Last summer a male great crested newt navigated its way into the male toilet block......

Our ecologist Carly Jefferies, finds GCN in unexpected places!

It appears great crested newts have taken a shine to The Ecology Consultancy office in Lewes.

Last summer a male great crested newt navigated its way into the male toilet block (at least he chose the right toilet) and a number of newts have recently been found sheltering within a deep drain hole in a field behind the office.

The newts were discovered by a member of the Farm Estate Maintenance who was carrying out a routine check of the drain. Worrying that they had fallen in and were trapped, he alerted staff at The Ecology Consultancy. Operation ‘newt recovery’ was then launched and nine great crested newts and a toad were lifted to safety and re-homed under a pile of wood next to a pond on the other side of the field.



No doubt there will be more newt adventures this summer...

Our ecologist Alex Prendergast found a new species of liverwort at the weekend

During a British Bryological Society meeting at Holkham Dunes National Nature Reserve The Ecology Consultancy’s Norfolk botanist, Alex Prendergast, made an exciting discovery – Odontoschisma denudatum - a new species for the county! This is a tiny liverwort commonly called the ‘matchstick flapwort’ on account of its distinctive matchstick-shaped shoots which are topped by clusters of asexual gemmae. It’s great to be able to record a new species for what is probably the most well-recorded county. The matchstick flapwort was found growing on very rotten damp wood in the shade of the site’s impressive Corsican pines Pinus nigra ssp laricio. A botanist could be kept busy for several days at Holkham Dunes as the matchstick flapwort’s rotting woodpile stands within a complex of interesting coastal habitats each presenting plant species of note including hound’s-tongue Cynoglossum officinale, yellow figwort Scrophularia vernalis, the beautiful creeping lady’s-tresses orchid Goodyera repens, and many equally fascinating bryophytes.