On Friday, some Wave Rider classes tried their hand at some Citizen Science by conducting population counts of the living things in our estuary.

At the end of last year, a group of students attended a Mm2 workshop on the rocky shore at Rapaki, to learn how to do population sampling using metre squared quadrats.  On Friday, 15 February, these students each led a group of Wave Riders through the Mm2 process, but this time, on our own muddy shore.

As it was our first time, we made a few mistakes, and had lots of questions about the process.  Hopefully, this will help us fine-tune what to do before the next Wave Rider classes head to the estuary for their turn.  We intend to repeat the population counts throughout the year to improve our accuracy, and also to monitor the health and biodiversity of our estuary.

Thank you to Matt from Enviro Schools for providing us with the Mm2 kit, and our adult helpers on the day (Rachel, Sibine, Sara, and Anne).