In keeping with current circumstances, some of the services we provide our clients have had to be adapted or postponed for the welfare of all involved. We are grateful, however, that there are areas of work still safe for us to execute, allowing us to continue providing several services with minimal disruption.
Of course, we are committed to ensuring the safety of everyone involved and have therefore adopted additional PPE, social distancing and sanitisation measures. Some of our more advisory services we have been able to provide remotely, thus ensuring a healthy rotation of staff presence with our clients.
We are pleased to announce that from the beginning of May 2020 we have undertaken the extension to our contract with client Heathrow Airport Ltd., to include the management of the honeybee colonies in various locations across the Biodiversity Sites. You can soon read more about this new venture here.
Survey season is upon us, and in true ecologist fashion we haven’t missed the opportunity to be distanced from people in pursuit of local fauna: we’ve been busy undertaking bat, bird and reptile surveys for a variety of clients including Huf Haus and private housing projects. Our bat works have included dusk surveys, follow-on visits from Phase I and obtaining mitigation class license CL21. Put something in here about the equipment and training we use. We’ve also been up with the Larks to complete a series of common bird census for a client in Sussex prior to development works, and ongoing reptile surveys ahead of development continuation in Oxfordshire.
We have been able to continue our habitat creation projects, working with Heathrow Rail to complete the planting of an orchard and wildflower meadow surrounding a carpark, and reinstatement works for clients following developments on private land. See our Heathrow Gallery for images of how one meadow creation on a Biodiversity Site reinstatement is progressing!
April has been a busy month for us as well, assisting clients such as Doncaster, Ferrovial and Heathrow with airfield reinstatements and procedures like bottoming out: preventing undesirable species by decreasing habitat suitability; removing vegetation built up through the year. Airports have also been continuing essential spring vegetation monitoring on the airfields, requiring routing visit to evaluate weed populations and advise for upcoming management.
The beautiful weather of the last few weeks has provided excellent growing conditions not only for our treasured native flora, but invasive species too. We have been successful in obtaining a license from the Environment Agency for controlled herbicide application to Floating Pennywort, to assist in the control of this fast-growing plant on behalf of a client. Additional high-profile vegetation we have been targeting including Giant Hogweed and Japanese Knotweed.
