After a day of #plastic, #fishery and stingray surveys, we are learning about #islands and the factors that affect species’ arrival, survival and establishment! Led by Guillam E. McIvor #Azores @ExeterMarine Chris Laing Azores Field Course

Early morning start for team #FieldAzores aboard the Archipelago fishing vessel. Watching the glorious sunrise over Mount Pico while 600 longline fishing hooks wait for our biological analysis #FieldCourseFortnight #ExeterGlobal

Lots of interesting finds today on #FieldAzores, including a Lantern Shark and a Conger Eel. We used a small amount of hooks, however it really opened our eyes to the scale of the fishing industry and how easy it is to overfish populations #FieldCourseFortnight #ExeterGlobal

Lovely day of diving today on #FieldAzores, highlights being the Roughtail Stingray, Dusky Grouper, 2 different species of moray, and lots of Fireworms - more photos coming soon! #FieldCourseFortnight #ExeterGlobal

345 pieces of #plastic collected in <8 minutes by Azores Field Course for #WorldCleanupDay not surprising to see such a huge proportion stems from #fishing gear with the #Azores a major fisheries in the #Atlantic south

Sunday morning stomp around the caldeira on Faial Island last active over 400,000 years ago. Into the clouds we lost the sunshine but easy to see why these islands are so diverse in plants and flora species Azores Field Course Chris Laing

#FieldAzores’ excursion to the Caldiera do Faial proved to be not so successful. This extinct volcano reaches 1043m at Cabeço Gordo, the highest point on the mountain. Here’s Chris Laing trying, with no avail, to see the bottom. #FieldCourseFortnight #ExeterGlobal

Working hard on a Sunday evening, the Azores Field Course team discuss a Q posed by Ilya Maclean : is Macronesia diverse, and if yes, why? #Azores @ExeterMarine Chris Laing

End of an era here at #FieldAzores. Faial, you will be missed. Time for island number 3 - Flores! #FieldCourseFortnight #ExeterGlobal

#FieldAzores’ first day on Flores has been filled with lots of waterfalls and greenery. Flores may be the new favourite island! #FieldCourseFortnight #ExeterGlobal

These 'cagarro' (Cory's Shearwater) which breed widely across the Azores have been keeping us entertained with their strange nocturnal calls. Can you spot the young bird in its burrow? #FieldCourseFortnight Azores Field Course xeno-canto.org/492559

Best staff we could have asked for ❤️ #FieldCourseFortnight #FieldAzores #ExeterGlobal

Today on #FieldAzores we spent a wonderful day exploring Flores, including hiking up to Poço da Ribeira do Ferreiro, which is a group of over 20 waterfalls. We were all lost for words #FieldCourseFortnight #ExeterGlobal

Yesterday on Azores Field Course: Guillam E. McIvor and I spent around 20 minutes collecting #plastic on a remote beach in Flores, Azores. This was the result: a full 25L bag of single use plastics. However, we could have collected at least 5 more bags. No where is untouched.

The best last day on #FieldAzores - we took a RIB around Flores and to Corvo (island #4). We have had the best 2 weeks ever. Thank you so much to Chris Laing Ruth Thurstan Ilya Maclean for teaching us so much! #FieldCourseFortnight #ExeterGlobal

Final assessment in the Archipelago - we had to devise a 3 year field experiment to study plastic accumulation on Faial, Azores. This task has been very helpful in understanding how to devise an effective experimental design 📈 #FieldAzores #FieldCourseFortnight #ExeterGlobal

The final task of Azores Field Course is of course to add this years fish to our postcard in Horta Marina, a tradition long ago started by sailors crossing the #atlantic Chris Laing @ExeterMarine

Back in rainy Cornwall after teaching on Azores Field Course. Missing the Azores already, but here’s a few shots I took on our whale watching trip to bring back memories of an excellent fieldtrip #FieldAzores #FieldCourseFortnight #ExeterGlobal

Azores Field Course is over and I’m reminiscing about my group, Team Zissou: Two members of ‘no direction’ and resident DJ, best eye make-up for a 6 am boat trip, best sun tan award winner and all round #spiritofthegame. A great two weeks nice work guys 🤙🏻

Missing the #FieldAzores bunch a little bit extra during these rainy days. Can’t believe how fortunate we were to learn so much in such a beautiful setting #ExeterGlobal #FieldCourseFortnight