Geography field studies in Scotland.
Please contact us to discuss course content in detail and remember that we tailor each course to meet your exact requirements.
The North West Highlands of Scotland are our favourite fieldwork destination. The weather can be fickle, the terrain can be challenging but the scenery, wildlife, night skies free of light pollution, crystal-clear sea and almost endless fieldwork opprtunities more than compensate.
Our A Level and Scottish Higher field courses are primarily set up to teach glacial landscapes, hydrology, biosphere and rural regeneration / place studies. There are also opportunities for studying coastal landscapes and tourism.
The fieldwork for glacial landscapes studies some of the best examples of erosional and depositional landforms in the UK, with plenty of practical work such as
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using keys to identify glacial and periglacial deposits,
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measuring striations and studying the geology of erratics to reconstruct past ice movement,
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a climb into the corrie of Quinag mountain to be awed by the scale and splendour of this amazing landscape.
For the hydrology fieldwork we set up a weather station and a river discharge gauging point and undertake various experiments looking at infiltration and interception to model the water balance of a small catchment.
Our biosphere unit focuses on three main soil types (podzol, grey and brown-earth) that are all found on a small peninsula near the village of Achiltibuie. We use both natural exposures and dig small soil pits to study the profiles and relate the different soil types to underlying geology, relief and past human activity.
Rural regeneration is studied by assessing the relative advantages and disadvantages of the North Coast 500 brand to the area. Fieldwork consists of primary and secondary data research in and around the town and port of Ullapool.
Please contact us for further details of our Scottish courses.