Lucas Jacobs

Management of #InvasiveSpecies incorporates the three pillars of 1) prevention, 2) early detection & rapid response and 3) control. As part of our environmental DNA (#eDNA) project we have worked on assessing this #Monitoring method for the application for #InvasiveSpecies detection. We have recently had a paper published on this, see the link below for more information. #INNSWeek

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Following on from the Downstream Measures Campaign in the Spring, the River Thames Scheme (RTS) are delighted to launch their new animation video which explains the downstream improvement works for the scheme in more detail, especially the role of the weirs. These improvement works are happening downstream of the flood channel and are critical for reducing flood risk to benefit the whole scheme area. By working in tandem with the new flood relief channel, these works will increase the River Thames' capacity to hold more water and protect communities between Egham and Teddington from flooding. Here's what downstream measures involve: • Weir Improvements: Weirs regulate water levels. As part of the RTS, we're adding additional movable gates to existing weirs at Sunbury, Molesey, and Teddington • Lowering the riverbed: The scheme proposals also involve lowering the riverbed downstream of Desborough Cut, creating more space for water to flow freely at a lower level By combining these measures, the RTS reduces flood risk for communities along the whole scheme area. Find out more about downstream measures on our website: https://orlo.uk/xoDLI Watch the video now to learn more about downstream measures: https://orlo.uk/meAQ4

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NRW has just released its May 2024 data update to the Flood Risk Assessment Wales (FRAW) Map and the Flood Map for Planning (FMfP). The FMfP contains 19 new local models within the map. There has also been some changes to a few TAN15 Defended Zones. Check out Section 5: Map Updates on our website to find out more. The PDF map books help users visualise the changes to the flood zones and the TAN15 Defended Zones in the FMfP. https://lnkd.in/eGgii6RV All data platforms, including Data Map Wales will be updated throughout today. As part of this update, some of the local models added on the West Coast of Wales contain wave overtopping outputs. This is a step change from the traditional still water projection approach and more models like this will be added in future updates around the coast of Wales. More information can be found on the “flood risk from the sea” section of our website. https://lnkd.in/e_-EMqDn The next update is due at the end of November 2024.

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🗞 News alert: Scotland and ClimateView join forces in delivering the nation's net zero goal 2045. Led by the Scottish Climate Intelligence Service – jointly funded by all 32 local authorities and the The Scottish Government and delivered by the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute, Improvement Service – the partnership will help local authorities by using standardised data, supporting officers and decision-makers to use evidence more effectively, and providing a service to share best practice, ideas and solutions. “We need to deliver climate action at pace and scale to meet targets and unlock all the other benefits for the people of Scotland; moving from static climate action plans to a live-action feed of what works and what is blocked should help us support evidence-based decision making and unlock investment.” - Clare Wharmby, Programme Director of Scottish Climate Intelligence Service

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You might have seen my recent post about an outfall that is suspected to be polluting regularly into the Mousesweet Brook, since posting Severn Trent and Xylem have supported investigations to date with some outline water quality monitoring and desk based services mapping. As is commonly the nature of sporadically polluting outfalls the need for continuous monitoring would be the only way to identify the range of inputs to the brook from this point. The member of the public who originally flagged this outfall to me a couple of weeks ago kindly sent this over this picture to showcase the outfall. It was when the water was coloured, again this is different to the non natural blue state I witnessed it with 👀. A perfect example of why continued water quality monitoring is so key. One second the water it’s polluted, next second it’s washed through with rain. Other than leaving no life in the brook the evidence of what’s happend has physically gone. In this situation this outfall is likely to be effected by industrial and domestic misconnections. Ultimately this then requires the Environment Agency to investigate as the regulatory authority. Undertake tracing and identifying the source/s, bringing an end to this pollution. Randall Smith Amanda Coffey James Chapman

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The strategic biodiversity component for the Cumberland Plain Conservation Plain (CPCP) will commence on 1 July 2024. It applies to new developments on land that has been biodiversity certified as part of the CPCP under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. The CPCP strategic biodiversity component is based on recovering the full cost of delivering the CPCP’s direct conservation measures and reflects the known acquisition costs for the new biodiversity stewardship agreements and reserves required under the CPCP’s approval. The department consulted on the strategic biodiversity contribution’s introduction in August 2023 as part of consultation on the Housing and Productivity Contribution. A CPCP specific Capacity to Pay Report was also published at that time. The contribution rate for residential development will be $10,000 per lot/dwelling, $60/sqm for commercial development and $30/sqm for industrial development. A discount to these rates will apply until 1 July 2026. Jeff Mead Sophie Perry Troy Loveday

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An early start this morning to carry out a pre-dawn bat survey with my colleague Eleanor Unsworth (Assistant Ecologist) in line with the bat mitigation licence method statement we produced to safeguard bats and enable this residential scheme to proceed. Current best practice guidance is veering away from pre-dawn surveys, driven in part by their impact on employee wellbeing during the busy survey season, instead favouring the use of new infra-red and thermal imaging technology to improve the reliability of dusk surveys (which we do on the majority of sites). As an old-school ‘bat man’ I have to say that whilst I would be the first to put employee health and wellbeing first, there’s no escaping the fact that some questions relating to how bats use a site are simply best answered by carrying out pre-dawn surveys, and using them can also provide clients with a more cost effective service. As always the key is to use the right survey technique to match the requirements of the project. Anyway, plenty of bat activity this morning, but no bats returning to roost, so the next phase of works is good to go. #batsurveys #bats

