Green Gym #2

Today we continued work at the Allotment with Green Gym through the University of Gloucestershire. You may remember last time we began the clearing work but there was still a lot more to do!

Our task today was to set about moving the compost pile, well it was really just a pile of broken wood, plastic and crap really. Some things we 'discovered' in the 'compost pile' included 4 bags of grass liner, a jar of seeds, a potato and possibly the best one, an old radio that was so big one would be forgiven if they mistook it for a boombox!

We also came across some wildlife, plenty of creepycrawlies! Woodlice, spiders, millipedes, slugs, snails and even a little ladybird! Not forgetting a toad, a frog and a fieldmouse!

Pictures will follow later!

All in all, a productive day!

A tribute

You may remember a few weeks ago I posted about my mums horse, Rosie, who had been diagnosed with Cushings Disease.
Unfortunately on Friday 1st November 2013, Rosie was put to sleep.
The decision was made as it was a question of quality of life. Going into the winter she had already dropped weight and the medication hadn't had any effect and due to her laminitis, when out to graze she had to wear a grazing muzzle.

It wasn't an easy decision but she was graceful, as always, all the way to the end.

Rosie is the inspiration for why I wanted to become and equine veterinary surgeon. Through her I learnt all I know about horses, horse husbandry skills and how to ride. She will be greatly missed by all and will never be forgotten.

R.I.P. old girl, go and gallop in the great big field in the sky <3

It's not going to be easy to become a vet, money is going to be a big hurdle to overcome, as the government don't fund 2nd degrees. But I'm determined. There is always a way.

'You are the only one that can limit your own success'

Meerkat Ethogram

Here is the ethogram I produced for the studying of Meerkats. Because we had a reduced time scale to produce it, it isn't in as much detail as it could be.

So when recording behaviour for example, you could monitor the animals for a set time frame and then at certain intervals record all behaviour that occurs in 1 minute.

Enjoy!

Cotswold Wildlife Park

Animal Observed: Meerkats

Lumped State	Initial Encoding	Description
AL	Standing	Standing up on hind legs
	Looking (L-R)	Movement of head looking left and right
	Looking (U-D)	Movement of head looking up and down
	Cocking of head	Tilting of head to the left and right
	Sitting	Sitting down on hind legs and tail (legs not extended)
LOCO	Run	Running
	Hop	Pulls self-forwards with front legs and hind legs collect together
	Investigate	Move as a pack to check where a possible previous threat/object of interest was
FOR	Eat	Eating food straight from the floor
	Sniff	Sniffing of the ground
	Digging	Using front paws to move dirt
SOC	Play	Mock aggression, bearing of teeth, jumping on each other
	Chasing	Running after each other
	Parental reprimand	Parent reprimands child by putting paw on top of the child’s head and pushes down
HIDE	Retreat	Move into indoor enclosure/burrows
CLEAN	Genital	Cleaning of anogenital area
	Ear	Cleaning of ear with hindfoot/front paws
NOISE	Growling	Low frequency rumble, associated with play
	Warning Squeak	High frequency yip, associated with retreat when threatened

Note. AL = Alert; LOCO = Locomotion; FOR = Foraging; SOC = Social interactions; HIDE = Hiding; CLEAN = Cleaning; NOISE = Noise.