WHAT DO lichens on gravestones, rats that disturb seabird colonies,
and free-ranging goats in Cheddar Gorge have in common? Answer: they are
all the subjects of studies financed by a little-known but extremely venerable
organisation, the British Ecological Society.
The society, founded in 1913, has 5000 members 鈥� most but not all in
Britain 鈥� and lays claim to being the oldest ecological society in the world.
It has just announced its latest quarterly tranche of small grants. As usual,
they go to amateurs and professionals alike and, as usual, the subject matter
is tinged with more than a dash of curiosity.
One recipient, David Bullock of the Department of Applied Biology and
Biotechnology at Leicester Polytechnic, will be studying the impact that
free-ranging goats have on the vegetation that grows in Somerset鈥檚 Cheddar
Gorge, a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Advertisement
Meanwhile Roy Maycock, a retired schoolmaster from Bletchley in Buckinghamshire,
will be nosing around in the 300 or so churchyards of Oxfordshire in an
attempt to catalogue the kinds of plants that live there. In the same vein,
Sandy O鈥橠are of the British Lichen Society will be scraping samples of lichens
from gravestones in the West Country.
Some of the new projects funded by the society have a more obvious importance.
Pat Monaghan of the Applied Ornithology Unit at the University of Glasgow
has won a grant to study something closer to her normal line of duty 鈥� the
effects of predatory rats on one of Britain鈥檚 most important seabird colonies
on Ailsa Craig, a small island off the west coast of Scotland.
A common thread to the awards is that the grants allow people, often
academics on holiday, to indulge their pet hobby and get paid for it. 鈥楾his
work is always done in people鈥檚 spare time. It鈥檚 not part of a PhD thesis
either,鈥� said Jean Rose of the society. 鈥業t鈥檚 often enthusiasts who have
local know ledge that鈥檚 of value ecologically.鈥�
However people should not suppose that the grants, typically around
500, are 鈥榤oney for jam鈥�. She said that the 13-person panel that reviews
applications rejects most of them. 鈥楢n application must look as though the
project is going to be done properly and thoroughly. Also, it must be of
value to the scientific community.鈥� Often, she says, the work is done with
the supervision of a conservation body, such as the Nature Conservancy Council.
Ross said that the society, based at Burlington House in Piccadilly,
welcomes applications from anyone who thinks he or she can undertake a valuable
study. 鈥榃e鈥檝e had all sorts of recipients, from housewives to taxi drivers.鈥�
Roy Maycock, the churchyard investigator, is a typical satisfied customer.
鈥業鈥檓 highly delighted about my grant,鈥� he said. Maycock, a retired schoolmaster,
works two-and-a-half days a week for the Naturalists Trust but was 鈥榓 bit
short of cash鈥�. Now, he says, he can afford to visit perhaps 200 of the
300 churchyards in Oxfordshire: 鈥業t means quite a bit of travelling and
I need forms for recording results.鈥� Maycock, the Botanical Recorder for
Buckinghamshire, says that he鈥檚 already visited 90 of the churchyards.
The society鈥檚 most recent innovation is to introduce a new grants scheme
for people who wish to do ecological research overseas. Ross says that the
Coalbourn Trust Fund, as it is known, was recently established by a private
benefactor. The society announced the first two recipients last month.
Gabor Lovei of Palmerston in New Zealand is one. He will be investigating
whether species of birds that have newly colonised New Zealand 鈥� including
European blackbirds, song thrushes and hedge sparrows 鈥� are biting off more
wild berries and fruits than they can chew.
John Taylor of Tadley near Basingstoke has the plum trip, however. He鈥檚
off to Indonesia to estimate the population of the endangered salmon-crested
cockatoo, a native of Indonesia. He will also be estimating populations
of other species of parrots in Seram and assess which ones are being depleted
by pirates who catch the birds and sell them illegally as exotic cage birds.
