May 23, 2024 • 27 mins
Welcome to the Ecology Academy podcast, hosted by Richard Dodd. In this episode, we delve into the role and responsibilities of an Ecological Clerk of Works. With summer in full swing, ecologists are busy with surveys and monitoring projects across the UK and beyond. Whether you’re in the UK or elsewhere, this episode is packed with valuable insights for aspiring and seasoned ecologists alike.
We explore the essential duties of an Ecological Clerk of Works, including site monitoring, implementing mitigation measures, ensuring compliance with environmental legislation, and effective communication with stakeholders. Richard discusses the importance of technical skills, regulatory knowledge, and best practices in habitat management.
In addition to technical expertise, the episode emphasizes the need for strong communication skills, stakeholder engagement, and problem-solving abilities. Richard also highlights the importance of maintaining professionalism, integrity, and continuous professional development.
Join us for a comprehensive overview of what it takes to excel as an Ecological Clerk of Works, and stay tuned for future episodes featuring interviews with experienced professionals sharing their tips and stories from the field. Thank you for listening to the Ecology Academy podcast!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
I'm Richard Dodd, and you're listening to the Ecology Academy podcast.
This is a show where we get to talk and learn about all things ecological,
including interviews with top ecologists, both employers and employees,
those working with ecologists, and also aspiring and inspiring career-seeking
individuals setting out to make a difference.
The show aims to provide you with insights, advice, and inspiration to help
(00:26):
you succeed and excel as an effective ecologist, and to make a real difference
to our natural environment.
Hello and welcome back to the Ecology Academy podcast.
Summer has finally arrived. And most of us now are in full swing in our ecological
surveys, undertaking ecological surveys and monitoring and helping our clients
(00:49):
deliver great projects across the United Kingdom.
And elsewhere, if you're a multinational company too. So if you are from outside
the UK, you're very much welcome to listen in to our conversations.
We are primarily focused upon the UK.
And just in case you are new, my name is Richard Dodd. I'm the host of the Ecology Academy podcast.
(01:13):
Now, again, if it is new, you are new to this podcast. There are plenty of episodes
for you to go back and listen to. We've got stuff on biodiversity net gain.
Information about data and how to obtain that, how to manage data,
why data and statistics are important.
We've got information about the BTO acoustic pipeline.
(01:33):
We've got a whole host of backtalks about back training.
And the last series we had was about grey-crested newts, about surveying for
grey-crested newts, and more importantly, about mitigation licenses.
Now, this month, we are going to introduce to you about the Ecological Clerk
of Works, what it is, what the roles and responsibilities are,
(01:55):
a little bit about training, about how to get those skills and attributes that
you need, the knowledge, the experience,
and confidence in order to deliver successful outcomes for both your clients
and, of course, for the natural environment.
So, I say this month is about an introductory to the Ecological Clerk of Works.
Over the next month, we are going to invite some interviewers and interviewees,
(02:20):
should I say, into the realm and discuss with them their experience,
their tips, their knowledge, how they approach Ecological Clerk of Works,
what to do, what not to do as well.
Because let's face it some of us have been thrown
and thrust into this this role of an ecological clerk
works with very little training and that's detrimental to
(02:43):
both ourselves to our companies if we're working for a company and also to the
natural environment others have got oodles of training and support and that's
why we are you know aiming for to ensure that we can deliver those successful
outcomes so enough of the waffle let's get straight into the program okay so what is an.
(03:04):
It's a crucial role to ensure that the construction and development projects
usually comply with environmental legislation and minimize their impact upon wildlife and habitats.
So you, as the ecological clerk of work, what is your responsibility?
Well, it's going to include a variety of different things. So it's monitoring,
it's advising, and implementing ecological mitigation measures.
(03:27):
So there it is in a nutshell, monitoring, advising, and implementing ecological
measures. And of course, one of the major elements of that would have missed
out is clearly supervision.
So we know that advising, implementing cultural measures, a lot of that can
be done under, you know, you will be the supervisor, the main contact on the site.
So you can see that it's a huge amount of responsibility that you will be given
(03:51):
and authority to actually ensure that the project is delivered successfully.
So let's look at some of the key responsibilities.
First of all, of course, site monitoring. You're going to a site and you're
going to undertake some sort of monitoring. Now, that could be daily monitoring.
