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Group 2 is now safely at base camp, after a 9 hour journey on progressively smaller to no roads. Today training begins.
Following a successful first group, we hope now to get more local interviews, more cells surveyed and camera traps serviced and set and we will hopefully be reporting back with more positive data at the next opportunity.
Group 1 is back from the field – and what a start it was, exceeding all expectations of what the 18 camera traps left in the field by last year’s expedition would yield. Almost every camera we toiled up to at around 4000 m caught snow leopards. Preliminary analysis of pelt patterns yields 8+ individuals, a result we can hardly believe ourselves (and have enquired with colleagues about for confirmation). One camera in particular yielded a spectacular photo:
But there were many others too:
Of course the camera traps not only caught snow leopards, but also many other species such as this rare manul / Pallas cat
A probably even rarer (because they have all been poached out) argali mountain sheep
Ibex
Wolf
An incredibly hardy “yeti” marmot up at 4000 m
Fox
Yak
A curious red-billed cough
Many Himalayan snow cock prancing about
And a lammergeyer photographed by a camera trap that was knocked over (by what we don’t know) and recorded over 10,000 pictures of moving clouds (thanks for going through all of them Aurélie), but also this vulture
But it was not just all about camera traps. We also surveyed cells lower down, conducted interviews and re-affirmed good relations with the local people, ran overnighter surveys and reconnaissance trips into the neighbouring valleys and so much more, yielding this quick summary of results, presented to the team by our local scientist Emil at the end of group 1’s efforts
And what an effort it was! None of this could have been achieved without our 14-strong team of citizen and professional scientists and staff. Thank you to you all and so very well done.
I leave you with impressions of our work, camp and the mountains, as well as feedback from some group 1 participants, and hand the expedition leader baton over to Jonny, who will meet group 2 at the Futuro on Monday.
Yet another two successful weeks of wolf monitoring in Lower Saxony have come to an end. Group 2 left the NaturCampus base on Friday morning headed in different directions after a late night with lots of laughter and bread-on-a-stick around the fireplace.
Once more the teams were hit again and again by rain showers on our last survey day on Thursday but determination to find and collect wolf scat prevailed. Two of us established a new record of walking 22.2 km in ongoing rain!
Within 4 survey days group 2 covered 394 km of forest trails and collected 30 more (possible) wolf scat samples for further analysis two of which fresh enough for DNA analysis. Sightings on the survey walks included hare, red deer, roe deer, wild boar with 10 piglets, various butterflies and birds of prey… and a naked man walking the nudist trail in the Schneverdingen area. The survey team has been warned during Lotte’s briefing but it was still a surprise to run into someone wearing nothing but socks, boots and a hat while oneself was fully geared against rain and cold.
Thanks to two groups a total number of 75 wolf scats and 13 genetic samples are now secured, labelled and packed to be handed over together with the database entries to the LJN authorities. They are an enormous addition to the Lower Saxony wolf monitoring efforts and will be included in their official yearly report, as well as territory statistics, maps, etc. to be published on their website. We have covered a total number of 26 cells (10 x 10 km) of the survey grid by walking 650 km in 12 survey days.
For Lotte & I it’s been a great pleasure meeting and working with all of you for a week respectively. We’d like to thank you again for your time, efforts, input and being great companions in every aspect. A special thanks goes to the drivers and NaturCampus staff that made us feel comfortable and at home. I hope you’ve enjoyed your time as much as Lotte an I did. We’re hoping to see some of you again some time and wish you all safe travels back home!
Group 2 – a team of ten people from 5 different countries – started off on Sunday with a practical training survey walk nearby NaturCampus following up on a wolf scat finding two days before. We were surprised by a once in a year biking event taking place on the military grounds we were exploring. The terrain is usually closed for the public. Bikers didn’t interfere with our training walk but a heavy downpour did just when we were practicing data recording with the tablets. Despite rain gear and backup umbrellas we all ended up being soaking wet. I like to frame it as an ultimate field test. 😉
Sunshine and rain took turns during the following three survey days in various wolf territories. That didn’t hold us back from long walks and intensive surveys. Unfortunately we didn’t find anything wolf-like in the Suesing forest on Monday which made us wonder what neighbouring area the pack has moved to.
