Crouton Education & Training

I have a video of this working, but you can see the theory in the background here. I just like the basic nature of the machine (the "Nodding Donkey") and how it operates.

A surveyor's compass I recently bought, which caused some confusion at first as East and West are the wrong way round. A bit of research showed this was because it makes it a lot easier to read directions or bearings when you are planning a site. Still, it is a good tool for using in fieldwork, even if it does take a bit of getting used to.

Thetford Forest, planted after World War 1 to provide much needed wood security for the Royal Navy (or so the story goes) - trees are still here, beneficiaries of changes in military technology

Don't know if this has been here for ages, but someone is tracking animals on Wanstead Flats

Four years of shredding on Wanstead Flats. I was actually there looking for insects (part of the year long comparative survey I am running with two students in Oxfordshire) but thought the changes in colour and consistency of the chippings here was really interesting (and an important habitat for hibernating insects and rare species like the Stag Beetle.

View of Wanstead Flats after Mayne's Easter Funfair had left - and I was actually really impressed. The area contained almost no rubbish (which is much better than it usually is), and there was no damage to any of the habitat there. It was just really nice to see a company acting in a responsible way.

The Little Ouse, which flows through Santon Downham. Undfortunately the path isn't toddler friendly (so the babies had to stay at home), but the trees here demonstrate a minature version of the mangrove roots seen in tropical countries.

View from a raised platform in Thetford Forest. These usually have a "No Climbing" sign on them (this one didn't) - which made me think about education, and the degree to which our past experience pushes us in certain directions. We often expect to see clues to problems, which influences how we attempt to answer them.

Then I climbed it anyway, and took a half decent picture showing the grid system used for planting these trees.

I made this today using leftovers from the baby changing table - it is for a lesson on Hooke's Law which I will be doing tomorrow. I think I have got the antique equipment vibe about right, although the quality of construction is not quite up there; its still nice to be repeating experiments first done in 1676 though.