Successful Days Surveying Saves Heathland

[JonathanD]

There is a small heathland adjacent to a few houses about ten miles out from where I live. I had never been there before as it is very small (about two football fields) and is privately owned. Planning has been underway to put in a large wildlife pond and wooden planking and sitting area overlooking the proposed pond. It seems several people have been out to the site over the last year to survey for reptiles as the heathland would be destroyed in terms of habitat suibtable for them.

Rumour had it thirty years ago that adders were on site, but none have been seen for decades and the last lizard seen on there was in the Nineties. Anyway, several people have looked around for them and found that there was nothing at all there anymore, so the land owner was happy to get the bulldozers in.

On the off chance, last night I was having a meal at my local and met the owner of this piece of land. He was intrigued by what I do and told me about the small heath he was redeveloping and asked if I would have a look if I was free in the next two weeks. As I was off today, I thought I'd pop down and have a looksee.

Beautiful piece of lowland heath, seems to have been kept in check by the hoards of rabbits present on site. We had a wonder around and he pointed out the proposed pond area he was creating and explained the great ideas he had for getting it inhabited with all manner of cool wildlife. Five minutes wonder on my own and I spotted this..

Great stuff. Now I'm in my element and going into snake tracking mode...

This looks only about a week old as we have had a load of rain and it has started to break down and cause the skin to slowly degenerate. I slowly picked it out to find more about the snake. Certainly Adder, large adult female. The tail portion gave that away..

Another ten minutes searching around the area that the snake was travelling in when the skin was sloughed, and I heard an adder move off in front of me. Too late to get a picture, but I tracked her down and managed to see her in full before she disappeared. Beautiful golden snake with dark red patternation. That, and I'm pretty certain she was gravid.

I spent another hour there and found a small male and several Common lizards, I also heard two more adders move off, but failed to eyeball them. The area is rich in reptile life for such a small place, and I'll certainly be going back there later in the year when conditions are better suited for surveying. It wasn't a good day for herping, and I got there late and well after 1100.

The good news, no destruction of the current habitat will take place. And we have one very excited landowner who wants to offer all he can to make the area sustainable well into the future for these animals.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Fantastic Jon, and brilliant that he is so involved in the heath that he's happy to bin the development.

 

[Harvestman]

That's a great result!

 

[shaggystu]

that's absolutely superb jonathan, really nice to see that it is possible to make a difference every now and then, and heart warming to hear of a landowner that's genuinely interested in the well-being of his land

stuart

 

[JonathanD]

It is a superb result, especially with so much habitat being destroyed by fire these last few weeks. I've seen so much destruction and dead reptiles this year than ever before, so it is good to see these unknown pockets becoming protected. There is a down side to this though. Quite a few different people have gone over that area with a supposedly 'fine toothed comb' and declared the area void of any reptile acivity. I went too late in the morning and on a day full of showers, and still found an abundance of evidence. So how many areas have been bulldozed due to these same mistakes. I find that quite disheartening.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Were these the kind of experts that are independent yet always get work from planning authorities?

 

[JonathanD]

Were these the kind of experts that are independent yet always get work from planning authorities?

Yeah, in my field of work, I'm only to aware of the many inividulas who do this. Some are notorious. But these people had the remit to find the reptiles, not to not find them.

 

[shaggystu]

Were these the kind of experts that are independent yet always get work from planning authorities?

i was told a story recently about an "expert" who fits that very description. a friend of mine was talking to business associate of his about some building work that he (the associate, not my mate) was having done, obviously the subject of planning came up in conversation and the issue of newt surveys was mentioned. during the planning application proccess the land owner had been informed that he would have to have a newt survey carried out, the council quite happily offered advice and suggested a company to carry out the survey. the surveyor explained to the landowner that traps would be layed down to capture any newts living in the area, the landowner said "that's stupid, what's to stop me from just emptying the traps before you arrive to check them?" the surveyor then went on to explain that the landowner couldn't do that unless he knew exactly when the surveyor was going to come back. to cut the rest of the story short, money exchanged hands, a time was agreed upon, no newts were found in the traps, planning permission was granted, the area is now concreted over.

stuart

 

[JonathanD]

Classical example Stu. Happens all the time. Some of these people are considered experts in their field too. I used to do a lot of these mitigation surveys in the past, but the more successful you are at finding things, the less people are willing to hire you. Luckily the reputable companies and Trusts, still hire people like me.

 

[kodiakjoe]

Great news about the heathland and interesting pics of the adder skin too.

 

[Harvestman]

As someone who has done consultation work (for invertebrates) in the past, the conundrum is well known. Find something that protects the site, and next time you won't get hired. Find nothing, and the development goes ahead, the site is destroyed, but you get more work.

That's one of the reasons I got out of that sort of work.

 

[myotis]

Classical example Stu. Happens all the time. Some of these people are considered experts in their field too. I used to do a lot of these mitigation surveys in the past, but the more successful you are at finding things, the less people are willing to hire you. Luckily the reputable companies and Trusts, still hire people like me.

I am more than concerned about these comments and your earlier comments about the "many individuals" with some of who are notorious for what would appear to be corrupt practices.

