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Field trips

A line of students walking through grassland

We strongly believe that, as well as learning about ecology and conservation in lectures, you should have the opportunity to experience them for yourself.

Read more about the hands-on field trips we run for Animal Behaviour, Zoology, and Ecology and Conservation students. As well as those listed below, we also run multiple day trips to local sites, where students gain experience in practical ecology and conservation.

The listed field trips are examples of those that we currently run and may be subject to change.

Tropical field course

A tamarin on a branch in a forest

Previous locations for this trip have included Uganda, Kenya, South Africa and Madagascar. The focus of the trip is tropical ecology and conservation, and you'll collect data on a range of species, from plants and insects to birds and mammals.

This field trip is compulsory if you take the Tropical Ecology and Management, which is an optional module. You'll gain a greater understanding of tropical biodiversity and learn about the ecology of the forest and the human factors that affect the structure of habitats and the distribution of animals and plants.

Awareness of these issues is invaluable, whether your career aspirations are in animal behaviour, ecology and conservation, zoology or elsewhere in society. You'll also see some stunning wildlife.

Courses for which this field trip is available:

Dutch zoo enclosure design

Black rhino

This field trip takes you to the Netherlands to visit four very different Dutch zoos: Rotterdam, Amersfoort, Burgers, and Apenhuel Primate Park.

You'll see a wide variety of world-class zoo enclosures, and learn how the needs of the animals, keepers and the viewing public are taken into account when designing new ones.

This field trip is compulsory if you take the ‘Zoos and Zoo Animal Management’ module; a third year module specifically designed to provide students with a range of key biological skills that many employers require.

Students who have been on this trip have gone on to work for British zoos, and those further afield. They've told us that the skills and experience gained on this field trip, and on the module Behaviour & Management of Zoo Animals, has helped them gain jobs in the zoo world.

Courses for which this field trip is available:



Millport Marine Research Station

Porpoise swimming in the sea

Millport is a final-year week-long residential field trip to the Field Studies Council facility at Millport, Isle of Great Cumbrae, off the west coast of Scotland.

As a bespoke marine biology research site with fully equipped teaching rooms, aquarium and library with on-site accommodation, the station carries out beam trawls, plankton trawls and benthic grabs to study the marine life in the Firth of Clyde.

You'll experience British marine biology at its very best in terms of fauna, flora, scenery and facilities, with access to one of the oldest bespoke marine libraries in the country.

You'll complete your Practical Marine Biology module on site, with an identification test, practical field and laboratory work and projects, data analysis and write up. Your project could focus on any aspect of marine biology, including ecological, behavioural, taxonomic, educational or of a technical nature.

Past projects have focused on:

  • intertidal animals, such as winkle migration
  • deep-water animals, such as analysis of fighting injuries in squat lobsters
  • plants and how phytoplankton responses to coloured light
  • marine organisms and identifying all shelled molluscs
  • investigating red algae recovered from the shores or ship trawls
  • classroom guides for distinguishing a kelp from a wrack or starfish from a sun star
  • designing an alternative piece of technical equipment

Courses for which this field trip is available:

North Devon

Carabus beetle

This trip is part of the modules ‘Field Skills in Biology’ and ‘Practical Skills for Animal Behaviour’, depending on which course you are taking, and will give you an opportunity to develop skills in various components of field biology.

It will introduce you to the research methods necessary for conducting fieldwork in temperate habitats including how to identify UK fauna and flora, and planning and conducting a research project.

Through a range of exercises, you will receive training in field techniques in marine, terrestrial or behavioural ecology. Students who have been on this field trip have gone on to work for Wildlife Trusts and other conservation organisations. Accommodation and transport are included in the cost of your fees.

Courses for which this compulsory field trip is available: