Grass identification course for beginners 8th of July 2015
We recently held a Grass Identification for Beginners course on the 8th of July 2015. The course was taught by our principal ecologist and director Paul Hudson who has over 15 years of experience in fieldwork and Ecological Consultancy.
The aim of the course was not only to introduce participants to common species of grasses but also to provide them with practical knowledge by involving them in fieldwork. The indoor session was held in Acer Ecology’s office in Cardiff Bay and the outdoor part in the Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve.
In the classroom
We started from the basics explaining what grasses are; their structure (stem and leaves) so as to move forward to clarify the difference between grasses, sedges and rushes that can be easily confused. Remember that “rushes are round and sedges have edges”. We then covered in more depth, the structure of grasses; ligules, membranous ligules, auricle, flower, floret, inflorescence and specialised stems.
Timothy Phleum pratense Cock’s-foot Dactylis glomerata
We continued by looking at the common species; Poas (Annual meadow grasses), Agrostis (Bent grasses), Holcus (Soft grasses), Phleum (Timothy grasses), Alopercurus (Fox-tails), Lolium (Rye- grasses), Elytrigia repens (Couch grass), Hordeum (Barley), Bromus (Bromes), Oat grasses, Dactylis glomerata (Cocksfoot) and Quaking grass.
Samples were given to the participants throughout the course to help them to understand the key terms, improve their knowledge on the common grasses and to give them the opportunity to explore the common species using Plant ID books themselves.
Fieldwork
When the classroom session finished, it was time to head to the Wetland Reserve. Luckily enough, grasses can be found in many places and so even on our way there participants had the chance practice their identification skills.
On our way to the Wetland Reserve
The outdoor session began with an exercise. The participants were asked to search the field to identify and collect the species covered in the class. Afterwards, the group gathered to examine and analyse the samples collected.
Discussing about the findings of the participants
The fieldwork continued by exposing participants to different species. Rory, Danny and Hal from our team assisted our participants during fieldwork by answering the participants questions and providing them with advice on identification and tips from their experience.
Rory, Danny and Hal while assisting the participants
It was great to meet such a diverse group of people from different voluntary groups but also participants with ecology backgrounds who joined the course to improve their botany identification skills.
Fieldwork in the Wetland Reserve
We regularly hold ecological courses aimed to improve identification skills. Click here to see the full list of our scheduled Ecological Training courses for 2015, or find out more on what is involved in our courses on our blog article about our previous Plant identification for Phase 1 course.