On Tuesday we were more successful in terms of findings. 22 wolf scat samples were brought back to base one of which had a total length of 82 cm! I think this is a first. Speculating about causes for the exceptional big amount of shit, we came up with quite a few creative ideas during the very entertaining daily de-brief – ranging from constipation for a week to making a statement to impress possible intruders.
And finally we secured another fresh DNA sample in the Goehrde forest on Wednesday. During the de-brief we all got a first-hand experience with the undeniable deterrent smell of fresh wolf scat. I must say that scat & its attributes (we now refer to as “beautiful, nice, perfect,…”) have become one main topic of conversation – even during dinner. Just like a bunch of very serious citizen scientists we surely are. Still, we had a good laugh realising that and not at all problems with moving on to more sophisticated dinner table talk.
Everyone is out in the field for one last survey day today. Time is flying….
We said our good-byes this morning to group one. What a fantastic week filled with long walks, many findings and lots of fun. To be more specific the teams walked a total of 301 kilometres of forest trails in 4 survey days – an average of 73 km each day respectively. Including our training walk on Sunday, when we collected the first two wolf scats, 305 km were covered in total. 44 (possible) wolf scats were recorded and collected, 9 of which also as DNA samples. Thats’ a great success already, well done everyone!
Beate, a local wolf ambassador and scat expert who is involved with the expedition for many years, joined us on Friday afternoon to support Lotte with scat identification, labeling and data logging into the official LJN database. During dinner she reported about 15 personal wolf sightings and shared some of her knowledge.
Since all scat samples of the week were spread out in the conference & dining room we were welcomed by a very distinct wolf smell when we returned from dinner. Nonetheless we went through the daily de-brief group by group, enjoyed a final presentation of other Biosphere Expeditions projects and finally sat around the fire place to celebrate a wonderful week and enjoy a cool drink.
It was late night when the last of us got to bed – very tired but happy. I’d like to thank you all for being a great team and putting time, work and money into this project. Thanks for being the trailblazers for using new technology, for your input, suggestions and enthusiasm. None of our projects would happen without you! A special thanks goes to those who volunteered to bring their own car and be a driver for the whole week. Your extra contribution is very much appreciated. I hope you’ve enjoyed the week as much as I did and I hope to see some of you again some time, somewhere.
It’s your turn now, group 2. Have safe travels to Bremen and I’ll meet you on Saturday morning at 9:00 at the airport!
We have completed three full survey days – writing this four teams are headed out in different directions for their last surveys of group 1. Wolf scat samples are piling up in the scat fridge downstairs, two of which appear to be good for DNA analysis. We’ve been blessed with perfect weather conditions, only some of us got wet on Monday during an afternoon downpour – but that’s what makes an expedition.
Even though almost every day teams “forgot” to pack different pieces of equipment – a printed map of the area, a tablet (!?), and who knows what else… they all managed and brought back from the field perfect recordings. We definitely have to work on that with group 2! Here are some field work pictures:
Intensive surveys make for interesting findings: One team found a handbag in the shrubs and dropped it at a police station nearby for further investigation. Two days later we were informed by the police, that the owner confirmed that it was stolen in 1990! She didn’t want it back … Let’s see what you will find, group 2. 🙂
With six intensive days behind us, we’re all pretty tired in the evening but have planned a bonfire for our last evening tonight before leaving NaturCampus on Friday morning. You will hear from me again tomorrow, when Lotte and I have wrapped up this week’s results.
After two training days the first group is all set to go on proper survey walks from tomorrow on. We met up at Bremen airport on Saturday morning and from there went straight to visit the Wolfcenter Doerverden for a guided tour and close encounters with our study species.
We arrived at our lovely NaturCampus base in the afternoon. As usual everyone’s head was filled with more information about safety, procedures and equipment, wolf distribution & history in Germany, how to identify, measure, collect and record wolf scat and tracks.
This afternoon we finally went out on our first practicing survey walk. Unexpectedly we found two wolf scats one of which is fresh enough for DNA analysis. What a success!
