Grass ID and UK Habitat Training with John Handley

Grass. It feeds our animals, makes up our football pitches and is the perfect picnic blanket. You may think it all looks the same but did you know there are about 160 species of grass in Britain and Ireland?

In early April, the Green Corridors team joined John Handley for an intense two-day training course on Grass ID and UK Habitat Mapping Surveying. On a rather drizzly day, John took us through a key that helped us to identify the 20 most common species of grass. It didn’t take long for the GC team to pick up on all the grass lingo as if it was a language! After the rain had decided to clear, we searched the grounds of Rawcliffe Country Park. Armed with hand lenses and our trusted guide, we were left to identify different grasses without John’s help. It was a surprisingly successful result!

Feeling very proud of ourselves, we headed back inside to move onto UK Habitat Mapping Surveying and were immediately humbled. The purpose of this training for us is to map the different sites we work on and classify what type of habitat they are. John provided us with images and maps showing examples of sites in Wales and we were given a more comprehensive key to determine their habitats. It proved to be a tricky task as there were some very specific and accurate requirements for making a decision. Nevertheless, our knowledge and identification skills were greatly improved. Thanks to John for the very informative and interesting training! We look forward to implementing these techniques across our Green Corridors survey work.