Winter Grass Identification

A one-day course giving participants:

• confidence in identifying the key grasses of neutral and unimproved calcareous grassland that can be seen in winter months
• the knowledge of how to assess grasslands using these species

In theory you will carry out grasslands assessment in the summer months, but more and more frequently there is a need to carry out some level of habitat assessment during the winter. Despite grasslands often looking uniformly drab a this time of year, close inspection and good vegetative ID skills can often reveal enough species to fairly accurately assess the value of grasslands, to inform both conservation and planning decisions.

This course will focus on vegetative grass and sedge ID at a site with a good range of improved to unimproved grassland (g4-g3)

About the tutor

Dominic Price is a highly regarded botanical tutor and has been running courses for all levels of ecologists since 2007. He is director of The Species Recovery Trust and specialises in the conservation of endangered species. He is the author of A Field Guide to Grasses, Sedges and Rushes and co-author of The Photographic Guide to Winter Trees and Shrubs and Field Guide to Bryophytes.

What to bring

• Notebook/clipboard
• Water, lunch and snacks
• Suitable clothing (see below)
• Hand lens (these are available to purchase in the ticketing options, or from Dominic on the day)
• £3 for parking at Old Sarum (contactless payment available)

The recommended text for the course is 'A Field Guide to Grasses, Sedges and Rushes' by Dominic Price, available to purchase on the day, in the ticketing options, or in advance here.

Please visit our training resources page before the course to download a species list for the day, and take the Buzzfeed grasses quiz.

Schedule

• 10:05am arrive on site
• 10:15am Course starts
• 3pm Course ends

Extra Info

Old Sarum can be extremely exposed to the weather and there are no indoor facilities beyond the loos. Any problems on the day please call Dominic Price on 07968 786390. There is a small kiosk selling hot drinks and ice creams which we shall visit mid-afternoon. Please note, parking costs £3 (contactless payment usually available).

Please inform us of any relevant medical requirements/conditions we should be aware of prior to the course.

Lifts available from the station on request.

Directions

Old Sarum is signed off the A345 2 miles north of Salisbury. Meet in the main car park (where there are loos). Address: Castle Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire - SP1 3SD. There is a £3 charge for parking (contactless payment available).

We apologise that the site does not open until 10am, so please do not attempt to enter the site before 10:05am as it very quickly blocks the access track if there is a delay in site opening. If you are coming from far we appreciate it is hard to time this, but there is a pull-in just to the south of the site (opposite the Harvester) where you can wait, or a small Co-op or large Waitrose further south on the edge of town.

Google maps - click here

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Adverse weather

This is an outdoor run course on an exposed site at what can be a terrible time of year, and as such we request that participants bring suitable clothing including full waterproofs & fleeces. We will assess the weather 5 days before and if neccesary (for instance if there is snow forescast) cancel the course and issue a full refund. But on the day expect very cold conditions (we will obviously monitor the health and wellbeing of attendees, and you will never be more than 5 minutes away from your car if you need to bale out!).

If on the day itself the weather suddenly turns on us, we will run a condensed version of the course, where we aim to see all the species before lunch but have less time to take notes on them. We will then give attendees free access to the grasses online course for 24 hours, which means you can take notes and look at the species in more detail in the comfort of your home. We have built a corresponding online catalogue of courses for this purpose, and we therefore feel we can offer the same training experience while looking after attendees' welfare in the field.

Therefore if you look at the forecast before the course and start panicking - don’t worry, we’ve got you!

Course certificate

This course can be used as part of your Continuing Professional Development (CPD). We invite attendees to download their own certificate and complete the numbers of hours spent on the course, as we are aware some attendees spend more time reading up about courses before the day, and writing their notes up and sitting the online course tests afterwards. The hours on your certificate should accurately reflect this time.

Feedback from previous courses

‘I really enjoyed the course and found it much more useful than courses I have attended recently’

‘Just wanted to say thank you for such an enjoyable and interesting day. Dominic is always such an excellent and relaxed tutor, who can even make learning grasses so enjoyable.’

‘Dominic is a brilliant teacher, it's the quirks one remembers well, not keys.’

'Relaxed atmosphere, so it didn't feel as though you were under pressure to get things right '