PENNINE ecological
Ecological consultants established in 1996 and based in Lancashire. We cover all requirements from surveys, protected species licensing and mitigation.
One would think this is blindingly obvious, however too many seem to be blinded. This is precisely how BNG should be applied. Links to the full research paper at the end of the link. news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-environment-science-and-economy/biodiversity-law-that-forces-builder...
news.exeter.ac.uk
Recent rules that require all new building and road projects in England to address and offset their impact on nature are excellent in principle but flawed in their implementation, leading environmenta...Our team are getting out and about a bit. During bird and botanical surveys of a golf course in Co. Clare, Ireland, Stuart made fleeting visits to the stunning Burren and Cliffs of Moher. Some great sightings, including; black guillemot, Irish marsh-orchid and others we're still working on, mountain avens, common milk wort, spring gentian, a puzzling red flowered plant and all manner of beauties.
Stuart and our team of surveyors getting some bonus barn owl footage during a dusk bat survey in north Lancashire tonight.
Comma’s enjoying the ox-eye daises today during a rare glimpse of the sun.
RSPB Bempton Cliffs
Whilst we've all enjoyed a festive break, Stuart 'wanderlust' Macpherson made a trip up to Loch Lomond and the spectacular Ardnamurchan Peninsula, the most westerly point in the UK. Species seen were; red squirrel, white-tailed eagle (three of), grey seal, red throated diver, ringed plover, red deer, otter, turnstone, kingfisher and dipper. You may spot some of these on the photographs below. In the meantime we would like to wish all our clients a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.
We are pleased to be undertaking ecological and arboricultural surveys for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. The re-development and modernisation of five community fire stations will include significant biodiversity enhancements.
A nice spooky one for Halloween, never have pigeons freaked me out so much in my life ! 😂 🦇 🧙 🕷 🕸 🦇 🎃 👻
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.A well deserved night and day out, for our team
Perfect Summer's evening for a dusk emergence bat survey at this old farmhouse north of Bolton in the West Pennine Moors. Lots of bat activity and a barn owl bonus watching a pair hunting along the field margins. Near full moon rising above Bolton on our return home.
Another newt fencing project completed behind the Concorde hanger at the Aviation Viewing Park, Manchester Airport. This time using 45 degree one-way fencing and sand weighted gate flaps.
Our licensed Barn Owl ecologist Stuart Macpherson has been monitoring nest boxes in Cheshire today. Great photo of one of the successful nest sites, complete with prey item.
This evening/night Bob and Patrick have been doing great crested newt surveys at Mellor Brook close to the BAE site at Salmesbury which we have surveyed on a regular basis for many years. Tonight we have seen several hares, a mammoth main badger sett, and swathes of vibrant luminescent marsh marigolds, as yet no GCN, although we know they are in the area. The ponds are tricky to survey in parts with floating mats of vegetation preventing safe survey access. Still, its a pleasure to be out surveying on calm nights like this. The energy of Spring is rising in the air, tomorrow, another day, we'll see what nature offers, in her own time.
After lengthy delays we are pleased to report that our great crested newt licence work adjacent to Runway 1, Manchester International Airport is finally complete. This project presented many design challenges, particularly associated with requirements to minimise aircraft bird strike risk. Working with the airport and their bird management team, we devised an unorthodox linear rectangular design, covering the ponds with high tensile wire nets, thereby making them less attractive to waterfowl and minimising bird strike risk. In addition we have optimised the breeding potential of existing ponds by removing excessive tree and scrub colonisation which had created dark, cold and lifeless sub-optimal conditions for the species. Several drainage chambers and hazardous ground level structures have been either fenced off from potential newt access or covered with a bespoke metal mesh to prevent entrapment. Whilst the new ponds may not be the most aesthetically attractive in terms of design and naturalness, they have been planted with 200 native aquatic plants for egg laying. We are confident that the completed work will ensure the long term viability of this flagship species at Manchester Airport. As always, we will be monitoring the success of this work under a Natural England licence, as we do across all of the airports land holdings.
