Anyone within the ecological consultancy industry will know that, as winter approaches, the optimal time to complete many surveys comes to a close and the ecologist’s workload eases off a little. However, at aLyne Ecology, this certainly doesn’t mean we stop being busy! One recent example of this is the off-road driving course Sarah booked for the team. Any aspiring ecologist should know that much like knowledge of construction materials, off-road driving can play a surprisingly significant role in the world of ecology. And as Martin, our Senior Ecologist, will testify, it is not as easy as it may look.
Thus, on a calm Friday morning in March, we found ourselves in the back of our instructor’s Land Rover as sardines would find themselves in a tin. The car itself was an item to behold; two gear boxes, four-wheel-drive control, all-terrain tyres, and a sizable, slanted sticker promising ‘Adventure Awaits’. In this gallant monster, we trundled down the windy woodland track into a clearing that comprised a hut for tea-making and a crackling campfire, complete with a chatty chef preparing the team’s top comfort meal.
One by one, the instructor took us in the car around a higgledy-piggledy mud-track, featuring hidden tree stumps, tight pine-lined corners, steep slopes, and the pressure of a team of colleagues watching. Although particular participants were eager to hit the accelerator, the instructor insisted on showing us how to complete the course without touching the gas at all. As fascinating and useful as this was, Sarah’s shrieks when the instructor took us round the loop at top speed confirmed, now, the real fun had begun.
The afternoon mainly comprised the log pile of doom, made up of large, fixed trunks as well as some loose branches. The first step was to pick a pair, so that your partner could spot you as you drove over the logs. The idea of the pairs, the instructor explained, was to ensure that everyone only had one person coaching them while they attempted the biggest hurdle yet. Of course, this was a great idea, but in practice each driver, in turn, was shouted at by a chorus of competing voices, most of which lacked instruction and instead narrated ‘yep, you’ve gone over the log’ or ‘he does a good preying mantis pose, doesn’t he?’. Nevertheless, most of us clambered over the rolling logs with relative elegance. It would be a lie, however, to say there weren’t a couple of moments where wheels spun logs violently out to the side of the track and onlookers dived for cover.