So these are, you know, you're going to site every, could be every day during
(04:14):
the working week, or it could be even seven days a week, you know,
that you act out there undertaking the site inspections, site audits.
It could be you know you may be moving animals about
um you know looking at habitat doing different auditory audits
uh shall we say so it could be focused on one particular site
one particular habitat or one particular species or it's a whole range of things
(04:36):
you're looking at different things on a daily basis clearly then there's the
weekly monthly quarterly you know ad hoc checks as well there's difference in
the site monitoring so it could and it's not just the The daily ones, say,
could be over a period of time.
So those are the two. That's the site monitoring parts there.
There's the implementation of mitigation measures, of course,
(04:58):
to deliver successful outcomes for both the client and for the natural environment.
We need to ensure that they are implemented successfully.
So this is looking at...
First of all, the implementation of these, making sure that we know where they're
going, how they're going, what the responsibilities are of the individual,
you as the ecological clerk of work, your client, the contractors,
(05:21):
any other stakeholder involved there.
So it's implementation, making sure, and of course, getting the information
of where these measures are going is going to be extremely important,
are the right tools there.
So there's protective measures. Are you going to be overseeing the installation
of maintenance or protective measures such as exclusion fences.
(05:42):
Buffer zones, habitat protection areas?
Are you putting up bat boxes and things like this?
And there's, of course, species relocation. So supervising the capture and relocation
of protected species under license.
So we'll come on to a little bit about those areas, compliance legislation and so forth a bit later on.
But yeah making sure you've got the licenses in place you are
(06:05):
able to translocate the animals if they
you know if you're translocating an animal or the plant itself to
the right location you know where that location is so you've
got the plans and you've got the people there who know where things are going
and you've informed them so yeah implementation of mitigation measures is going
to be crucial to your your duties equally so there is an evidence of course
(06:29):
of compliance and legislation So the regulatory compliance,
ensuring that all the site activities comply with relevant environmental legislation
and the planning conditions, if they are relevant to your site.
So it's making sure that you, your client and other stakeholders are within,
are complying with legislation.
(06:50):
Also checking permits and licenses. So I mentioned before about species licenses.
Have you got the license in place? Are there any other licenses that need to
be in place in order for you to be on site as well?
So, you know, you need to verify that the necessary permits and licenses are
in place for activities that, as I say, may impact upon protected habitats or species.
(07:14):
So that's about the compliance and legislation. We can spend a whole episode talking about that.
Of course, there's communication and liaison part as well.
And I think this is going to be the key to a successful ecological clerk at
work, is the communication skills, both from you and from those you're interacting with.
(07:35):
Now, communication skills can clearly be the verbal, you're on site talking
to the site contractor, talking to other contractors, delivering those talks,
relaying information back to the clients or to the contractor about any issues arising.
And equally so saying, well done, great job.
You know, everything's in place. I'm really happy. Boom, ticked it all off.
(07:58):
Okay. So communication is going to be key.
Having the right conversation at the right time with the right amount of information.
So the stakeholder engagement is going to be really crucial here.
So you're going to act as a liaison between the construction team,
more than likely, developers,
local authorities, there's the statutory nature conservation organizations,
and other stakeholders, such as it could be, you know, your architect and the,
(08:22):
you know, as I say, or landscape.
Architects, making sure that anything is delivered on time.
You know, by the way, I'm talking about an ideal world here.
You know, there's a lot of things during this communication part that we know does go wrong.
And I say having strong communication skills is really quite crucial.
Advisory role. So on site, there may be some things that may not go to plan.
(08:46):
I mean, let's put it this way.
I can probably count on one hand the number of sites we've been to where everything has gone to plan.
The vast majority of the time, things do change. It can change even just like
the site, the day you're turning up on site.
It could be that materials haven't arrived. It could be that,
you know, the back boxes aren't in place or they're in the wrong area.
(09:08):
So there's a lot of delays. You need to advise.
OK, well, that's the wrong place. We need to go over there. Okay,
I'm going to be coming next week to do this.
And, you know, advisory role is extremely important. So you're providing on-site
advice and guidance to the contractors, project managers on the ecological issues and best practices.
And I think that's one of the key parts is to stay in your field to make sure that you are.