Many thanks to Pure Luxury Design on their work with our new business cards. We are all delighted with them, concept, design, quality production, delivered to doorstep in under 4 days. Many thanks.
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.Great to be working with our local golf club to improve biodiversity. Well managed golf courses can be an excellent wildlife resource. Great work Regent Park Golf Centre.
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.Great to get out of the office today and survey two interesting sites. Patrick visited Barley at the foot of Pendle Hill which was clothed in a spectacular fog bank inversion. Meanwhile Bob was surveying a new Bridleway route alongside Pendle Water.
Great post, something that applies to everything ecological, not just amphibians and reptiles. Structure, aspect, climatic niche is just as important as composition.
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.
We give a warm welcome to Stuart Macpherson who has joined the team and established a new office base in Glossop, Derbyshire. Stuart has over 12 years experience in habitat management and ecological consultancy. Working with NGOs in the south west of England and the Peak District National Park, Stuart has gained extensive experience in the management of a wide variety of habitats including; maritime, heathland, grassland and woodland.
Stuart holds a Natural England Level 2 Bat Survey Class Licence, barn owl and great crested newt licence. Stuart is also a qualified tree climber and Associate Member of CIEEM.
Meet the full team here; pennineecological.co.uk/meettheteam/
Cop for this, Cop26. Hopefully focus and a wake up a few minds. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-59066324
Cumbria weather: Homes flooded and travel disrupted
www.bbc.co.uk
The Environment Agency says about 40 properties have been hit, with more wet weather to come.Yes its true, house alarm boxes can support roosting bats.
Bang on point, not to mention the wasted resources calculating this nonsense. Lack of coherent national / regional / local strategy for implementation. Lack of surveys and justification of the suitability of 'receptors' their potential ecological functionality, soil type, geology, hydrology, aspect, altitude, landscape history, past land use, ecological evolution, relevance to location and connectivity. Its rather like a pick and mix sweet shop, but your choices are limited, based on what's available, opposed to what could be, if they thought it through properly. I envisage miles and miles of unmanaged scrub, scattered in random places, dictated by politics rather than ecology, with a management plan written 30 years ago and sites left unmanaged. We can and must do a lot more. www.isonomia.co.uk/back-of-the-net-will-the-biodiversity-net-gain-policy-improve-uk-biodiversity/
Back of the Net: Will the Biodiversity Net Gain policy improve UK biodiversity?
www.isonomia.co.uk
The UK faces a biodiversity crisis. It is one of the most ‘nature-depleted’ countries in the world. The 2019 State of Nature report found that a quarter of UK mammal species and nearly half of ...
Eager for Beavers !
Recently we have been undertaking baseline aquatic invertebrate surveys of streams on The Woodland Trusts Smithills Estate, Bolton. This is part of project to potentially re-introduce beavers. Large areas of coniferous woodland have been felled at Walker Fold Woods (pic below), lots of logs here for dam construction.
www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2021/09/autumn-broadleaf/
Crikes ! theecologist.org/2021/sep/28/highs-and-lows?fbclid=IwAR2e8NB3gQ8x_sj1UvzkN8oBtnf3MMOOcDkzgecbfNPF...
theecologist.org
Revellers at Glastonbury are peeing so much MDMA and cocaine into the river it is endangering wildlife.The ecology of dystopian reality.
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.Great idea, appalling attempts to implement it, not least the ecologically flawed theory that underpins it and number crunching of habitat data alone, taking no account of fauna. The enormous money drain of pointless paper shoving exercises, undertaken by ecological consultants, who are confused and more than conflicted with its methods, as opposed to actually doing something constructive and meaningful on the ground, not forgetting the complete lack of legally adopted planning policy and infrastructure to ensure its implementation, which often results in successful planning appeals, who can blame them with this current shambles. Being able to secure some land would be a start at least, but then there is a requirement for a 30 management plan for a habitat that doesn't even exist, never mind found a suitable home ! Counter productive and toothless in its current format, it is alienating developers from buying into the whole ethos of its aims. This has a long way to run, a fundamental opportunity to get it right, at the moment, we are sadly being shot in the foot. No teeth or legality. www.theplanner.co.uk/news/government-policies-for-the-environment-are-%E2%80%98grandiose-statemen...
Government policies for the environment are ‘grandiose statements but lack teeth’ | The Planner
www.theplanner.co.uk
Government policies and targets to improve the natural environment are ‘grandiose statements lacking teeth’ and all too often government departments spend more on practices that exploit the natura...Ian & Patrick have been out looking at the phased restoration on an active tip site in Greater Manchester. 2ha (approx.) of new reed bed, a new pond and wet scrapes created so far.
Day 3: The final day of our nostalgic whistle stop of tour of Hampshire’s chalk rivers. We have saved perhaps the best till last. Regarded by many as England’s finest example of a chalk river we have moved south-west to the iconic River Test. Rising to the west of Basingstoke, it meanders its way southwards for 40 miles to Southampton Water. We have walked sections of the Test Way taking in SSSI flood meadows at the remarkable Chilbolton Cow Common SSSI. The National Trust site at Stockbridge Marsh SSSI where the beauty of the Test can be seen close up, submerged beds of vegetation tower like thunder clouds, whilst ribbons of unbranched bur reed and pondweeds sway majestically with the deep currents. We have managed to stray from the lure of the river to admire Saxon churches and thatched cottages at villages such as Wherwell. We were drawn like magnets to the wonderfully situated Mayfly pub on the banks of Test where we ate freshly caught brown trout and watercress harvested from the river beds. It has been a wonderful trip, the memories of which I’m sure will last as long as our first visit all those 25 years ago. Tomorrow, remember yesterday.
Day 2: Today we have moved downstream onto the River Loddon below its confluence with the River Lyde to Sherfield-on-Loddon and beyond to the Duke of Wellington’s estate at Stratfield Saye House. The river has become deep and wide, clouds of banded demoiselle rise from the bulrushes, flitting and dancing in late summer dappled light. Later we visit the entrance gates to Bramshill Hall, the location of the River Hart and Hampshire’s most haunted house. Access is prohibited as it was when we were last here. Vivid memories of ancient woodland, adders and the green man are recalled, along with major de-tours around the hall and across the vast Hazeley Heath SSSI.
As part of our 25th Anniversary we are re-visiting a very special part of the country, the crystal chalk streams and rivers of Hampshire. This was where we first ‘cut our teeth’ over several summers in the mid-late 90’s undertaking River Corridor Survey for the Environment Agency (Thames Region). As was customary back then after very long hot days surveying in the sub-tropical south we would visit a rural hostelry to recite the days tales of the riverbank, I’m glad to say nothing’s changed, some of these ancient inns have also survived the last 25 years.
Today we have visited the dynamic, sinuous River Whitewater, where we avoided the crocodiles, together with, the idyllic River Lyde and upper reaches of the River Loddon where we stumbled upon the largest grey poplar ever seen, complete with a bat cave like interior. All in all a wonderful first day of memory jogging, liberating in fact, with no clipboard, cracked Bic pencil lead, deer fence, or army barracks complete with buried mustard gas canisters to negotiate, as it was back in the day.
Just as I remember, another great meal was had at The Leather Bottle, Mattingley, all washed down (of course) with a few delicious pints of Loddon Brewery’s ‘Hoppit Bitter’. Tomorrow, rinse, repeat, the river stops for no one, it flows through you.
To celebrate our 25th anniversary, we are very pleased to announce the launch of our new website. This includes fully updated details of the services we continue to provide, as well as new services such as arboricultural surveys / impact assessments together with enhanced services in the field of practical habitat creation, management and invasive species control.
In the 25 years since the company was formed, we have grown organically to now offer a multi-disciplinary consultancy providing a complete service package for ecology, protected species licensing, arboriculture and habitat creation / management. This approach offers our clients clear integration and co-ordination of closely allied disciplines at a convenient single point of contact. For your assurance, we are also members of CIEEM – The Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, and The Aboricultural Association.
We welcome on board, Patrick Leatham, a highly experienced, skilled ecologist who is now a full-time member of staff.
We will also soon be opening a new office in Derbyshire, further news on this will be provided in the near future.
