Our last day in the field arrived sunny and, with it, our last live-link to a Nature Live event in the Attenborough Studio. Mark Spencer, curator of botany and team leader of this field trip told us about why the Isles of Scilly are special for wildlife and why he wanted to bring curators of other specialities here to collect and enhance the Museum's collections.

An example of the outstanding natural beauty of the Isles of Scilly

Of course, we also talked about very small flowers, the elm trees, and ate the three corned garlic live - all things that our readers might recognise by now. Scilly is also famous for farmed and wild flowers, Mark told us about both, and how the bulb farms are important not only to local people but also to other organisms. Wildlife thrives in these fields, and of course, our scientists have been collecting there, everything from insects to slugs.

Linking live to the Attenborough Studio at the Museum, with a audience of local people from St Mary's

As usual, we had an audience with us in Scilly, including a blub farmer. It was a pleasure to share our excitement at seeing the material collected already. They left us with a wave and a smile, looking forward to meeting the next scientists visiting the islands later on this year.

Ana Rita

It has been a great day for snails and slugs collecting - it's pouring with rain! Jon Ablett, who did the previous Nature Live satellite link, is happy that the land snails will be out and about, making the most of the wet weather.

For our event on day 8, we were joined by James Maclaine, curator of fish at the Museum, who showed some of the specimens he has found. James brought a list of the fish we already had in the Museum collection prior to the trip and is trying to match the species he finds on this trip to the ones on the list. It is important to collect at different times in the same location, to spot any changes. He's also blogging about his work on the trip and his first post is here.

James Maclaine and Rosemary Parslow (who in the 70s collected the fish and echinoderms from the Isles of Scilly for the Museum's collections)

In the Museum's Attenborough Studio, Charlotte Coales and Wai-Yee Cooper show some of the dry and wet specimens from the fish collection, while James and I listen in the background

The visitors asked some great questions about the different habitats of fishes, how to catch them and the route James took to become a fish scientist.

As well as the audience in the studio at the Museum, this live-link also featured an audience here in the Woolpack, headquarters of this field trip

We have also been inviting people from the town to come and see what the Museum scientists have been doing here on the Isles of Scilly. Quite a few came to chat with James about the fish while receiving - and giving - good tips to each other about where to look for more species and how to catch them. It appears to be paying off for James as you will be able to read later today on the blog.

Ana-Rita

For the next two weeks I am fortunate to be joining a Museum field trip to the Isles of Scilly, 30 miles off the southwest corner of Cornwall. Alongside my Nature Live colleague Ana Rita Rodrigues and Media Technician Tony Vinhas, we will be reporting back from the trip in daily posts and organizing live-video-links to for 4-days-worth of Nature Live events in the Museum's Attenborough Studio.

If you want to experience the project live and direct come to the Attenborough Studio for one of the following events, and keep checking the blog for updates:

• Sun 26 May: Isles of Scilly 2013, A Shell of a Good Time
  12.30 and 14.30 - Meet some of the mollusc curators taking part in the trip.
• Mon 27 May: Isles of Scilly 2013, Fishy Business
  12.30 and 14.30 - Find out about the fish living in the waters around the Isles of Scilly.
• Tue 28 May: Isles of Scilly 2013, Lichen? You’ll Love Em’!
  12.30 and 14.30 - Discover some of the wonderful lichens found on the Isles and what they tell us about the local environment.
• Wed 29 May: Isles of Scilly 2013 An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
  14.30 only - Explore the extraordinary plant life of the Isles.

All the events are are free to attend (as is entry to the Museum) and each will last 30 mins. You’ll be able to see and talk live to scientists in the field, see specimens collected during the trip and meet a Museum scientist in the studio.

The team in the Isles of Scilly comprises scientists studying topics as varied as flowering plants, fishes, lichens and flies! I will introduce the different scientists and their areas of specialism over the coming days but for now - to set the scene - here are some photos the trip's leader, Mark Spencer, took last time he visited the islands.

They are clearly exceptionally beautiful, a fact that makes the involvement of the National Association for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty even more pertinent and this collaborative project will strive to further our understanding of these incredible islands.

I am so excited to be visiting the islands and to be accompanying the team. Spending any time with our scientists is an education in the natural world and two weeks exploring a stunning part of the world with such experts is a very exiting prospect. On a more personal note, I am also very pleased to be able to relive one of my Dad’s dinner time stories. Many a family meal have been the forum for a retelling of the old man’s ‘best ever, EVER dream. In his own words ...

‘At some point it the 70s, or was it the 80s(?), I was in Bryher in the Isles of Scilly. Half way through a walk around the island I lay down on the beach for a nap. During the dream that followed I became a professional tennis player and managed, against all odds, to win Wimbledon. Having raised the trophy and flushed with pride, I woke up and finished my walk.'

