A BILSDALE woman is preparing to go on an environmental trip to Costa Rica, where she will study the exotic insect life of tropical rainforests - and collect different types of insect droppings.

Mrs Jenny Chapman, aged 52, of Fangdale Beck, will fly off in a few weeks and is currently brushing up her Spanish.

She hopes her study will lead to a better understanding of Costa Rica's unique, yet threatened, rainforest. Once back home, she wants to set up an educational programme with Chopgate school, where she is a governor.

For two weeks in October, she will live and work with an international party of environmental volunteer researchers. Her work will include the study of native caterpillar predators, such as ants, spiders, assassin bugs and wasps.

Mrs Chapman said: "This expedition came about purely by chance. Last winter, I heard a radio interview with a woman who had been on the Earthwatch project. It sounded really interesting, so I made a telephone call and applied for a place on an expedition.

"I had to come up with some ideas and show how I would follow up a foreign trip with local activities in Bilsdale. So I submitted some ideas and finally heard I was accepted for a trip in June."

Speaking about the conditions in the Guanacaste conservation area of Costa Rica, she said: "It will be extremely wet and warm. The accommodation will be fairly basic - bunk beds in dormitories. I'm not quite sure how well I shall cope with that, but I'm quite hardy!"

Mrs Chapman, her husband, Robin, who works for BASF on Teesside, and their three children, moved to Fangdale Beck in 1985, from Marton.

Originally from London, she moved north in 1968, to study at Constantine college in Middlesbrough.

Now her three children, Matthew, Fred, and Mary, have all left home and she works part-time as an accounts administrator at Teesside university's virtual reality centre. She is also treasurer for the North York Moors association.

Mrs Chapman added: "Two of my children are very jealous about this trip and wish they were going. However, Fred is just astounded. I don't think he can quite believe that his mum is off to do this when she should be putting her feet up."