Blog

Michelle Obama and The Art of Community Engagement

The other night when I couldn't sleep I turned to Netflix and the wisdom of Michelle Obama. One of the many wise things she said really stood out to me "we focus too much on stats and not story". In her book she...

Kelly finds out... "what's on your patch?"

Networking and Sandwiches

The CIEEM (Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management) events offer us ecologists an excellent opportunity to network with other ecologists in our area. At a recent event three talks were also held on the following...

Learning from each other

On Thursday night team Ecology took Paul (the director) out on a great crested newt (GCN) survey with them. Paul had been asking for a while about helping out with a survey and learning a little more about what the ecologists do when on site! So...

The Life of an Ecologist

Spring has arrived! For an ecologist, this brings about two emotions: excitement and fear! There is a lot of excitement at the prospect of switching staring at a computer screen and being stuck in the office for exploring the great outdoors and...

On A Mission

As a challenge for 2017, Steven decided to set himself the target of spotting 200 different species of wild birds in the UK, before the end of the year. Combining birds spotted during breeding and wintering bird surveys for Pleydell Smithyman...

Grass Snakes Galore!

Ecologists undertake a whole host of surveys through the year including reptile surveys. These surveys are required when suitable habitat is present on a site, and this habitat is likely to be impacted by the proposals. Suitable habitats that...

Protecting Native Wildlife

Team Ecology takes the protection of native wildlife very seriously.

As well as surveying for native species we also make note of non-native species that have the potential to damage our native ecological balance.

We recently...

Follow the Money

Garden centre design and business consultant Paul Pleydell argues that to thrive going forward, garden centres may have to diversify their offer even further Whether you love it or hate it, the internet won't go away - and more importantly,...

Ecological Survey Seasons

As another busy season for the ecologists at Pleydell Smithyman Limited is nearly over, here's a quick reminder of the type of surveys that can still be undertaken until the end of September and then the work that can be carried out throughout...