wildlife surveys

[tigertom]

Have seen on another thead that councils have a duty to carry out wild life surveys befor building or devlopement can go ahead on some sites what sites would require such a survey, and who would carry it out?
I ask this as there is a very large area of land near to me that has been held over for devlopement now for over 20 years 1st by local council now by homes and commuitys agency the land is now criss crossed with hedges and wild medows and a great place for wild life has grass snakes slow worms newts in the ponds hunting barn owls sky larks and loads of wild flowers in the meddows.
And I do not trust the council when it comes to surveying wild life as am sure reports are done to suit what they want.
An example was few years ago they put in a new tarmac path along side a ditch and at the same time gradeing the ditch this was done from March though to end April now this ditch did have large Nos of breeding newts mostly smooth but I had seen GCNs in this site.
But the council said it had been surveyd and there was no newts there even contrator doing work told them about the newts as they found loads when diging out parts of ditch but still this work was done.
and when I did show a local council suit that there was newts present his respones was only smooth newts they are common
Just wish I had found one GCNs when he was there.
And I do no that in one of the meddows heldover for devlopement that only this year someone had reported to local council that some rare plants one was some kind of orchid were to found in two meddows he was thanked for the info and within a week both these meddows had been let out as grazeing for horses
I know one thing I am going over evry inch of this site with my camara over next few weeks and next year.

[The Woodman]

Originally Posted by tigertom

Have seen on another thead that councils have a duty to carry out wild life surveys befor building or devlopement can go ahead on some sites what sites would require such a survey, and who would carry it out?
I ask this as there is a very large area of land near to me that has been held over for devlopement now for over 20 years 1st by local council now by homes and commuitys agency the land is now criss crossed with hedges and wild medows and a great place for wild life has grass snakes slow worms newts in the ponds hunting barn owls sky larks and loads of wild flowers in the meddows.
And I do not trust the council when it comes to surveying wild life as am sure reports are done to suit what they want.
An example was few years ago they put in a new tarmac path along side a ditch and at the same time gradeing the ditch this was done from March though to end April now this ditch did have large Nos of breeding newts mostly smooth but I had seen GCNs in this site.
But the council said it had been surveyd and there was no newts there even contrator doing work told them about the newts as they found loads when diging out parts of ditch but still this work was done.
and when I did show a local council suit that there was newts present his respones was only smooth newts they are common
Just wish I had found one GCNs when he was there.
And I do no that in one of the meddows heldover for devlopement that only this year someone had reported to local council that some rare plants one was some kind of orchid were to found in two meddows he was thanked for the info and within a week both these meddows had been let out as grazeing for horses
I know one thing I am going over evry inch of this site with my camara over next few weeks and next year.

You've asked a question with a potentially complex answer.

Hopefully, the following will make some sense!

Your county council may employ an ecologist. If you are keen on commenting on developments, it might be useful to get to know the ecologist as they have access to data resources and are usually very helpful.

If you are aware of a potential development, make sure that everything of interest is reported to the appropriate recorder for your area. The reason for this is that the developer will undoubtedly have to do an Environmental Impact Assessment - EIA. Whoever wins the tender to do the job may be out of area. For example XYZ Ecology from Surrey is appointed by the developer to do the survey work. Part of their investigation will involve a table top species search. They will (should) enquire from various sources and organisations as to what is on the site or in the surrounding area.

Be aware that not all organisations forward their records to the main county collator for whatever reason. For example, the Runcorn Urban Dragonfly Group may have the best data for the area in question and keep it within the ten strong group. The consultant ecologists have to make best efforts to find data but may not ever come across RUDG so the locally important of dragonfly get overlooked.

Various levels of protection are afforded to protected species and depending on the potential level of threat, recommendations from "leave this area untouched" to "provide three bird boxes" may be offered.

Your local council "suit" probably had no more knowledge about the newts than he had got from the survey report. If the GCN had been recorded on a database, their presence would have been noted and either increased survey effort over a longer time or specific mitigation might have been included in the recommendations by the consultant.

The presence of a protected species may not stop development. The call is made by the consultant and decision made by the planning authority. Natural England and the Environment Agency may be involved in the planning application process, as the application grinds through their departments, the relevant person might some item of interest and comment accordingly and further action taken.

To sum up, if you are out on your patch and take note of what's there - get it recorded. No species of flora or fauna is that insignificant to record, it all fits in the great ecological jigsaw.

[Dogghound]

I do this as my job, but not for the council. Local councils often employ us and other ecological consultants to carry out this work. However it may be different within you area and they may have their own team. If the land has been bought from the council then it is upto the developers to get the appropriate surveys carried out.

You need to send these records into biological recording scheme's, let county recoreders know and make local wildlife groups aware. If the council then continue to damage these sites you should then go to the police. It is an offence to damage or destroy great crested newt breeding sites, resting places as well as disturb them, injure, kill etc. Which they could have done.

Cross post with woodman but, same kind of answer

[earthdragon64]

This is the sort of thread that really highlights the importance of sending in records to the appropriate recording schemes. Have the GCN records on the site been sent to NARRS or anyone similar? Groups like that may be able to help or give advice when sites are threatened, but only when they are made aware of the potential problem.

Even species that we regard as common now, may become less common or endangered in the future. It's really important that recording is ongoing as only then can trends be noticed and perhaps conservation plans put into place before any species declines too far.

Regards, Audrey.

[nightshade]

There was a post on here not so long ago where the council and their agents/contractors did a lot of work on a long section of river leaving it in a disgusting state. The Council is in a lot of trouble over it but it was only through the efforts of the poster that anything was done.
If you dont think something is right, _Sing Out_ make a fuss, write letters keep copies, get and record names of anyone you contact, keep a record, times, dates, photos of wildlife present. I contact Natural England for advice they are always helpful. They stopped a local company from cutting and strimming a grassy bank where Slow Worms were breeding.

[Dorts]

I used to do a lot of ecological and botanical surveys for local authorities, English Nature, Nat Trust etc.
All you can do is send in your report with recommendations where necessary, after that it's up to the authority what happens I'm afraid.
In most cases your recommendations were taken into account, but if implementation was going to be costly, there would often have to be a compromise.
Dorts.

[tigertom]

thanks for all the info I am going to be takeing a lot of pics and notes on this site over the rest of this year and next, as far has know no work is planned there for some time and may not even go ahead as it is so damp, the land was am told was grazeing for cattle be for it was sold to council and has now not been touched for over 20 years and is now a local beauty spot.
My local council did at one time have an envrioment officer who was very good you could ring with any concerns and he would do something about it often stopping work going ahead even that by his own council if it was a theat to wildlife and plants but he was got rid off some years ago.