Are these individuals, members of IEEM and have you reported them.

There are many many problems with ecological consultancy, but in over 20 years of working in a range of positions in ecological consultancy from self employed to senior management, through specialist environmental consultancies to design engineer consultancies, I have never come across the sort of behaviour you and shaggystu describe/imply.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but my take on the industry is that it's a very rare, given that everyone that I know working in ecological consultancy is there because of their interest in conservation. What is less rare is poor quality surveys through incompetence, and while still a very serious problem, it is a very different one from the corrupt behaviour being suggested.

Graham

BTW delighted that "your" competence managed to save the heath

 

[JonathanD]

I am more than concerned about these comments and your earlier comments about the "many individuals" with some of who are notorious for what would appear to be corrupt practices.

Are these individuals, members of IEEM and have you reported them.

There are many many problems with ecological consultancy, but in over 20 years of working in a range of positions in ecological consultancy from self employed to senior management, through specialist environmental consultancies to design engineer consultancies, I have never come across the sort of behaviour you and shaggystu describe/imply.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but my take on the industry is that it's a very rare, given that everyone that I know working in ecological consultancy is there because of their interest in conservation. What is less rare is poor quality surveys through incompetence, and while still a very serious problem, it is a very different one from the corrupt behaviour being suggested.

Graham

BTW delighted that "your" competence managed to save the heath

It's about as common as 'cowboy builders' and ' dodgy surplus stores' we see everyday on here and on TV. We all know it happens. We all know how they operate, and we all know that they get away with it despite the reports that are handed in.

 

[myotis]

It's about as common as 'cowboy builders' and ' dodgy surplus stores' we see everyday on here and on TV. We all know it happens. We all know how they operate, and we all know that they get away with it despite the reports that are handed in.

Fair enough, I've just never seen it happen, but with your final line are you saying you have reported to IEEM and they did nothing about it.

Graham

 

[JonathanD]

...but with your final line are you saying you have reported to IEEM and they did nothing about it.

Graham

No, I'm not saying that. I don't do many mitigation jobs anymore, I research and study areas previously unexplored. It's hardly a secret though that the people successful in the mitigation business (as in finding said species on site), lose work because of cowboys who are in it for the $$$$ They come recommended by people who also know how the system can work to their advantage. I know many many people who know of these people by name, and those people have never met.

 

[myotis]

No, I'm not saying that. I don't do many mitigation jobs anymore, I research and study areas previously unexplored. It's hardly a secret though that the people successful in the mitigation business (as in finding said species on site), lose work because of cowboys who are in it for the $$$$ They come recommended by people who also know how the system can work to their advantage. I know many many people who know of these people by name, and those people have never met.

Interesting, I can only repeat, that I have never come across it. Nor have I ever had a client who has asked for any dishonesty in the survey work, even though I've had lots who have been very unhappy with the survey results !!

As I said, I see competence being a much bigger problem than corruption.

But of course I'm not trying to argue it never happens, and I am certainly aware of barristers who have put pressure on their ecological witnesses for Public Inquiry to "water down" their evidence or exaggerate the likely success of mitigation.

Graham

 

[JonathanD]

It's pretty much a cert that corruption within this area is a problem. Corruption is a problem within every trade and business that has been or will be. It's a fact of life. Competence certainly is a bigger problem, that and apathy. Apathy is a huge problem, and a modern human trait.

 

[myotis]

It's pretty much a cert that corruption within this area is a problem. Corruption is a problem within every trade and business that has been or will be. It's a fact of life. Competence certainly is a bigger problem, that and apathy. Apathy is a huge problem, and a modern human trait.

Glad we can end this with a statement we can both agree on

Graham

 

[WolfCub]

Great result Jonathan !

My Wife has done a fair few ecology surveys in her past jobs for various authorities. Through opportunities and circumstance she gravitated towards plants. In her last post she surveyed lots of small plots that had previous records of specific plants. Many sites had been written off as no longer colonised by previous surveys (mainly in this case done by genuinely well meaning but not so efficient volunteres)
Taking the time to research the appearance of the target species at the time of season she was on site helped. Also lots of photos and referal to genuine specificaly knowedgeable people she knew.

She met a wide range of landowners in the course of doing it. Reasuringly many of them were very interested and possitive once 'enlightened', even if first hostile at prospect of a "raving tree hugging smelly enviroment protester" (which she isn't) on their land. She's a farmers daughter and knows that for some people their land and it's resource is their only real asset of income and security. For others it's not, so each are 'handled' differently.
(I'm sure there are still photos of various orchids and butterflies being passed round at port and cigars after dinner parties with "terribly rare and important you know ! sod the G8 and kimoto agreements, my mowing cycle on that patch of chalk is vital to .... !)

Sounds like your bloke was already well intentioned, very good fortune he met you !
(Though personaly, if I was Noah I'd have thrown the snakes and spiders overboard and let 'em fend for themselves !)

 

[JonathanD]

(Though personaly, if I was Noah I'd have thrown the snakes and spiders overboard and let 'em fend for themselves !)

Good job you weren't Noah then, as our species would be dead by now and blow flies and rodents would rule the world