Habitat and Site Assessment for Invertebrates - The Ecology Consultancy Training Course

What does it cover?

The day course will cover the aspects of invertebrate ecology and site assessment relevant to development projects. This will include standard survey methods, techniques and protocols for terrestrial and aquatic habitats and site assessment methods, including walkover appraisals, species quality scores, and schemes based on species of conservation concern. An introduction to the Invertebrate Species-habitat Information System (ISIS) will be provided and the package, interpretation of results and pitfalls will be demonstrated.

Legislation relating to protected species and species of principal importance (BAP species), and their significance for site protection in relation to the NERC Act and the NPPF will be discussed, along with the significance of other species of conservation concern (including Red Data Book, Nationally Notable and Nationally Scarce species). Examples of case law on invertebrates and the judgements of recent cases brought by Buglife, will be reviewed. Important species and habitats in the south-east, including brownfields and their micro-habitats will be discussed and consideration will be given to designing surveys for site assessment, including personnel, techniques and effort and mitigation design. Although the course is not intended to improve insect identification skills, some specimens will be available.

Who should attend?

Professional ecologists and graduate ecologists.

Learning outcomes

• Invertebrate survey methodologies
• Site assessment for invertebrates and ISIS demonstration
• Species protection, relevant legislation and case law
• Mitigation design

Why choose this course?

• Learn from working professionals
• Tailored course based on your requirements from pre-course questionnaire
• Lunch and refreshments provided
• Test and certificate

This course is approved by the Society of Biology for purposes of CPD and may be counted as 24 CPD credits.

Trainer

Dr Graham Hopkins CEnv, MCIEEM, FRES, Director of Hopkins Ecology and former Principal Ecologist for the Ecology Consultancy

Graham has studied invertebrates for over 20 years. His PhD researched aphid ecology, after which he won a travel fellowship to construct foodwebs of parasitoid wasps in Costa Rican dry forests.

He has conducted mark-recapture surveys of the southern damselfly and quantified pollinator webs for Biodiversity Action Plan plants. He provides invertebrate technical expertise on a number of major projects, involving surveys and assessments for a range of different habitats. This includes project managing a framework agreement with Natural England to undertake common standards surveys of SSSIs with analysis using ISIS, for which over 40 SSSIs have been surveyed in the past two years.

He undertakes research on the consideration of invertebrates within the planning and EIA processes, presenting findings at conferences of the Royal Entomological Society and CIEEM. His personal interests are in the aphids, some flies and parasitic wasps. Graham holds a Post-graduate Certificate in Education, has taught in schools and continues to work as a sessional lecturer and tutor within higher, further and continuing education.

Book Your Place

St. Katherine's Dock, London