This is a short article about the great efforts we and Dorset County Council (DCC) have been going to over the last year, to ensure that a major rebuild of the A338 dual carriageway in Dorset doesn't harm reptiles: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-34537681.
Greetings from a rainy and windswept Bournemouth! Well we can't complain really, as we've had a wonderful Indian summer, and there's probably a bit more of it to come. As we go into the autumn/winter season, here's a summary of what the CGO Ecology team has been up to lately.
In five days time, we shall be heading up to the Western Highlands off Scotland, and taking a ferry to the Inner Hebridean island of Rùm. There we'll be joining colleagues from Scottish consultancy Caledonian Conservation, to carry out invertebrate surveys for Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).
So far, 2015 has all the hallmarks of another busy year. With existing projects being extended, and new jobs coming thick and fast at our Dorset and Nottinghamshire offices, we will most likely be recruiting again soon. New projects on our books this January include:
As autumn hits us with a rather-wet bang, here is a summary of our current workbook. This month CGO Ecology is working for a range of clients in a variety of sectors: road, rail, minerals, forestry and golf to name a few. Diversity is the key to job satisfaction after all.
The spring is always a busy time for ecological consultancies, and CGO Ecology's calendar is pretty full this year. In fact, it never quietened down over the winter 2013-2014; we have remained busy throughout. Much of it was down to EPS licence applications and the protracted drama these seem to be causing most practitioners these days. Here's a synopsis of what we're up to in spring 2014:
CGO Ecology is currently carrying out a reptile capture and translocation exercise in a large china clay quarry complex on the edge of Dartmoor. For centuries, china clay has been quarried in this corner of Devon, within a few miles of Plymouth, and the modern excavations are on a huge scale. China clay from Headon Quarry and neighbouring sites in the Cornwood area is renown for its quality, and has entered products as diverse as paper and protective tiles for NASA space shuttles.
CGO Ecology has just completed a couple of large contracts on behalf of Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC), and Natural England respectively. January to March has become increasingly busy in the last couple of years, with projects involving pre-season surveys, reporting, and policy-based work.
CGO Ecology has been awarded a contract by Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC) to pilot a revised Common Standards Monitoring (CSM) methodology for herpetofauna interest features on English SSSIs. The project runs from January to March 2013, and will involve visits to 17 SSSIs and 9 SACs across England.
CGO Ecology has won a contract with Caledonian Conservation Ltd to provide mollusc surveys of four Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in Scotland.
