About the event

It is easy to believe that there are only a few types of grasses and sedges.  But this could not be further from the truth. This course will open your mind to the huge variety of these plants that grow in the chalk grasslands of Surrey.

You will spend the day with our SWT Ecology Services Principal Ecologist, Isobel Girvan. She will start with a classroom session teaching you how to use various guides and their identification techniques. You will then walk across the road and venture into the diverse chalk grassland habitat of Headley Warren to test your newly gained knowledge.  You'll bring your lunch and have a picnic surrounded by the beauty of this grassy haven.

This is the perfect day for newcomers just learning how to identify plants as well as those looking to further develop their knowledge of grasses.

Please be prepared for a fair amount of gentle walking, including up and down mild and medium slopes, as well as some long periods of standing.

Tutor - Isobel Girvan

My name is Isobel Girvan and I have been working as an ecologist for over twenty years now and I still love it. There is always more to see, find out and learn about. After gaining my environmental degree I spent just over a year with the Somerset Environmental Records Centre. This began my passion for botanical surveying and identifying.

My current role is of Principal Ecologist at SWT Ecology Services. The work is varied from advising home owners about planning applications to supplying botanical species lists for local conservation volunteer groups to providing habitat management plans to local authorities.

During the summer months I love nothing more than going out with local groups on botanical field meetings. Come the winter months I then swop over to looking at mosses and liverworts, but this is an on-going project as I still regard myself as a novice.

I also have a family to look after, plenty of historical novels to read and box-sets to catch up on. I look forward to meeting you.