Introducing OPAL Yorkshire and Humber

Hello!

As this is my first blog post, I thought it best to start with introductions. I'm Sarah, the Community Scientist for OPAL Yorkshire and Humber, which means it's my job to link together scientists and the public.

This is a photo of the team. Left to right we have:

Piran White, who supervises Sal (far right) on her PhD

Carolyn Snell, who leads the project with Mike Ashmore (who isn't pictured - somehow he always manages to avoid photos!)

Steve Cinderby, who is our mapping expert

Me, Sarah West, Community Scientist for the region, sporting some lovely pink wellies

Sal, who is doing her PhD on OPAL, pictured here with her dog Spider.

This photo was taken at an event at Chapmans Pond. This free fishing lake is in Dringhouses, York, and is run by the Friends of Chapmans Pond. We had an open day in August with pond-dipping, minibeast hunting, face-painting, dragonfly hat making (courtesy of BTCV - see their website at  www2.btcv.org.uk/display/yorkyouth) and composting advice from the wonderful York Rotters (www.stnicksfields.org.uk/york-rotters.php.) It was such a success that we plan to make it an annual event!

There will be lots of OPAL activites happening across the region as the weather warms up, so keep an eye on our regional website  www.sei.se/opal for details!