Nettlecombe Days 2 & 3

Day 2 at Nettlecombe for our 80 Year 11 geographers was the most important as it involved the data collection for their coursework which will be written up over the next few weeks. The aim was to consider the coastal management in Minehead.

The three groups did the tasks in different orders (so as not to bombard the promenade visitors with 80 students wanting questions answered!!).

One task involved making a detailed map and sketches of the coastal defences that have been put in place along the seafront....groynes, rip rap, curved sea wall, revetments and flood barriers. They also filled in bipolar analyses of the area to consider aspects such as aesthetics.

Rip rap and revetments on Minehead beach

Another task involved detailing all the types of land use along the sea front ... this enabled us later to work out relative land use costs and therefore to start calculating whether the coastal defences could be considered worthwhile. Students also used PDA devices which had map software to work out elevations  - enabling them to calculate flood risk.

A student getting the elevation data from a PDA

A student mapping the land uses and coastal defences along the seafront

Finally students were let 'loose' in the town of Minhead. Each group was given an area of Minehead to map with regard to land use. They were also asked to obtain 5 sets of answers to a questionnaire considering what people thought of the coastal defences.

After a successful day, amazingly avoiding the persistent rain forecast, we returned to Nettlecombe to input the data onto the computers and start looking at some analysis. Students were introduced to GE graphs - a way of presenting data in a 3D format on Google Earth.

One of the 3D GE graphs produced by the students for flood risk

Waking up on the final morning on time (most of us anyway...room 2 slept through the alarm call) students stripped their beds, cleaned and cleared their rooms and sat to a large cooked breakfast. 

Students in the dining room

Dr Hitch's and Mrs Revell's group had the morning down at the river (as Miss Fryer's did on Day 1...see below) and Miss Fryer's spent the morning looking at measuring components of weather, considering infiltration rates and hydrological flows. This involved recapping the various components of the hydrological cycle with regard to terminology then making some predictions for the different experiments.

A visit to the Stevenson Screen was first ... to collect the data for the Nettlecombe station book. We talked through the location decisions for the Stevenson screen along with what all the instruments do. Students were asked to take the measurements and recorded them on their own sheets.

Taking measurements from the Stevenson Screen



Taking measurements from the Stevenson Screen

We then went to the Nettlecombe Hill by the house to set up the infiltrometers (a tripod with a plastic pipe through the middle, with 2 tubes sticking out the bottom. One tube is smaller than the other to enable an air flow into the pipe.). Students were split into to two teams of three groups. One group from each at the top of the hill (the shedding zone), the middle of the slope, and the bottom of the slope (receiving zone). The students measured how much water infiltrated into the ground over a period of 15 minutes.

Infiltrometer measurements at the top of the hill



Infiltrometer measurements at the top of the hill

Students gathering back together in the sunshine

The final task was to use the infiltration tables - slopes of paved blocks, grass, and bare earth which have a drainpipe at the top with holes in (to simulate a cloud) and a collection pipe at the bottom. Students poured 20l of water into the cloud and timed how much water was discharged every 30 seconds....those on the paved sections had to act very very quickly!!

A group working on the paved brick infiltration table

A quick bite for lunch and we were on the coaches heading back to Chelmsford....with a clear run we even made it back before the 7pm intended which was brilliant.

Thanks to all the Nettlecombe staff, the two drivers Trevor and Reece, the KEGS teachers Dr Hitch, Mrs Revell, Miss Fryer and Mr Hand and especially our honorary geography teacher Mr A Russell. Well done to the students too who have been brilliant and made the adults jobs significantly easier and less stressful.

We now look forward to seeing what the students can produce in the way of coursework!