Writing this it’s still early in the evening but the noises of people chatting outside have stopped. I guess everyone’s gone to bed early. Well done, group one – you’ll be well rested for four more days of intensive surveys and scat sampling. 🙂
Lotte, Peter & I have arrived at NaturCampus Bockum and are setting up our wonderful expedition base for the next two weeks. We have just retrieved a wolf scat sample from the fridge downstairs collected by a former team member a week ago. Labeled properly it’s in the freezer now for later DNA analysis – thank god, the smell was unbearable!
!! Here’s an important update for all team members: There won’t be an overnighter activity this year for a very simple reason: the former far away study site is actually not far from our actual base at NaturCampus so that we can easily survey all areas within our regular time schedule. Please do not bring a sleeping bag, sleeping mat or tent with you – you won’t need it. !!
Other than that we have unpacked boxes, went throught timetables, lists and pieces of equipment. We’ll have it all sorted by tomorrow night – at least that’s the plan. 😉
We are looking forward to meet team 1 at Bremen airport at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. Have safe travels & see you soon!
This is the start entry for the Germany diary. I am your expedition leader Malika and I will be making my way to the expedition base soon, a few days ahead of you.
After the 2024 sabbatical of the scientist, were back this year in search of wolves and their sign. I hope you have studied your dossier and your preparations are going well. On our side, all’s well and I will be taking most of the research gear up north (I live in the south of Germany) with me next week.
I will write again when I have arrived at our beautiful Manor House base. Until then…
The 2025 expedition is done. Over 10 expedition days and with the help of ten citizen and professional scientists from six countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, UK), we found and recorded 51 dens (17 anthill, 4 anthill/soil, 6 nest, 16 rock and 8 soil dens). We also collected 11 first scats at dens, which is a record that Dr. Andrea Friebe, the expedition scientist, called “sensational”. We also removed three camera traps and entered all the data into the database. This has once again been a very significant contribution to the Scandinavian Brown Bear Research Project’s database and studies and we are expecting scientific publications that use these data soon (as well as the usual annual expedition report).
Thank you so much to all our citizen scientists who have made this possible by contributing their time and funds. Without you, there would be no expedition. You have been an exceptionally effective and determined team and we take our hats off to you for the effort you have put in.
Team 2025
So, since 2019, this expedition has developed into an essential data collection part of the Scandinavian Brown Bear Research Project, because it collects – over a relatively short period each year – large amounts of den and scat data through the concentrated efforts of citizen scientists. For example, in 2019 the expedition visited 28 bear den sites and mapped 24, found 10 scats at 15 bear cluster sites, recovered a bear skeleton from a bog for further analysis, recovered a valuable transmitter, covered over 2,000 km of the study site and had two bear encounters, increasing the SBBRP’s bear den database by between a third and a half. After an unwanted Covid-break, the 2023 expedition visited 68 sites, including 38 winter dens and 35 scat collections, ten of which were ‘first scats of the season’ (especially valuable samples that can reveal what a bear has eaten before and during hibernation). The 2024 expedition surveyed 27 dens, and collected 56 scat samples including three samples of ‘first scats of the season’. The 2025 expedition surveyed 51 dens, and collected a record 11 first scats. The SBBRP expedition scientist has called the contributions of the expeditions over the years “invaluable” and “sensational”.
So I leave you with some impressions of the last few days and some citizen scientist feedback. Thank you so much again and safe travels onwards or home. We hope to meet you again on an expedition, somewhere, somewhen on this fragile planet of ours.
I really liked how we were able to go out independently in small groups and were trusted to conduct our fieldwork to a high standard. It was all amazing. Keira W., Australia
I really enjoyed the satisfaction of helping to gather data so scientists can makes sense of how climate breakdown is affecting flagship species. Also the age of participants – I’ve been on a number of projects with other organisations where everyone around me was below 25. Chai H., UK
I really enjoyed staying here and I am not sure whether anything can match the experience I had here. The work with our local scientist Andrea was so joyful and fantastic. I also learnt a lot about bears. I hope I can join the expedition again in another year. Sarah H., Germany
Biosphere Expeditions: blogs from the frontline of wildlife conservation and the fight for a more sustainable planet 