After a break due to Covid second year physical geography students are back out again working with community organisations as part of their research methods unit. Here Susan from Friends of Troopers Hill tells us about her experience.
Friends of Troopers Hill was formed by a group of local residents in 2003, we aim to:
1. Provide a friendly community focus for people who care about Troopers Hill, a “wild, romantic” heather-covered hillside in St George, east Bristol
2. Carry out practical conservation work to help look after Troopers Hill
3. Organise public events such as walks and talks
4. Work with Bristol Parks to make sure Troopers Hill is well looked after.
This was the second time we had worked with University of Bristol Geographical Sciences. Again, it was a really positive experience meeting the students, lecturers and support staff.
We always want to find out more about Troopers Hill Local Nature Reserve and we had some questions for which a soil sampling survey might provide the answer.
The team opened our eyes as to the possible causes of why, in one book about the geology of Bristol, Troopers Hill is more acidic that you would expect for a Pennant sandstone site. The students’ theory, which seemed quite reasonable, is that rainfall on exposed coal spoil is creating sulphuric acid, therefore increasing soil acidity. The theory for why some areas of Troopers Hill were less acidic than expected were that these were areas where soil depth was deeper and free-draining; rainwater could be leeching the soil.
The students gave us an initial presentation which gave as on overview of their findings, which was very interesting and informative. They also included a short video of their work which was great to share on our social media and in our email news updates.
The students were enthusiastic, professional, hard-working, asking intelligent questions and proposing completely reasonable theories, backed by evidence to answer the queries we had raised. It has been a great partnership and we will also be benefitting by having a guided geology walk on Troopers Hill thanks to a lecturer from the University.
This project has been of real benefit, not only answering our questions but also providing yet another example of how valuable Troopers Hill is as a source of research and education. Recognition of the value of the site leads to local people valuing and caring for the site.
Working with the students has been a really rewarding experience. We hope a further study, by a new group of students in 2025, will give weight to the theories by taking samples of depths of soil to see if there can be an expected correlation of lesser acidity where there is greater soil depth.
You can read the student’s report on Trooper’s Hill’s website and learn more about the research methods unit in the BILT case study.
