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Ecologist wanted!

Ecologist wanted to join our Edinburgh Ecology Team

Salary in the range of £22,000 - £27,000 per annum depending on experience

We have an established team with great aspirations based in Edinburgh and are looking for an Ecologist to join our busy team. Our projects include major infrastructure developments including roads, rail, gas, and electricity, as well as small-scale and private developments. We’re looking for an ecologist to join our team and support our surveys, helping us with our existing client relationships and developing new ones.

Are hot weather events harming roosting bats?

In periods of hot weather bat boxes and confined roosts, such as those in cavities, can be especially dangerous to bats. Scientists are now discovering that in a rapidly warming climate, overheating bat boxes and some roost spaces can be a death trap. When bats roost in an a loft or attic they can move inside the space to avoid high temperatures. However bats can’t do this as easily in a small cavity or some bat boxes and they become more vulnerable to overheating and dehydration.

Senior Ecologist wanted to join our south-west business

Ellendale Environmental have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Ecologist to be based in  the south-west of England. We are an established team with a busy workload and have great aspirations to grow.

A great start to the week for our Ecology team who were successfully granted a European Protected Species (EPS) Bat Mitigation Licence from Natural England for a project in Somerset where our client has planning permission to redevelop three derelict agricultural barns into residential properties.

Senior Ecologist wanted to join our Scotland Team

Ellendale Environmental have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Ecologist in Scotland. We are an established team with a busy workload and have great aspirations to grow. We are looking for a Senior Ecologist to lead our ecology surveys, to manage our existing client relationships and to develop business. Whilst our team office is in Edinburgh, we are flexible on location for the right person and salary would be negotiable based on experience.

If you require a PEA survey and want to discuss how Ellendale Environmental can help then please get in touch.

Ellendale Environmental ecologists undertake ecology surveys throughout the UK including Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA). Our ecologists have completed PEA surveys to support planning applications for a wide range of developments to including proposed residential developments, overhead lines, substations, underground cables, peak gas generators, pipelines, roads, industrial sites and glamping developments as part of planning applications.

The Acoustics team at Ellendale Environmental is very pleased to hear that our client, Context Properties, has been successful with getting planning consent from City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) for The Earl Grange Café on Fountainhall Road.

We are back after the Christmas break and today is a special one for Ellendale Environmental. We mark 10 years since we started and celebrate a decade in which we have become firmly established as an environmental consultancy.

Blair joins Ellendale as a Graduate Ecologist and will be primarily working in South Wales to support the team, providing on-site ecological advice and support for an overhead line project.

Ellendale Environmental assisted Neil Gray of Gray Planning on this application and the team is very pleased to have received positive feedback on the noise report. Neil commented that “the EHO was content with the noise report and recommended the advice in your report be conditions of planning, so we appreciate your input to the project to date”.

Congratulations to Andrew Whitelee who last week obtained his Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) Schedule 1 bird survey licence.

Environmental DNA, also known as eDNA for short, is a recent method and survey technique which is sometimes used by our ecologists at Ellendale Environmental for protected species.

If you think you may require assistance with eDNA sampling or would like to discuss protected species surveying, then please get in touch today and a member of our team will be very happy to assist you.

Each year on April 17th, International Bat Appreciation Day reminds us of the role bats play in our daily lives. Bats have a vital role in ecosystems around the world. They are a diverse group of animals accounting for over 20% of the world's mammals.

With current travel restrictions resulting in fewer cars on the road (and hence less noise), we have been noticing much more of nature and its sounds. This has reminded us of the sculpted trees in the Plaza de San Francisco in Seville,which were full of birds at the time of visiting and was quite the noise.

Hedgehogs Erinaceus europaeus are one of the UK’s best-loved mammals and sadly now in serious decline.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, we’ve challenged our ecologists to film their local wildlife using Trail-Cameras.
Andrew Whitelee filmed hedgehog in his garden.

A lot of us are now working from home and limited in our access to the countryside. However, there are still some great citizen science projects out there that you can get involved in from the comfort of your own garden. Here’s a list of our favourites below.

Ellendale Environmental has been successful in obtaining a Natural England Development Licence for a Lesser Horseshoe bat maternity roost on behalf of our clients.

Recently, Ellendale Environmental have been working with Balfour Beatty and National Grid providing environmental management, surveys and advice with regards to breeding birds on a vital overhead line refurbishment and tower replacement project in South Wales.

Plastic in the Oceans - Plastic is everywhere. It is in the things we use daily, but the waste from throw-away single-use plastics is causing a huge pollution problem - as recently highlighted in the BBC Blue Planet 2 programme.

Ellendale Environmental now provides Environmental Noise Surveys & Assessments

We are very pleased to welcome Emma Parsons to the Ellendale team, who will lead on our offering of environmental noise surveys, noise assessments and noise management.  Emma, who is based in Edinburgh, has over 14 years’ experience in Acoustics - with particular focus on Environmental Noise – and is a full corporate member of the Institute of Acoustics (MIOA). 

Over the last few years our ecologists have been monitoring watercourses as part of project works to identify species present. Although we have found evidence of otter activity, such as feeding remains and sprints, the animals themselves have remained elusive, even avoiding our cameras! That is until now…

Finally, we have an otter on camera – and it has caught some dinner!

At Ellendale we encourage our team to continue their ecological interests outside of work and to follow their passions. One such case is Andrew who has been an active fundraiser and trustee for Wader Quest for the last five years.

Bug hotels are structures which are built of a variety of materials to provide habitat for a wide range of invertebrates and depending on its size also amphibians and small mammals. They can range from the size of a bird box to up to a meter high.

Non-native species may have been introduced by humans either on purpose such as pheasants for shooting or by accident such as exotic cage birds escaping. Some non-native species can upset the ecological balance in an area and threaten native wildlife but not all non-native species are harmful. It is hard to determine which species will become a problem, as the examples below will demonstrate, but when a non-native species does establish itself and thrive to the detriment of the native ecosystem this species is known as an invasive species.

This week (13th – 17th May 2019) is invasive species week and Japanese Knotweed is probably the most famous of the species to invade the UK. The legendary concrete-smashing, tarmac-raising plant is feared by the construction industry and gardeners alike. But is has a weakness… its edible! so we made Japanese Knotweed Jam!

Ancient Woodland is defined as woodland that has existed since 1600AD in England and Wales and 1750AD in Scotland. It is the richest land-based habitat for wildlife and home to more threatened species than any other habitat.

Its invasive nature makes the plant suitable for our Invasive species cookbook! Wild Garlic has an edible bulb, with a strong taste of garlic. The leaves can also be eaten but have a milder garlic taste, and the flowers, which have a stronger flavour, make an interesting addition to salads. At this time of the year the leaves can be easily foraged in most woodlands. Here are a few of our favourites.