Some say he [my dad] never fully woke up from that nap on the Isles of Scilly ...

See you again next week when we will all have arrived!

Tom

Charlotte Coales will be your roving reporter, writing daily blogs and keeping you updated on life in the rainforest, giving you an insider’s view on the research and sampling techniques being undertaken by our Museum scientists.

Following a BSc in Ecology and Environmental Biology and an MSc in Science Communication, Charlotte gained work experience at the BBC Natural History Unit before working as a researcher at Natural History New Zealand.  Returning to the UK, Charlotte worked as an explainer at London Zoo before getting a job at the Natural History Museum on the Nature Live team.  She regularly hosts public events with Museum scientists and loves working at the museum and being surrounded by animals, she just wishes they weren’t all dead!

Earlier this year, Charlotte took time off work to travel to South Africa and Botswana, where she trained to be a Safari Guide.  She loved spending time outdoors and learning more about Africa’s incredible plants and animals but is glad to be back at the Museum.  She can’t wait to explore the rainforests of Borneo and will be revealing some of the incredible things our Museum scientists discover.

Tony Vinhas is the media technician going to Borneo with Charlotte. His primary role will be to operate the satellite equipment, cameras, etc. so that you can see live and pre-recorded videos of what the scientists are researching while they are there.

Tony is really excited about getting out there and being able to capture footage from one of the most beautiful and biodiverse areas on the planet. He’s most looking forward to hopefully seeing Orang-utans, Sumatran rhinos and clouded leopards. He’s least looking forward to the leeches and mosquitoes.

As you’re reading this I’m flying across the Atlantic home, to what I hear is a sunny London! I’ve had an amazing experience following the scientists as they look for new species and experiment with REX in the waters around the Bahamas.

The scientists will have a lot of work to do when they get back to the Museum with all their samples. They will be busy checking to see if the species they have found here in the Bahamas are actually undescribed and new to science and we'll keep you updated with any results.

I hope you’ve enjoyed following the blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Highlights for me have been seeing the amazing footage that REX was sending back to the control room, helping the scientists sieve for worms in the mangroves, sharing in their ups and downs as they looked for the experiments and, of course, waking up with an amazing view every morning!

Above: Our office for the last 10 days – not bad

(Click images to see them full size)

Now it’s time for the credits… there are lots of people to thank for making this happen!

Firstly to Stephen, Martin and Honor for allowing me to spend 10 days out of the office. To everyone in the Learning department for their support but especially my fantastic colleagues in the Nature Live team – Jo, Ana Rita, Natalie and Tom.

Extra special thanks to Tom and Natalie for hosting the shows so professionally and dealing with any technical problems so gracefully – I bet the audience had no idea what was happening behind the scenes! Also to Verity Nye, who came up from Southampton, and Museum scientist Geoff Boxshall who were our anchors in the studio during the live-links. Geoff, great news, we collected you a sample from Hatchet Bay and I have a big bruise on my leg to prove it!

Thanks to Adam and the special effects team for making sure the live-video-links back to London worked so smoothly.

To Jonathan for setting up the fantastic live-chat sessions and to Grace for organising the entire schools component of the fieldtrip. It was so great having that interaction with pupils.

In the Bahamas we have a lot of people to thank – firstly Janet and Harvey Higgs and the rest of Nick’s family for being so hospitable – no request was ever too much, and we requested a lot!

Big thank you to our fantastic skipper Howard, not only was he a great Captain, he’s also a great cook too – preparing freshly caught fish while we were busy with REX...

Above: Howard making lunch as everyone looks on

Thank you to Kendra from the Bahamas Marine Mammals Research Organisation who supplied the whale bones that we sank for our experiments. I bet the sharks are grateful for that too!

Above: Kendra joined us to see what we had done with her donated whale bones!

The science team have been amazing and so accommodating to my requests; whether that was asking to interview them, taking part in Nature Live and other events or my personal favourite, ‘how do you spell that again’?!

Big thanks to Diva, Leigh, Nick, Helena and Gill for being great field companions. Thanks to Tony for always being at the ready with the camera and making those live-video-links happen from this end.

Finally, a big thank you to Adrian for making this whole fieldtrip possible! I’ve had a fantastic time following science as it happens in the field – capturing their discoveries and sharing them with you - and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about it!

I asked Adrian to sum up the trip for us…

Keep in touch with the Field work with Nature Live community and subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog and you’ll receive updates whenever a new post appears.

And remember, you can meet more Museum scientists every day at Nature Live events held in the Museum’s Attenborough studio at 14:30 (and also at 12:30 at weekends and holidays).

I hope to see you at a Nature Live event soon!

Above: Team Bahamas (except Tony, who was taking the photo!)

Our last Nature Live event from the Bahamas was a bioblitz with Helena and Diva. It was great fun as we trawled the beach, against the clock, to find whatever we could for the family-friendly audience.