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UPDATE: The UKCEH Land Cover Maps for 2022 and 2023 have been released. These additions to our LCM series describe the physical material on the surface of the country, using high-resolution satellite imagery. Discover our LCM data collection: https://lnkd.in/g9cQW8x8 #LandCover #GIS #RemoteSensing

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Reminder that the closing date to apply for two funded #phdopportunity on #beavers is fast approaching (Monday 29th April). These opportunities are supported by #NaturalEngland and are part of the NERC-funded Centre for Doctoral Training ECOWILD. These are two great studies that will offer opportunities to build valuable skills in many different areas while researching a fascinating mammal (not that I am biased!) Multi-stressor interactions in the context of beaver-mediated recovery of natural processes within riparian habitats. Supervised by myself, Bernd Hänfling, Martin Gaywood, Michelle Jackson and Sally Mackenzie https://lnkd.in/e2Y2P8WA Impacts of multiple stressors (pollutants and disease) on beavers in England with Suzane Michelle Qassim, Tony Sainsbury, Mark Taggart and M G Pereira https://lnkd.in/eGE4NM7q ECOWILD is a unique partnership that brings together research expertise and innovation across various fields including environmental toxicology, ecology, multiple stressor theory and modelling, wetland conservation and restoration, socioeconomics, community engagement, management and governance; and involves some of the leading UK experts in these fields.

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For the May Issue of 'RIPPLE', access via the link below: https://lnkd.in/ernnhM4y Researchers have explored topics of London's transport, oceanic circulation, waste management, precipitation events and more. Apologies for the delay in release; this is due to the annual examination period. The June Issue will be out later this month...

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🇬🇧 UK governments – in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – have fallen short of their tree-planting targets since 2020, Carbon Brief analysis shows. 🌲 The governments have failed to plant an area of forest nearly equivalent to the size of Birmingham. 📊 The most recent dataset, released on 20 June, shows that only 20,660 hectares of new woodlands were planted in 2023-24. While this is a significant jump from the previous three years, it is still far short of the 30,000 hectares target for 2025, as shown in the second chart. By 2050, the unplanted trees would have removed some 8.5m tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – roughly 2% of the UK’s annual emissions in 2023. Read more on the UK's tree-planting targets from Josh Gabbatiss and Dr Verner Viisainen here ⬇️ https://buff.ly/4eLqG1V #TreePlanting #UKpolicy #Emissions #Sustainability

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We undertake a variety of ecological management field services, including: • Habitat and species surveys • Vegetation management • Habitat management and creation • Monitoring to identify and eradicate invasive species. Get a quote here: https://lnkd.in/e-g57amK. #SaferHealthierPlanet #Ecology #FieldMonitoring #LandManagement

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Great news to start the week

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Here at CBDC, we're not just interested in biodiversity data but also collate information about Cumbria's geodiversity. We work closely with #CumbriaGeoConservation who regularly review sites across this geologically diverse county. This short film explains more about what geodiversity is: https://lnkd.in/gVMHV927

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River Condition Assessment (RCA) is required to assign condition for habitats within the Watercourse section of the Biodiversity Metric. Our FREE mini guide from the experts at CSA Environmental helps you understand: 💧What is RCA? 💧When is RCA required? 💧What is involved? 💧Key recommendations 💧Bonus tips It is an ideal time to carry out RCA so get in touch with our team today. #riverconditionassessment #RCA #rivercondition #BNG #BiodiversityMetric #BiodiversityNetGain

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Reading the British Hydrological Society newsletter. In case there was any doubt, the following section summarises the climate change that we are living through: “Nationally it was the wettest Feb-April in the Met Office Series - rainfall increasing by about 25% since 1836. It was also the third warmest in a series since 1884 with a temperature increase of around 1.4 degC. Both temperature and rainfall exhibit particularly steep increases since the early 1960s.” It’s time we started to behave like this is an emergency 🚨 ‼️🆘 #climatechange #climateemergency

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New case study: Event Duration Monitoring Programme: Enhancing South West Water’s visibility of consented spill events from their sewage network across Devon and Cornwall South West Water's EDM Programme of works comprised 86 sites across Devon and Cornwall, where SWW had a requirement to install monitoring equipment on existing consented spill overflow points. This is part of a continuous improvement of SWW’s CSO monitoring systems, and these works will enable the instantaneous monitoring of spill events across the catchment; ensuring the client has visibility of any spills that occur and the duration of the spill event. The original programme was for 14 continuous months, however the client requested this was reduced to five months due to the importance of the scheme. Galliford Try managed the works for both the in-house installation teams and coordinated the interface with all the third-party organisations to ensure the scheme was completed to the accelerated programme. Read the full case study: https://lnkd.in/gFTv7r48 South West Water Galliford Try QUINSHIELD LIMITED Pulsar Instruments Plc Ricky Phillips #water #waterindustry #engineers #engineering #construction #utilities #utilityindustry #wastewatertreatment #sewagetreatment #sewerage #sewer #pumpingstation #eventdurationmonitoring #edm

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why #nomowmay is at best just teasing our biodiversity. Cutting after May is out, has four main negative impacts that can even elimates any percieved good of having not cut in May: 1) Cuts the lifecycle short of invertebrates and therefore eliminating the next generation. 2) Desimates invertebrates and potentially, amphibians and small mammals, that have moved in to take advantage of the developing meadow. 3) Eliminates a nectar source for the rest of the Summer and early Autumn. 4) Eliminates forage foliage including grasses, for the larval stages of a whole host of our butterflies, with August and even September being their most needy months. Please consider the #nomowsummer concept, at least in part, and perhaps even #nomowyear which provides year round habitat, not least valuable wintering habitat. They don't just go somewhere else afterall. Here's a great video to explain it better.

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