a few thoughts i felt compelled to share

[almostnormal]

Originally Posted by eeyore

I believe firmly in equal opportunities to get sprayed with dog muck , dead Hedgehogs , impaled by hypodermic needles ( I always wear leather rigger boots when strimming in urban areas), drenched in hogweed sap or any of the other delights of the job.

could be a new advertising solution - "I used to take two bottles into the shower but now I just use decomposing Hedgehog.... and smell"

you might believe in equal rights, i'm a firm believer in the 'i'm a helpless girl, please give me a lift up the nasty big hill on the back of your quad bike' approach. you'd be suprised how often that works!

and thats disgusting. two stroke fumes you could cope, with but eau de dead Hedgehog is definitely pushing it...

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by almostnormal

oh, gross. hmmm.....sheep skulls huh? did you run screaming from the forest never to return? that's what i'd've done. the only possible explanations are 1)there's a bear in there some where, 2) there's a wolf in there somewhere or 3) someone was covering up evidence of wrong doing!

I rang my boss who helpfully burst out laughing and told me to 'get out of there!! Get out of there now!!'

I thought maybe - maybe someone had been poaching sheep to eat or something - slaughtering them in the wood or something.... but then why take off the head? oh I don't know....

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by eeyore

lovely - a colleague an I once recovered a dead and bloated sheep from a pond - when we hoisted it out its belly exploded showering us both with green gunk from its decomposing intestines good look - I was in the shower for nearly an hour that night.

more recently i hit a dead Hedgehog while strimming and sprayed myself with decomposing gunk - got in my hair , up my nose, even in my belly button - oh yeah i love the strimming season

eeuurrgghhhhh gross so far I have managed to avoid being sprayed with dead stuff at least!!

[wildone]

What a wonderfully entertaining thread. Thanks to almostnormal for starting it and to eeyore, Gill and others for carrying it forward. The best hours' read I've had for a long while. Could really see and almost smell some of the incidents you have related.

wildone

[almostnormal]

Originally Posted by wildone

What a wonderfully entertaining thread. Thanks to almostnormal for starting it and to eeyore, Gill and others for carrying it forward. The best hours' read I've had for a long while. Could really see and almost smell some of the incidents you have related.

wildone

thank you, thank you, i'll be here all night

that's unlucky,being able to imagine the stench of rotten dead stuff. wish i could post some pictures from today (the colleagues did have cameras) but they were to busy laughing to take any!

[wildone]

Originally Posted by almostnormal

that's unlucky,being able to imagine the stench of rotten dead stuff.

Maybe I've got that sort of imagination or it may be the memory of the smell of dead creatures various dogs rolled on when I lived on the farm.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by almostnormal

thank you, thank you, i'll be here all night

that's unlucky,being able to imagine the stench of rotten dead stuff. wish i could post some pictures from today (the colleagues did have cameras) but they were to busy laughing to take any!

LMAO at your signiture I know exactly where you are coming from!! and the difference between carnation and galucous sedge is what now???

[colinaj]

I love Fieldwork although I do get depressed when the weather is inclement.
I usually work three to four Tetrads a day when surveying and atm I am doing Plant Galls. Yes midges are a problem but I hate people who always say "What are you doing?" ina rude nosy sort of way especially when recording garden aliens on verges in built up or sparsley populated areas. I have been stoned by children and been reported to the Police countless times

[almostnormal]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

LMAO at your signiture I know exactly where you are coming from!! and the difference between carnation and galucous sedge is what now???

oh god, i don't know.....thats why i want it to stop!

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by almostnormal

oh god, i don't know.....thats why i want it to stop!

come one come one you've only looked at twelve other species today....!!

hee hee

(I can't remember either shhhhh)

[colinaj]

Vegatatively distinguished from C, flacca by the leaf tips with three rounded angles in section and not flat

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

Oh the best one so far though.... forestry plantation in the Rhondda, close planted spruce trees, setting sun, memories of the blair witch project from the weekend before (it was a while ago) and I stumble across 23 sheep skulls in various state of decomposition in an area less than 25m square...... just skulls, one or two rib bones but that was it - havent yet come up with a decent explanation for that.......

talking of dead sheep youreally have to worry when you start finding dead sheep up trees - which happened to a freind of mine on exmoor a while back

what takes its prey up trees - yep you got it pumas, leopards, and other things with big teeth and claws - ooohh dear time to beat a hasty retreat to the landrover me thinks - tho looking on the bright side at least if its gorged itself on mutton it isnt likely to be hungry

[almostnormal]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

come one come one you've only looked at twelve other species today....!!

hee hee

(I can't remember either shhhhh)

actually more like 20, but i still can't remember....

