A view of the salt marsh ecosystem; students measuring the Marram grass; bird watching over the salt marsh. Credits: Sonja Dunbar / University of Cambridge.
The new Coastal Ecology and Conservation field course ran for the first time this September taking students to salt marshes, sand dunes, rivers and conservation sites in North Norfolk.
The trip, jointly organised with the Department of Zoology, was an opportunity for students to hone their bird and plant identification skills, design their own experiments and collect data for their Part II research projects.
As a key part of the course, students visited a beaver reintroduction project, a river restoration site and multiple RSPB reserves learning about the balance between humans and nature, and the preservation of ecosystems in the face of changing climates and sea level rise.
Other activities, including a bat walk, setting up a moth trap, and playing ecologically themed board games, provided plenty of time for community building amongst the group.
"Being part of a field trip helps students develop their observational skills and connect what they see to what they've heard about in lectures – it really brings topics to life. It is also an excellent chance to develop experimental design skills and the team-work and logistical skills that are useful in fieldwork and beyond," Dr Sonja Dunbar, Associate Teaching Professor in Plant Sciences who co-led the trip, said.
“We enjoyed the varied greens, oranges and purples of the glassworts, sea purslane and sea lavender persisting in the salt marsh, and bird sightings included curlews, marsh harriers, spoonbills, avocets and even a barn owl and a rare spotted crake.”
"The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the students work together to figure things out - particularly when we were learning identification together for plants, birds, moths and even bats! It was really rewarding to share their excitement and satisfaction for things we discovered."
Fellow course-lead, Dr Ginny Greenway, Assistant Professor in Zoology, said: “Field courses are a unique opportunity for students to fully immerse themselves in research for a week or so, pursuing their own ideas and interests and taking ownership of their projects, from design right through to analysis and presentation. It’s always exciting to see the different questions take shape, and the problem solving and innovative solutions students come up with along the way as they explore the boundaries of what it’s possible to tackle in their research projects.”
“It was great to see several habitat restoration projects in action, including the Norfolk Rivers Trust beaver reintroduction site on the River Glaven. Experiencing the impact the beavers have had on the landscape in just a few years was impressive, and fuelled some really interesting discussions throughout the trip. Another highlight was catching the end of the ‘wader spectacular’ – tens of thousands of birds filling the mudflats and the sky – a pretty awe-inspiring sight!”
Student highlights
We hear from some of our Part II Natural Sciences students who attended the course.
Carys Ilett, Emmanuel College, Part II Zoology
One of the highlights of the trip for me was learning about the beaver reintroduction scheme led by Norfolk Rivers Trust. They had needed permission from the landowners for the initial reintroduction, so it's a perfect example of the conflict that can exist between conservation and crop production in terms of land use. Learning about this gave me a better understanding of the practical and logistical complexities involved in conservation work beyond the ecological impacts that lecturers have told us about.
Having the opportunity to see different habitats, from salt marshes to restored rivers, reaffirmed my desire to study conservation beyond my undergraduate degree. I’m especially interested in the ways in which conservation has to be balanced with human access to ecosystems.
Our project was on the effects of human disturbance on plant communities on the sand dunes. It really emphasised to me the need to incorporate considerations of human behaviour into conservation efforts, and the importance of communication between conservationists and the public to ensure that conservation schemes are as effective as possible, while still allowing people to experience and interact with nature. The data I collected on this course will form the basis for one of my final-year projects, and I am looking forward to investigating this relationship further during the analysis and write-up.
Jenna Stieger, Queens’ College, Part II Plant Sciences
The highlight for me was seeing the contrasting approaches to conservation and restoration in different sites. RSPB Titchwell was focused on maintaining existing ecosystems to support bird life, whereas Bayfield Hall and the beaver enclosure were focused on restoring natural processes through human restoration and animal reintroduction. Seeing how different priorities informed action on these sites was very interesting.
I also enjoyed seeing how the beavers – ecosystem engineers in action – affected woodland structure, having heard a lot about the importance of organisms like this in classes.
Visiting the salt marshes was an opportunity to see how plants adapt to extreme conditions – high salinity in this case – and put a lot of what we have learnt about plant responses to stress into context. It was fascinating to observe the stages of ecological succession on the salt marsh and see how plant life created the foundational environment for other species.
Jia Yin Guo, Homerton College, Part II Plant Sciences
It’s hard to choose a single highlight of the week. As clichéd as it sounds, virtually every aspect of the trip was enjoyable for me.
The first few days were especially valuable. We went to different conservation sites in Norfolk to learn about what was being done, how it has worked, and what challenges there were. Seeing this in action really opened my eyes to how many different ways we can contribute to ecosystem restoration and inspired me to continue down this path to protecting local wildlife.
The final few days were centred around our projects, most of which involved data collection. While we wanted to minimise disturbance during data collection, not being able to take samples back to the lab was challenging, as it meant we had to identify different plant species on site. The final day of data collection was definitely the best, since we were already in the swing of things. We also got to meet the local cows who were very curious about what we were doing!
In the evening, we got to relax by playing lots of board games (shoutout to Sonja for bringing them). The food was also surprisingly great – everyone proved to be amazing cooks.
I’m very grateful to have had this opportunity to see conservation in the UK and learn so much from the experts that we had talked to. Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible.
Skye Salek-Haddadi, Downing College, Part II Zoology
A highlight for me was the discussions I got to have (often with tea and biscuits) with other people who were really knowledgeable and enthusiastic about what we were seeing. It’s so different going out in nature alone versus being able to ask questions and being shown things you never would have noticed before! I am also a birdwatcher so getting to spend 3 days looking at waders in Titchwell Marsh was quite special.
I think actually seeing organisms and conservation work that we had studied in lectures made it a lot easier to conceptualise what it would be like to work in this field. I could really imagine how projects like beaver reintroductions could be possible in and transform places more local to me.
This was the first chance I had to go on a field course. It was an incredibly valuable opportunity to experience fieldwork. I was worried my lack of experience would make it difficult when it came to designing and carrying out a project, but it went really well. I can definitely see myself doing more field ornithology in the future.
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Many thanks to field trip leads Dr Thomas Worthington, Dr Ginny Greenway and Dr Sonja Dunbar, and to Kat Maltby, Jack Zalewski and Danny White for their fantastic organisational and logistical support.
Images: A view of the salt marsh ecosystem; students measuring the Marram grass; bird watching over the salt marsh. Credits: Sonja Dunbar / University of Cambridge.
This article was originally posted on the Department of Plant Sciences website on 20 October 2026.