Book contents
- Curious About Nature
- Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation
- Curious About Nature
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Foreword
- Part I Getting Curious About Nature
- Part II Essays: Inspiring Fieldwork
- 6 Understanding the Decline of Hen Harriers on Orkney
- 7 Rocky Shores Are Not Just for the Able-Bodied
- 8 Life, Love and Longing to Survive
- 9 Bringing Palaeoecology Alive
- 10 Expedition Botany/Hobby Botany
- 11 The Illisarvik Drained-Lake Field Experiment: a Legacy of J. Ross Mackay
- 12 In Praise of Meteorology Field Courses
- 13 Time, Place and Circumstance
- 14 Sampling Fish Diversity along a Submarine Mountain Chain
- 15 Place and Placefulness
- 16 Ripples across the Pond
- 17 Fieldwork, Field-Friends and the Paradox of Absence
- 18 Ornithological Fieldwork: Essential and Enjoyable
- 19 Exploration Science on the Shore of the Arctic Ocean: a Personal Experience
- 20 Only Connect – and Make Records
- 21 Studying Patterned Bogs
- 22 Mapping the Rise of the Animals: Cambrian Bodies in the Sirius Pass, North Greenland
- 23 Evolution in the Cellar: Live-Trapping Wild House Mice in the Italian Alps
- 24 Reflections on ‘Babooning’
- 25 Bogs, Birds and Bones: Interdisciplinary Fieldwork on the Isle of Rum National Nature Reserve
- 26 Exploring World(s) Down Under
- 27 Experiments by Nature: Strength in Realism
- 28 Big Problems – Small Animals
- 29 Soil Survey: a Field-Based Science
- 30 A Travelling Ethnography of Urban Technologies
- 31 My Date with the Devil
- 32 Peregrinations through the Heathlands and Moorlands of Britain: an Applied Plant Ecologist’s Tale
- 33 The Maimai Catchment New Zealand
- 34 ‘Writing in the Field’: the Importance of a Local Patch
- 35 Looking but Not Seeing: How Sketching in the Field Improves Observational Skills in Science
- 36 From Rum to Recording Forest Soils via the Soil Survey of Scotland: a Life of Fieldwork
- 37 In Praise of Bat Detectors
- 38 In Search of Tawny Frogmouths
- 39 Don’t Just Sit There Reading …
- 40 Fieldwork in the Australian Bush: If It Doesn’t Kill You, It’ll Convert You
- 41 Field Studies of Behaviour and Life-Changing Events
- 42 Sediment, Wind Turbines and Rhinos: Ah, the Life of a Geographer!
- 43 Conservation Science: the Need for a New Paradigm Founded on Robust Field Evidence
- 44 The Worst Journey in the World
- 45 Field-less Fieldwork in Archaeology’s Digital Age
- 46 Reflections on a Career with the Field Studies Council
- 47 My Love Affair with Rocks That Fizz
- 48 In the Footsteps of John Wesley Powell: Restoring the Sand Bars in the Grand Canyon
- 49 Connecting the Next Generation to Their World
- 50 Beyond the Curriculum: Wider Conceptions of Learning in the Field
- Part III Reflections and Where Next for Field Studies
- Contributing Author Biographies
- Index
- References
34 - ‘Writing in the Field’: the Importance of a Local Patch
from Part II - Essays: Inspiring Fieldwork
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2020
By
Book contents
- Curious About Nature
- Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation
- Curious About Nature
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Foreword
- Part I Getting Curious About Nature
- Part II Essays: Inspiring Fieldwork
- 6 Understanding the Decline of Hen Harriers on Orkney
- 7 Rocky Shores Are Not Just for the Able-Bodied
- 8 Life, Love and Longing to Survive
- 9 Bringing Palaeoecology Alive
- 10 Expedition Botany/Hobby Botany
- 11 The Illisarvik Drained-Lake Field Experiment: a Legacy of J. Ross Mackay
- 12 In Praise of Meteorology Field Courses
- 13 Time, Place and Circumstance
- 14 Sampling Fish Diversity along a Submarine Mountain Chain
- 15 Place and Placefulness
- 16 Ripples across the Pond
- 17 Fieldwork, Field-Friends and the Paradox of Absence
- 18 Ornithological Fieldwork: Essential and Enjoyable
- 19 Exploration Science on the Shore of the Arctic Ocean: a Personal Experience
- 20 Only Connect – and Make Records
- 21 Studying Patterned Bogs
- 22 Mapping the Rise of the Animals: Cambrian Bodies in the Sirius Pass, North Greenland
- 23 Evolution in the Cellar: Live-Trapping Wild House Mice in the Italian Alps
- 24 Reflections on ‘Babooning’
- 25 Bogs, Birds and Bones: Interdisciplinary Fieldwork on the Isle of Rum National Nature Reserve
- 26 Exploring World(s) Down Under
- 27 Experiments by Nature: Strength in Realism
- 28 Big Problems – Small Animals
- 29 Soil Survey: a Field-Based Science
- 30 A Travelling Ethnography of Urban Technologies
- 31 My Date with the Devil
- 32 Peregrinations through the Heathlands and Moorlands of Britain: an Applied Plant Ecologist’s Tale
- 33 The Maimai Catchment New Zealand
- 34 ‘Writing in the Field’: the Importance of a Local Patch
- 35 Looking but Not Seeing: How Sketching in the Field Improves Observational Skills in Science
- 36 From Rum to Recording Forest Soils via the Soil Survey of Scotland: a Life of Fieldwork
- 37 In Praise of Bat Detectors
- 38 In Search of Tawny Frogmouths
- 39 Don’t Just Sit There Reading …
- 40 Fieldwork in the Australian Bush: If It Doesn’t Kill You, It’ll Convert You
- 41 Field Studies of Behaviour and Life-Changing Events
- 42 Sediment, Wind Turbines and Rhinos: Ah, the Life of a Geographer!
- 43 Conservation Science: the Need for a New Paradigm Founded on Robust Field Evidence
- 44 The Worst Journey in the World
- 45 Field-less Fieldwork in Archaeology’s Digital Age
- 46 Reflections on a Career with the Field Studies Council
- 47 My Love Affair with Rocks That Fizz
- 48 In the Footsteps of John Wesley Powell: Restoring the Sand Bars in the Grand Canyon
- 49 Connecting the Next Generation to Their World
- 50 Beyond the Curriculum: Wider Conceptions of Learning in the Field
- Part III Reflections and Where Next for Field Studies
- Contributing Author Biographies
- Index
- References
Summary
‘What’s your field?’ is a question familiar to many professionals and academics. The inquirer is probably anticipating a response along the lines of ‘environmental history’, ‘I’m an ornithologist’, or ‘I work for the BBC’.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Curious about NatureA Passion for Fieldwork, pp. 275 - 279Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
References
Moss, S. (2006). This Birding Life: The Best of the "Guardian's" Birdwatch. Aurum Press, London.Google Scholar
Moss, S. (2010). A Sky Full of Starlings: The Diary of a Birding Year. Aurum Press, London.Google Scholar
Moss, S. (2012). Wild Hares and Hummingbirds: The Natural History of an English Village. Vintage, London.Google Scholar