A couple of weeks ago, Alice Burgess, one of our Ecologists, found herself on a boat on a major river in the Southwest of England.
She was surveying a 200m stretch of river by, searching for signs of protected species, specifically water vole and otter.
This included searching along the toe and bank of the river for field signs such as burrows, latrines, feeding stations, and above ground nests for water vole.
Otter field signs that were searched for include spraint, holts, couches and any physical sightings of either species. This survey forms part of a wider assessment, so the results will feed into other ecological surveys being undertaken on site to form an overall set of recommendations and appropriate mitigation.
Field signs for water vole and otter were recorded during the survey, so this has been fed back to the client in a species-specific report. The river is not being directly impacted by the proposed scheme; however, it is within the red line boundary of the scheme and therefore is at risk from indirect impacts, so a precautionary approach with an Ecological Clerk of Works (ECoW) will be required during construction.
