Another great mini masterclass today with the Greengage Environmental Ltd ecology team at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Being shown examples of rain gardens, manmade wetlands and SUDs, wildflower meadows and softening of river edges. It's great to see what we are encouraging in Biodiversity Net Gain Assessments and where we can make improvements! #BNG #ecology #biodiversity
The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) has announced that Hedgehog Awareness Week 2024 is happening 5th – 11th May. The annual event highlights the problems hedgehogs face and how you can help them. As a Hedgehog Champion (for Hedgehog Street, a project run by BHPS and People’s Trust for Endangered Species) my family and I went door to door today, raising awareness. Wildlife-friendly features can be added (and hazards can be avoided) to make an area more welcoming to hedgehogs: -Hedgehog highways allow vital access to more habitat; These 13cm x 13cm square gaps in the bottom of boundary walls and fences ensure hedgehogs can get in and out easily – and once these Hedgehog Highways are made you can log them at www.bighedgehogmap.org. -Log piles, leaf piles, wild corners and edges will attract natural food and offer shelter for hedgehogs. -Water is vital for all wildlife and can be scarce, especially during hot spells. Make sure there are always several clean shallow bowls of water in the garden for hedgehogs – pop a few pebbles in so that bees and butterflies can safely take a drink too. -Ponds or pools are great for wildlife but do ensure there are escape routes – a sloping edge, ramp or half-submerged rock for hedgehogs to scramble out on. -Stop using poisons and pesticides that could directly harm wildlife and destroy the food chain. -Litter is a problem for wildlife and while this is (hopefully) not an issue in your own garden, it very likely is in the wider environment. -Netting can become entangled in hedgehog spines: make sure sports nets are put away and garden netting is raised 30cm off the ground so hedgehogs can safely pass under. Always carefully check for wildlife before mowing, strimming or lighting a bonfire pile. ...Pass it on! #HedgehogWeek #BHPS #PTES #Hedgehog #BritishHedgehogs
Really interesting listen and not something widely considered or appreciated when undertaking BNG assessments! Thanks for sharing Richard Gowing.
A really interesting Podcast by the #ECOChamber team where Nat Duffus (Oxford) reflects on her research into the relationship between #BNG and #invertebrate biodiversity (19.40 min. onwards). https://lnkd.in/dk5fchFY Headlines - 🐞 BNG grassland type & condition aren't necessarily a good proxy for invertebrate diversity & abundance. Particularly for non-priority grasslands in the metric. 🦋 There is a case for tweaking BNG condition scoring to better reflect invertebrate habitat quality. 🐛 BNG field data should be bolstered with additional data on inverts using tech (e.g. eDNA) or survey. Or - my view - shifting data collection effort away from finding relatively common protected species in some cases!? 🪱 A case for including connectivity to the metric [Didn't they try this for metric 2.0? It's quite an abused, misused and misunderstood concept in my experience....] 🐝 "BNG is not a tool for conservation, it's a tool for compensating for harms on the environment". This point is so often forgotten in my view. 🐜 Two key tips for making BNG a success - 1) scale-up resources in local planning authorities: "We can design a metric that's perfect. But if the monitoring and enforcement isn't happening, then it falls flat". 2) Create a more transparent off-site BNG register that can be independently monitored.
As Hedgehog Champion for the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (#BHPS) for my street, I was offered the opportunity to take part in their new, national hedgehog research project before it was officially launched to the public. As part of a small, specially selected focus group I had an exclusive first look, to test their new National Hedgehog Monitoring Project (#NHMP) run by People's Trust for Endangered Species and BHPS. As a volunteer 'spotter' I have looked at and classified multiple images/footage from camera traps set up all over Britain to record wildlife. This will provide detailed hedgehog population data, help them focus their conservation efforts and identify at-risk populations. So far my six year old daughter and I have viewed images and footage and identified and classified mice, shrew, rabbits, deer, squirrels, foxes and pheasants (alongside hedgehogs!). Glad to be part of the process of testing the capacity of this groundbreaking system with my daughter! #hedgehogs #ukwildlife #conservation #nhmp #mammals #biodiversity #nature #ptes #action
Today I decided to use the Merlin Bird ID app that's been sitting, unused, on my phone for years. I stepped into my garden and within 2 minutes of recording it picked up 8 different bird songs, which I can now playback and practice identifying what they are! Highly recommend downloading because now I'm hooked!
I'm pleased to have been part of this project, helping update the Greenspace Information for Greater London CIC Ancient Woodland Inventory for Greater London, safeguarding these invaluable habitats. My ecology journey started at GIGL in 2010 as a Graduate Trainee, and now I have been lucky enough to support them on this really exciting project whilst at Greengage Environmental Ltd. Big thanks to Yasmine Airton for all her hard work and dedication to this project! Link for more info: https://lnkd.in/es7duKPa
Happy Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Day! Are you feeling prepared for the now mandatory BNG requirement for all new major developments and small developments from 2 April 2024? Our amazing team of ecologists at Greengage Environmental Ltd can help #biodiversitynetgain #bng
Director of Sustainability, ESG & Sustainable Finance
1yGreat to see a biodiversity living lab !