792277684.1150.0002Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1792277684.11520.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='20' LIMIT 1
1792277684.11610.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1792277684.11690.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1792277684.11760.0007 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1792277684.12050.0028 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1792277684.12120.0007 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1792277684.1240.0028 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1792277684.12490.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1792277684.12570.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1792277684.12640.0007 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1792277684.12970.0033 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1792277684.13030.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1792277684.1330.0027 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1792277684.13650.0035 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1792277684.13750.001 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1792277684.13820.0008 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1792277684.14140.0032 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1792277684.14220.0008 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1792277684.14460.0024 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1792277684.14690.0023 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1792277684.14780.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1792277684.14830.0006 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1792277684.1510.0027 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1792277684.15150.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1792277684.1540.0025 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1792277684.15530.0013Request time: 0.2255
1792277684.15530Process time: 0.2253
1792277684.15530Memory: 1.6278