In Helgoland in search of Flora

What makes my course more interesting is the fact that we have to take time out in the field

to collect samples, and with limited water bodies around it give us the opportunity to transverse across the country in search of samples and also gain some first hand practical experience. And so it happened that such an exercise coincided with the second and third module in the course and included a journey to Helgoland for two weeks.

There wasn’t much along the way to Helgoland apart from the different scenery dominated by barns on our way to Cuxhafen, where we took the ferry Atlantis.

We were quiet lucky that the sea was calm, so the faint in heart had no reason to empty their bowels on the deck. Well there isn’t much to see on an open sea apart from water and so most of the two-hour journey was spent playing cards and conversing as there was still a lot to learn from each other. The highlight of the journey was at the first sighting of the island as everyone was struggling to get the first capture and take a photo, me not excluded.

On arrival we checked in at the guesthouse of BAH (Wilhelm-Mielck-Haus) a very spacious and calm place overlooking the beach.

For the entire week our schedule has been a routine between morning sampling, lab works and finally lectures; lab work and the lectures have been taking place at the Marine research station.

The main aim of the course is to be able to understand the ecology of algae, their classification and importance within the aquatic

system and so the field work involved collection of the various algal species, identifying them and drawing and labeling them. The field sessions were most interesting parts, as we had to put on the gumboots and off course i had to wrap myself warm because it was so windy and being in contact with the water had a freezing impact on the hands.

Helgoland is an important landmark in Deutschland and bears such a rare calmness and beauty that any city dweller would love to run there for a break, if you come to learn the history behind the island then you would be able to appreciate the place. I am not the best person to talk about the history as I may dilute or portray a picture that is not correct, but one thing that I have experienced is that it’s a beautiful place.Walking around the island will probably take you an hour or so but you will not regret it. The number of bird watchers on the island amazed me; apparently there is a rare bird that is expected to pass through the island and it can only be sighted in the island.

I am not going to talk about birds because I don’t think I have the patience required to wait for a whole day just to spot a bird that may not even pass in the first place. I have just concluded the second course and still have one more week to spend in Helgoland, this time its going to be about the aquatic fauna, and I believe that its going to turn out as beautiful as it was this week, I will probably have much to tell you next week hoping that there will be much more time to walk around the island over the weekend, until then take care.