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

I for one am desperate to get out and do some more survey work. After completing many surveys last year in support of BBOWTs Water Vole recovery project, I was ready to get going again on my return to the UK nearly four weeks ago. However BBOWT have no funding for the recovery project and it has been suspended. But today I have received an email from another local organisation who want me to survey for them. So hopefully the Lower Windrush will become my second home for the rest of the summer(!).
The nettles, beasties and rubbish weather are all part and parcel of field work, but the wildlife and sights that I saw last year while surveying make up for all the discomfort.

BWD

[almostnormal]

Originally Posted by Billy Wobble Dagger

I for one am desperate to get out and do some more survey work. After completing many surveys last year in support of BBOWTs Water Vole recovery project, I was ready to get going again on my return to the UK nearly four weeks ago. However BBOWT have no funding for the recovery project and it has been suspended. But today I have received an email from another local organisation who want me to survey for them. So hopefully the Lower Windrush will become my second home for the rest of the summer(!).
The nettles, beasties and rubbish weather are all part and parcel of field work, but the wildlife and sights that I saw last year while surveying make up for all the discomfort.

BWD

yeah... i mostly agree, and when you look back on all the bad stuff you realise the majority of it is incredibly funny. wouldn't swap it for anything!

[almostnormal]

Originally Posted by eeyore

talking of dead sheep youreally have to worry when you start finding dead sheep up trees - which happened to a freind of mine on exmoor a while back

what takes its prey up trees - yep you got it pumas, leopards, and other things with big teeth and claws - ooohh dear time to beat a hasty retreat to the landrover me thinks - tho looking on the bright side at least if its gorged itself on mutton it isnt likely to be hungry

did they ever solve how the sheep got up the tree? i'd be a bit concerned by that one me thinks.....

[nightshade]

Poor Bat workers answering awkward questions from
bemused Policemen "you are looking for what sir"
Do you try to look inconspicuous,or wear reflective vest?
Blundering around in the dark while listening to Bat calls
from Bats you cannot see you meet the locals
"less ave a look at yer walkman then mate"
Or the chap asked to check out a property who fell through the ceiling,
the owner did not bat an eyelid and simply asked if he was going to check
the garage loft as well

[almostnormal]

Originally Posted by nightshade

Poor Bat workers answering awkward questions from
bemused Policemen "you are looking for what sir"
Do you try to look inconspicuous,or wear reflective vest?
Blundering around in the dark while listening to Bat calls
from Bats you cannot see you meet the locals
"less ave a look at yer walkman then mate"

wear the reflective vest and carry a 1ft maglite. that way you look official and the policemen won't bother you, and you can use the torch as self defence from locals aksing to see your ipod!

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

Originally Posted by almostnormal

did they ever solve how the sheep got up the tree? i'd be a bit concerned by that one me thinks.....

Are you sure it wasn't a ewe tree?

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by nightshade

Poor Bat workers answering awkward questions from
bemused Policemen "you are looking for what sir"
Do you try to look inconspicuous,or wear reflective vest?
Blundering around in the dark while listening to Bat calls
from Bats you cannot see you meet the locals
"less ave a look at yer walkman then mate"
Or the chap asked to check out a property who fell through the ceiling,
the owner did not bat an eyelid and simply asked if he was going to check
the garage loft as well

You know weirdly when I was driving to site night before last (fields on the edge of large housing estate) I was tailed through the estate by a police car doing that 'following you at suitable distance before inevitably stopping you' thing, when I pulled over to park the policeman asked me what I was doing I said going to do a bat survey in these fields and he said ok, watch out for lads on bikes in the fields and drove off again!- he didn't bat an eyelid!! (pardon the pun). I have absolutely no idea why he bothered to stop me but there you go!

[thunder]

quote
Or the chap asked to check out a property who fell through the ceiling,
Endquote

That reminds me of the time I was asked to do a bat survey of a small village, which included the house of Sir Somebody Somebody. After a morning's work I returned for lunch to the house of the person who had asked me to do the survey. "How did you get on?" "All right part from putting my foot through Sir Somebody Somebody's ceiling". Why is it only after you make a mild joke like that that you discover some people have no sense of humour?

henrya

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

I have absolutely no idea why he bothered to stop me but there you go!

maybe