Preliminaries underway

After a lot of planning, and a lot of sitting in the office watching the rain on the windows, we got out today to start the first round of preliminary surveys.  A useful exercise, helping last year's field staff to brush up on old techniques, and new staff to get to grips with different ways of surveying to what they've done in the past. 

We started in some allotments in north Leeds, where we laid and walked our first transect.  It was breezy, but the sun was warm, and there were some lovely little bees out and about. Plantlife have famously said that dandelions are massive this year - they're certainly abundant, and the pollinators have been taking full advantage of their hefty pollen stores.

Getting stuck in!

 So, finally we're underway, and I for one welcome the chance to be out and about again.  It's going to be a busy summer season, but hopefully interesting and useful, too, which is what makes it all worthwhile.