HOLSWORTHY Community College’s Year 10 pupils recently had a trip to Nettlecombe Field Centre in Somerset as part of their three day science residential.

On April 13, 35 year ten pupils boarded a coach and set off on their residential, where they firstly designed their own biology experiments.

There were studies on stinging nettle height, ground water and lichen density, to name a few, with some very successful results.

The school was also greeted with some good weather for their outdoor data collection.

On the second day, the pupils went on to learn about freshwater invertebrates, which involved ‘kick sampling’ the river and seeing what could be caught.

In this project, the pupils came across fish, fresh water shrimp, mayfly nymph and even a crane fly larvae.

However, the highlight for many was catching some adorable wood mice overnight, and then setting them free on Friday morning.

Out of the 16 humane traps that were set, 12 proved to be successful.

Pupils Clare Lew and Beth Grigg said: “Nettlecombe was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. We got to do many different outdoor activities, such as pond dipping and lichen spotting.

They added: “We set humane mammal traps, and we managed to catch field mice in 12 out of 16 traps.”

A great time was had by all the students who took part in the trip.