During a joint Fundación Jocotoco and INABIO expedition to a remote sector of the Canandé reserve in NW Ecuador, Ollie found himself useful in the collection of botanical samples from the canopy despite only being armed with a catapult, a home-made weight and some polypropylene cord.

Understanding the plants in the forest is critical to understanding the function, structure and health of the ecosystem. The work of the botanical team involved 50m transects cut into the forest on which every plant species (above 7cm circumference) was measured and the species recorded. For many of the plants we encountered, the leaves were out of reach. For anything up to ~10m, we had a pole pruner, but above that there was no way of obtaining a leaf sample; crucial for positive identification. Unfortunately, Ollie was without his climbing equipment. Luckily, the invert team had brought a big shot catapult (to hang their traps) which we were able to borrow along with some cord and Ollie made a throw-weight out of a ring pull from a can, a bag, some sand and an expedition essential – duct tape.

With some basic knotcraft and the occasional 3:1 haul system, he was able to utilise the equipment to successfully retrieve a number of key samples from large trees on the transects. Below you can see Ollie holding up one of the samples he brought down from the canopy for Dr. Diana Fernández to identify and prepare to be deposited in the herbarium.

Project partners: