Baker Consultants Ltd

It’s the silly season; dusk and dawn surveys, torchlight surveys of ponds, and bottle trapping. Some would say that this is why we do the job, being out in the field, seeing amazing sunrises, and beautiful landscapes. We say that too!

In May and June, Baker Consultants ecologists have conducted 63 site surveys.

The sleep deprivation is compensated by the wide range of interesting projects that we now have underway. Even after a crazy May and June, we still want to work with each other, and love coming back to our quirky station office to spot trains (Paul!).

We’ll try to keep you all updated with any exciting finds or developments and when things calm down a bit, we might just publish our list of favoured eating and drinking establishments for ecologists too!

If you want to contact one of us try the skype number 0114 360 2969 or drop us an email.

Over 700 bottle traps have been used to survey a huge site in the midlands this month.

Paul writes:

It takes seven ecologists over two hours to set all the traps (I'll do a full man/woman hours calculation at the end of each month!). All that effort has only resulted in one great crested newt in a trap so far, but we have found loads of smooth newts.

Currently we have undertaken two of the four surveys required for the size of site. I am immensely proud of the team, it’s hard work sticking all these traps in and if that wasn’t enough there is a torch survey to be undertaken and then removing all the traps at crikey o’clock the following morning (and transporting them back to the office in a stinky van- sorry Enterprise!).

On the plus side we have found a really nice place to eat (thanks to Kelly) and were all rewarded with a nice single malt after the last survey (thanks to Fred).

In association with the BES Aquatic Ecology Group, a national meeting on the conservation and management of drawdown zones is being held on Wednesday 16th June.

Drawdown zones are found in ponds, lakes and reservoirs with fluctuating water levels. They support distinctive inundation plant communities, provide homes for rare invertebrates and valuable habitat for wading birds. They arealso a characteristic feature of important sites such as turloughs, the Breckland Meres and winterbourne streams. It is anticipated that the hydrological changes caused by climate change will present both threats and opportunities to their conservation and management in coming years.

This national meeting seeks to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners interested in the ecology of this poorly understood habitat type, providing the first opportunity in the UK to bring together the disparate knowledge from ecologists and conservation managers working on a variety of taxa, and at a range of sites.

For more information or to book your place either download the flyer attached below or go to the web site www.drawdownzone.eu

Susan writes: The Matlock Moor wind farm site is interesting to us not only because the site is only a few miles from our office but also because renewable energy is a key business area for Baker Consultants. 

What the inspectors report reveals serves as a warning to developers who might not see the value of often time-consuming and detailed survey.

There were several reasons for the refusal, some of which include ecology (pages 11 to 14 of the report attached below).

The site is 3km from the boundary of South Pennine Moors SPA (Special Protection Area). Birds listed in the citation are also believed to use the Matlock Moor site for foraging or breeding.

The inspector felt that insufficient survey for birds was undertaken, in terms of the amount of effort (i.e. too few hours on site for some species) and the area covered, for example the survey area should have extended up to 2km radius around the site.

The inspector listed five key species (from 80 recorded) as representative for the site, three of which are listed in Annex 1 of the Birds Directive, one on Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act and a further species, lapwing, which is not listed in the legislation, but is red listed on the Birds of Conservation Concern list. It is not clear from the report if any of the other 75 bird species recorded, are listed in legislation, the SPA citation or the BoCC list and if so, why these were not included in the key species selected.

The inspector felt that the collision risk model had been insufficiently applied for five key species. My guess is that because these species were infrequently recorded on site and possibly they were not seen to fly in the rotor sweep area, that under the strict application of collision risk modelling they would not necessarily be included.- The inspector implied that just because these species were infrequently recorded during survey it could not be said that they were infrequently using the site, she accepted evidence from local birders that they were more common than the evidence presented (using the standard guidance) suggested.

The inspector believed that the consultation was insufficient and should have included data retrieval and advice from the local Wildlife Trust, ornithological societies and raptor groups.

Implications for our clients and all developers that should be noted are: Pay special attention to protected sites in the area of the proposed wind farm, don't scrimp on the hours, include survey way beyond the boundary of the site, put a lot more effort in to consultations and start the whole process early. Just following the guidelines is not necessarily enough.

Add your comments to the blog below, or contact one of the team to undertake a windfarm ecology site assessment.