Above: Helena, Diva and 1 talk to the Nature Live audience in London

(Click images to see them full size)

With yesterday’s shark incident still at the fore of our minds, we set out to recover the 2nd package and to try and find and recover the 3rd package.

We made visual contact with the 2nd package late last night but it was getting too dark to bring it to the surface. So we returned to the spot today and hauled it up on to the boat.

The shark damage was obvious but we got a piece of good news…it hadn’t taken all of the whale bones! We found a small bone still attached to the basket which lifted everyone’s spirits. Helena was particularly excited – even though it was a small piece she will be analysing it under the microscope for any evidence of Osedax.

Above: Helena was very pleased that some of the whale bones had been recovered

After lunch we moved on to the 3rd and final package which was perched on the edge of the Great Bahamian Canyon. If it wasn’t were we left it six months ago then it had slipped into the abyss, far out of REX’s reach. It took nearly 2 hours to locate it and the control room was full of people waiting to catch a glimpse of it in the blue. This is the moment Nick spotted it…

After the initial excitement of finding the package we quickly realised that it would be a challenge to recover. At 55m deep, it was too deep for divers to go down to get it so we had to make sure that REX had a good grip on it so as it didn’t drop as it came to the surface. We carefully raised it to the surface and Nick and Leigh jumped in to retrieve it.

Above: Despite its appearance we were very glad to see our basket!

Using REX meant that we knew, even when the experiment was still on the sea floor, that it too had been visited by a curious/hungry shark as all the whale bones were missing. But this time all the wood was still attached to the baskets. We now know that sharks, if given the choice, don’t like eating wood! The best bit was seeing how many lionfish were surrounding the basket…

That wrapped up our time on the boat and it was great that we managed to recover all 3 experiments using REX, it’s just a shame that sharks got to the them before we could!

Above: This sums it all up beautifully. Lesson #1: Sharks like whale bones.

Tomorrow will be a long day of microscope work but the day after we head out to Blue Hole to drop REX down to nearly 200m. Will we get to finally see sharks instead of just their bite marks?!

Last night we got A LOT of rain. Bizarrely, it made all the frogs come out and they were so loud they kept us up most of the night!

We woke up bright and early (this is becoming the norm now!) and the sun was there to greet us. But alas, so was the wind. We set up a mock Attenborough Studio right on the beach – complete with chairs, coffee table and an audience! And after a few technical glitches, we video-linked live to London and spoke to Nature Live host Natalie and Professor Geoff Boxshall. Great fun and Geoff even put in a request for some specimens so we’ll be heading to the other side of the island later in the week to collect some copepods for him.

Above: It's the first time I've ever done a Nature Live barefoot!
(Click images to see them full size)

Diva and I also live-chatted with some schools online – Bowhunt, Wigmore, Elmshurst and Ashcroft – who asked some great questions! We’re looking forward to the next session on Tuesday.

Helena and Diva showed how diligent they were; while the sun was shining they were hunched over their microscopes looking for new species. Extra credit for them!

After lunch we all headed out to the sea grass beds to see what we could find.

Above: No Photoshop required!

This is an area of shallow sea grass that becomes visible at low tide and is home to an array of marine life. I was warned to wear shoes as the sea grass beds are teeming with lionfish - very dangerous. Nick, who grew up on the island, told me that they’re an invasive species, originally from the Indo-Pacific. The reason they’re so dangerous to fish in these waters is that some of the fish don’t actually recognise them as predators and there’s nothing around that predates them.

Above: Beautiful, but beware of lionfish...

During our beach bioblitz we found anemones, sea squirts, conch shells, sea urchins…and 2 lionfish!

Above: Leigh is beaming after finding her first conch!

The good news is that the weather is improving so we're going on the boat tomorrow! Hopefully we’ll find the whale bones and some Osedax!

On Friday and Saturday, I introduced everyone else who is going to the Bahamas, and now there’s only me left:

Being a Nature Live host, I have always worked closely with Museum scientists but I’ve never had the opportunity to accompany them on a field trip. I feel extremely lucky to be going to the Bahamas and it will definitely make a change from being in the Attenborough Studio at the Museum (see me hosting a recent session about the Bahamas with Adrian Glover here).

The really exciting thing for me about this field work trip is being able to engage our visitors with Museum science as it happens, live, on the other side of the Atlantic. Hopefully it will help people see we are much more than the ‘Dinosaur museum’!

Highlight?

A highlight for me would be to see sharks, even if it is through our eyes in the ocean - the remotely operated vehicle, REX. I also hope we find a new species of Osedax so that I can have first dibs on naming it! (I realise I won’t get the honour but a girl can dream!)

Anything worrying me?

I am a little worried about the possibility of getting sea sick. I don’t do well on boats – a fact I have kept to myself until now!

I hope you’ll follow our trip and check in for the latest on our journey...