We look forward to the next 25 years, working with all our existing and new clients.
Take a look at our new website, feel free to contact any of us directly if you wish to discuss how we can help. pennineecological.co.uk/
pennineecological.co.uk
Pennine Ecological - Your Northwest based Ecological Services Providers Pennine Ecological are one of the north west’s leading professional ecological solutions providers, working on both small-scal...Wednesday morning spent surveying on the Lancashire Enterprise Zone, where we came across this male Broad-bodied chaser.
Our new website will be launched very soon. In the 25 years since the company was formed, we have grown organically to now offer a multi-disciplinary consultancy providing a complete service package for ecology, protected species licensing, arboriculture and habitat creation / management. This approach offers a clear integration and co-ordination of closely allied disciplines at a convenient single point of contact. We look forward to providing a cost effective and pragmatic service to all our existing and new clients.
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2010.00110.x?fbclid=IwAR2_uW64G6KAMQj...
The biodiversity bank cannot be a lending bank
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
“Offsetting” habitat destruction has widespread appeal as an instrument for balancing economic growth with biodiversity conservation. Requiring proponents to pay the nontrivial costs of habitat lo...To celebrate our 25th anniversary this year, we will soon be launching our new website. This will include details about our new services which provide a convenient single point of contact for all our clients ecological needs.
Looks like we'll be just fine then 😁
We are very pleased to announce that we have been awarded the Great Crested Newt Surveys at Ainsdale Sand Dunes NNR for the Dynamic Dunescapes (DuneLIFE) project. Working with Natural England and our colleagues at The Tyrer Partnership, this important survey of 35 dune slacks aims to inform Natural England on the current status of the population to guide planned reserve enhancement and management work for GCN and Natterjack Toad. The first survey is complete with healthy numbers recorded by a team of six highly experienced licensed surveyors. These night time torch surveys last well into the early hours of the morning, in a challenging physical environment that tests surveyors navigational skills, negotiating flooded slacks after an exceptionally wet Autumn and Winter. One down, five more to go.
To all our existing clients and new, we now offer comprehensive Arboricultural Surveys, Tree Impact Assessments, Tree Protection Plans and Arboricultural Method Statements undertaken to British Standard BS5837. In addition to Invasive Species survey, we also now offer a control and management service for species such as Japanese Knotweed. These new services integrate well within our comprehensive core business of ecological surveys and expertise, habitat management and creation, to offer a complete project package from planning to implementation.
Fantastic day at Newborough Warren NNR, Anglesey. Some great wildlife and plants in a 360 degree stunning landscape. Carpets of wild thyme, field scabious, round-leaved wintergreen, dune pansies, grass of parnassus, dune helleborine and maiden pink. Red squirrels, oystercatchers and a striking Jersey tiger moth.
Nice close up view of a large bee hive in a mature ash tree, observed using torch and endoscope inspections for bats on one of our sites in Carlisle 🐝
Focus on the source to control the downstream symptoms.
This pilot scheme on The Woodland Trust's Smithills Estate above Bolton is a great idea. Its actually a technique that was advocated by ecologists and hydrologists in the 80's and 90's when I was at uni. Loosely termed as bio-technical engineering it has multiple environmental benefits. It holds and retains water in upland catchments, through construction of 'natural' dams or leaky dams. It reduces upland erosion of peat bogs etc, reduces siltation of rivers, creates valuable wildlife habitat and not least as important if undertaken on a large scale at micro-farm / estate level could significantly reduce flood risk in the lowlands. The government should make money available via grants to upland landowners and farmers throughout the UK. Its futile constantly erecting higher and higher temporary flood barriers at the point of flooding. The focus needs to be on the source and headwaters in the uplands. Not forgetting of course addressing climate change, but that's probably irreversible now. Imagine the impact and benefits of this applied on a farm scale across the whole UK. Not costly and far more effective than ugly hard engineering solutions. Engineers laughed at me in the 80's when I was singing its praises. This is the answer, or as good a one as I can think of. www.nwemail.co.uk/news/national/18256190.natural-upland-flood-defence-measures-tested-protect-towns/