2016/17 collections: seaweed and marine molluscs

I was impressed by this marine shell collection which was submitted as a resit. It's beautifully presented and labelled. It comprises a wide range of correctly identified specimens, and they're carefully displayed so the distinguishing features of the shells can be seen (the spotted cowrie with its little mirror is ingenious). It was given a mark of 77%.
 

The labelling is clear and includes the type of habitat in which the shells were found - which is useful in addition to the location and grid reference.

The collection includes a rare example of a field notebook actually written in the field. At least, that's what it looks like, with its wind-blown looking notes in pencil. Yes it looks rough and ready, but something of this nature is what the markers will want to see in addition to all those detailed descriptions, annotated diagrams and maps and so on.

Marine molluscs didn't seem to be a popular choice this year, and nor did seaweed. But this is a good example from the seaweed collections that were submitted (I'm afraid my photo is not so good):

You can see where the student has floated her specimens onto pieces of card and then used a photo album to protect them. She collected 15 examples, which were well distributed across the brown, red and green species. Seaweeds can be difficult to identify so larger samples are good as they may be more likely to show well-developed diagnostic features. The labels were praised for their content but the feedback stated they 'would be better if typed' - so if you can pick up a mark or two for simply typing your labels, it definitely seems worth the effort of doing so. This collection was given a commendable 66%, but an extra mark here or there might have been gratefully received. The monograph was given excellent marks (12/15) for being well researched and presented, 'with good reference to your own collection' - another thing worth taking on board.

Here's a picture of the corresponding notebook. I liked the hand-drawn map with personal observation of the habitat (something you won't get with the OS), plus the use of a scale on the photo.