About E³ Ecology Ltd Personnel

JAMES WILSON BA

POSITION: Graduate Ecologist (Botany and Ornithology)

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• BA (Hons) Biological Sciences; 1 - University of Oxford

CAREER PROFILE

James graduated from the University of Oxford in 2008 with a first class degree in Biological Sciences and was awarded the Gibbs Prize for the outstanding paper in Zoology.

Working in the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology he undertook research into the effects of home-range habitat composition on Barn Owl productivity, using GIS to map habitats at a landscape scale, and monitored Blue Tits and Great Tits at Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire.

Before joining E3 he worked as a trainee for the Northumberland National Park Authority, gaining experience of land management techniques in protected areas.

Recent consultancy work has included botanical surveys of a range of sites proposed for development including upland windfarms, minerals sites, housing and brownfield redevelopments.

Also specialising in ornithology, James has undertaken breeding bird surveys and assessments for a range of developments, including gravel quarries and housing schemes.

He has undertaken vantage point surveys of proposed wind farm sites, ornithological risk assessments and nesting bird checks. In addition, he has carried out numerous bat surveys in the region, as well as specialist surveys for reptiles, badgers and otters.

He has attended a number of in-house and external training courses including the identification of common plant species, grasses, sedges, woodland NVC communities and songbirds. He is currently attending an eight week course on lower plant species.

SOME RELEVANT PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN

• Extended Phase 1 habitat surveys and reports, including those used for BREEAM and CSH purposes, for housing schemes throughout the region.
• Botanical, ornithological and reptile surveys and assessment of lowland grassland and plantation woodland, to inform a planning application for the construction of an industrial unit.
• Vantage point surveys for windfarms.
• Scoping, ornithological and bat surveys of a 16th century stone road bridge proposed for renovation.
• Survey and assessment of the breeding bird populations in arable-dominated farmland proposed for sand and gravel extraction, to inform an Environmental Statement.
• A large number of activity, car-transect and building surveys for bats for a variety of residential and commercial developments, including schools and hospitals.

PARTICULAR EXPERIENCE AND SPECIALISATION

• Ornithology
• Botany
• Mosses and ferns