Most of the team are working on reporting at the moment, so I was asked to do a lot of desk studies for the new projects we have in the pipeline. Desk studies are interesting to do because you can find out a lot about a place without needing to visit it in person. Each region has a biological record centre holding information about habitats and species in the area. I filled in data requests and then created maps with what I received back. From the data and maps, we can work out if there are protected species that have been found in or around the site we’re working on. We then put the information into reports to advise clients on the sorts of surveys that are required in order to take the site forward. From doing these desk studies I have learnt plenty of protected plant species and the different designations that are given to them.
As a little CPD game in the office this week, Isabel created a winter twig scrapbook. What a fantastic idea! She then gave everyone a go at identifying all the species with sticky notes. I did okay for a first try but I did get a few wrong. It’s a good time of year to top up on our CPD before next year’s survey season begins. Botany here I come!
The Baker Consultants team is highly experienced and we are passionate about what we do. If you need advice related to ecology, surveys or conservation, then please get in touch with us via our contact form on the website, or you can call us on +44 (0)1629 593958 or email us on info@bakerconsultants.co.uk.