Category Archives: News

Slow Worm

Snakes alive!

Bowland Ecology staff have been brushing up their reptile survey skills by monitoring a local reptile hotspot in the Forest of Bowland AONB. The monitoring site is ideal for lunchtime trips to see adders emerging from hibernation and basking in the shelter of bracken. Common lizard and slow worm have also been seen at the site. Accurate field identification skills are essential for delivering professional ecological work; we’re fortunate in being able to practice our id skills in the local area! A recently sloughed adder with distinctive head markings was photographed in Bowland on 12.4.10:

Bowland Adder

Sightings of a juvenile adder and slow worm in Bowland on 15.4.10:

Newt

Recent instructions

As usual for this time of the year we are very busy with a large survey workload as well as having to continue to deliver work to meet planning deadlines. We have recently won a number of EIAs and EIA related projects in Lancashire, Cumbria, Cambridgeshire, Merseyside and the Midlands. We continue to work with public sector clients and have recently won projects to review a number of Local Wildlife Sites in West Lancashire and to undertake ecological surveys including reptiles surveys for Lancashire County Council. Further afield we are carrying out bat surveys in London and extensive protected species work in Wales.

Badger

Post of Assistant Ecologist

Due to the large number of applications received (almost 200) we are not able to reply to each applicant quickly. We will however respond in writing or email to every application over the coming weeks. Thank you for showing an interest in our company and also for being patient whilst we review applications.

Bathouse

Award winning bat house

Senior Ecologist Ellen Partington recently attended BAE Systems national awards ceremony to receive a chairman's award for the successful construction of a multi-pitched bat house in Lancashire. The bat house is being used as a maternity roost in the first season following construction. Ellen and Technical Officer Gemma Howard will also be attending ‘North West in Bloom’ awards to receive a further award for the bat house.

Bathouse

Ellen Partington with the BAE Manager’s award for the Chorley Bat House

Bathouse

Ellen and Gemma Howard with the North West in Bloom Biodiversity Award for the Chorley Bat House.

Otter

Bowland Ecology wins Otter Habitat Suitability Contract

Bowland Ecology wins Otter Habitat Suitability Contract with the Environment Agency. The contract is being managed by Senior Ecologist Dr Alice Helyar and involves an assessment of otter habitat suitability of 89km of watercourse in Greater Manchester. The contract will involve field surveys and MapInfo GIS presentation of survey results.

Bat

Natural England SSSI GIS contract

We are pleased to announce that we have been awarded a contract to digitise field surveys plans of the South Pennines SSSI. An NVC survey, completed by Bowland Ecology in 2009, covered 20,000ha of the SSSI. We are now tasked with transfer of field information onto MapInfo. The project is being managed by Dr Alice Helyar with our GIS specialist Gemma Howard.

Newt

Bowland Ecology is working with Resource Futures

We are working with Resource Futures to achieve ISO9001 and ISO14001 accreditation. As the company grows, we recognise the need to ensure that we operate in a safe and sustainable way; and that we mange the quality of our services to the highest possible standards. Resource Futures are updating our documentation and preparing manuals to ensure that we implement industry standard systems in respect of Health and Safety, Environmental Management and Quality Management.