2016 In A Nutshell

2016 has been another busy year!  Many thanks to all our regular and new clients and to an excellent team of associates for making it another enjoyable and successful year.
 
For the fourth year, we have continued to provide on site ecological support, advice, supervision and surveys on the Crossrail project and we look forward to continuing this into 2017.
 
We have also been involved with the Greater West Programme rail project again this year, with ecological watching briefs for dormice and great crested newt and badger surveys for station expansions.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Following a dormouse project for the National Trust at Box Hill where dormouse hibernation nests were found in 2015, this year we gathered together with a group of volunteers from the Surrey Dormouse Group and the National Trust to set up a dormouse monitoring scheme at Box Hill.  Boxes went up early this year, with dormice taking residence this autumn.  Fantastic news as the results from this monitoring project will help to guide woodland management at Box Hill for the benefit of dormice and other species.
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Volunteers at Box Hill

Work at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has included habitat condition assessments and preparation of monitoring and maintenance plans for biodiversity action plan habitats and species and we are looking forward to monitoring surveys and input into habitat management plans for the benefit of biodiversity over the coming years.

Returning to the Ash Vale Bat House was one of the highlights of this year, with positive signs of bat use in a redundant relay room, which was converted to a bat house by Network Rail.  Great to collaborate with Network Rail on this project and to carry out the follow up monitoring on behalf of Surrey Bat Group.

Ash Vale Bat House

​​As well as covering work in the south-east, with projects this year in London, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire we have expanded into the south-west, with new projects and clients in Dorset and Devon, including a number of small developments where planning permission has been granted and biodiversity enhancements will be incorporated.
 
CSCS and PTS courses have been successfully completed this year with new cards received and ready to go for 2017 as well as survey licences renewed for great crested newts, bats and dormice.
 
A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we look forward to working with you again in 2017!