I didn’t think I’d bother writing anything about the EU referendum. I’m personally sick of it, having known how I am going to vote for some time, and I’m sure many of you feel the same. What’s the point in another liberal thought piece extolling the virtues of EU membership? There’s also no value in…
Peregrines
I often complain a bit too much and don’t take the time to actually appreciate quite how cool my job is. Here are some photos from one of our sites in Kent where we have nesting peregrines. My job the other week was essentially to go watch these incredible creatures for the morning. What a good…
Why are the ethics of nature conservation often ignored by industry?
When I describe to clients why they should be undertaking ecological surveys and implementing appropriate mitigation, compensation and enhancement I always rely upon the three big hitters: Legislation, Policy, BREEAM. Top of this list should surely be ethics however. I don’t need financial incentive or threats of litigation to prevent me from committing crimes or acting…
What would I challenge the construction industry to change?
I was recently asked to produce a 2 minute video response to the question ‘what would I challenge the construction industry to change?’, in relation to sustainable development. This seemed like a simple question but actually turned out to be quite hard to succinctly answer in just 2 minutes. I’ve produced an approximation of my…
Brilliant beavers
The Guardian yesterday published an article on the observed success of the Okehampton beaver reintroduction. The results of this small scale ‘rewilding’ scheme are unequivocal in their conclusions. Reintroduction of this species on this small stretch of river has increased the water storage capacity of the stream from a few hundred litres to 65,000 litres….
A curious case of shifting baseline syndrome, and failed attempts at optimism
This week Defra, with the support of the Office of National Statistics, released their data[i] on biodiversity indicators for bench marking progress against the Biodiversity 2020 strategy[ii] – England’s nature conservation strategy that provides a basis for the policy approach to biodiversity, set against our international and EU commitments. The data show mixed results for…
The Natural History of British Sea Power
To the uninitiated, British Sea Power are an indie rock sextet originating from Cumbria, via Brighton. They also happen to be one of the greatest British bands of the last generation. Live, they are astonishing, delivering soaring swathes of eccentric post-rock indie whilst draped in locally gathered tree cuttings, and accompanied by avian taxidermy and a 9-foot…
Arrested Development: halted ecosystems and their relevance in modern day conservation efforts
I wrote this piece early last year for my companies blog however it now seems particularly relevant again what with the recent floods. Whilst these floods are likely to be a consequence of a number of factors including climate change, poor planning, and in some instances a small amount of sheer bad luck, the influence…
Tis the season to bee merry
Even I admit that today’s mini blog is only tenuously linked with Christmas. I mostly just wanted to use the pun in the title and could think of no other way to incorporate it. In another ‘end of year/Christmas blog piece’ I give a very brief introduction to one of the big issue facing our bees…
A partridge in a pear tree.
I really love Christmas. A socially acceptable fortnight of near constant overindulgence. The slow decline of productivity as the cumulative hangover builds and first day of pre-Christmas annual leave draws closer. London still stays its rainy grey self, and the commute is still a pain, but now I get to listen to Shakin’ Stevens on…
Natural capital in concept works. They know it, we know it, but how come it rarely translates at the coal-face of sustainable development?
My last blog focused on the threat of reduced protection for our most valued wildlife conservation sites. Thankfully initial comments from Brussels were reassuring, and the headlines satiated my smugness by stating more or less what I had written; Directives work, nature is valuable, enforcement is broken etc etc. That’s fantastic, so far the consensus…
Fitness check for Nature
I wrote this recently for work in response to frustration regarding potential changes to nature conservation legislation. In the wake of a summer of changes to green policy, with global warming set to breach the 1oC threshold this winter, and with the Paris climate talks around the corner, our Senior Ecologist Morgan Taylor discusses some…
Morgan Taylor Ecology 