PhD students do the weirdest things

Lately, I have had some very peculiar reactions when explaining the current chapter of my PhD that I am working on. Maybe I’m not explaining it perfectly, or most eloquently, but these reactions include: staring; bemusement and confusion; and outright laughing-in-my-face, before asking me, “so this is your… job?” Some friends of mine have taken to

Re-posting my first blog: Following oranges through agri-business supply chains

This post was originally published by myself during my time as a PhD student at the Centre for Agri-Environmental Research(CAER) in Reading and you can find the original blog here. After reading this blog you will come to realise that lots of things changed in my PhD after I wrote it – mainly my whole study

Curly haired pigs, cow panic and a bird dilemma

Tags : birdsfarmsfieldworkorchardssurveys

We are half way through our orchard bird surveys now with all 31 orchards surveyed once already. Early mornings are very hard for me on a normal day, but with dawn getting more and more towards the 4.30am mark and some farms nearly an hour away, I am beginning to wonder if camping on site

Counting birds at 4am: my PhD explained

Tags : biodiversityecosystem servicesland sharingland sparingpest control

I thought it was time to tell you all why on earth I have been getting up at silly o’clock to count birds in the orchards of Herefordshire. It was also too windy for the birds today, so I’ve had a day off! A recent BBC article writing about the benefits of organic farming to