(09:33):
Talking and giving advice on things you are aware of and have knowledge of, that competency level.
So we shouldn't be giving advice in areas where we don't have that experience.
You know, of course, if you do find yourself in that position,
you know, it's clearly, you know, you need to phone a friend.
So, of course, there's reporting and documentation, record keeping.
(09:55):
Pink i know it's you know bureaucracy and you know
we hear these terms it's extremely important to maintain
detailed records of your site inspection your visits
when you visit because it's going to be one of those licensed conditions
for instance or planning conditions to keep a
record a diary of on-site um you
know activities so who who attended what was
(10:17):
the reason for your visit what was the outcome of your
visit what the actions who were the people responsible for
delivering those actions and by when so there's a
lot of information you need to actually you
know obtain whilst you're on site and that could be.
Start you know before you even arrive on site making sure you've got
the relevant documents inform the people that you
(10:37):
have your site visit but you know as a priding evidence
may be a requirement at some point so
maintaining detailed records your site inspections your observations
and any say key incidents or breaches of
those ecological protocols reporting you may
have to report back at some point and so to either end
a license if it's a protected species license for instance monitoring
(11:00):
reports reports to your clients you
know so may go and who do they go to is it
just one is it the statutory nature conservation organization such
as natural england or natural resources wales scottish
national heritage or are there other bodies
local authorities is it you know maybe the local yeah i say it could be you
(11:20):
know the clients want to report themselves it could be the contractors so just
making sure that you know who the reports are going to and the reasons why so
it's i say it's that paper trail or e-trail of what happened actually on site.
And, of course, the big one here is training and education.
I'm not talking about training and education for ourselves as Ecological Clarker
(11:42):
works, but I mean to others on site, those who may have little or no ecological knowledge.
So it's your toolbox talks. So you're conducting, and what is a toolbox talk?
We can get into details about that.
Sometimes it's written in a licensing condition of exactly what you need to
cover within your talk, for instance. But other areas are going to be site-specific.
(12:04):
You know and and so it's conducting training
sessions and toolbox talks for construction personnel it's
to raise their awareness about the ecological issues on site
and also the mitigation measures that you'll be putting in
so they need to be aware of what's going on site why
you're there what to do if there's an emergency you
know those last those you know those fines they find
(12:26):
yeah on site for instance those um under they
may discover something they don't know what to do you
want to reassure them that right if you do find something here's my
number or here's where i'll be on site today come and
get me you know things they should do and also
more importantly things they probably shouldn't do whilst they're on site and
that going back to that communication part that is you know remember you're
(12:50):
talking to an audience who probably got i say little or no knowledge and that
clearly a toolbox talk is it can be good for health and safety but more so it's a it's about
ensuring that I say that those successful outcomes for, you know,
the clients, your contractors,
other stakeholders, and of course, natural environment, the animal or species,
you know, the plant itself.
Providing materials so it could be that you're going
(13:13):
to have to not only present or you know and present
your presentation could be you just speaking in
front of a group of people or it could be in a site
container compound you giving a presentation that
the clients requested you delivering a little powerpoint or
whatever it is presentation to them handing out leaflets
distribution of education materials to ensure that all
(13:34):
the workers on site because if it's you know
they're not going to all turn up on day one so you're going to may have to
go there on you know periodically to to
inform the next wave of contractors on site so handing
out that information understanding their concerns and
answering their questions you know and it's it is
getting on to uh you know the communication part is crucial there
(13:56):
getting on to sort of their level uh really problem solving
and adaptation okay so problem
solving clearly is a big part what you're going
to be doing nothing really goes right on site there's always
something that's going to be thrown up at you and you're there
as advisor to solve that problem now
you may be able to solve that problem right away okay we've got an issue with
(14:19):
we don't know where to put this back box up for instance okay that's a relatively
easy problem to solve whereas we've run out of material we're going to be delayed
works with the contractors aren't here the pipes burst it's flooding this ditch.
We've actually lost in transit something. So, you know, it's problem solving
things in a dynamic situation.
(14:39):
Now, you may be able to deal with that, as I say, right on site,
but sometimes it may be, okay, well, I don't know about that.
Okay, well, I'm going to go and ask, you know, a supervisor.
It could be your supervisor or it could be the site supervisor to find out more
information before you can provide that competent level of advice.
And if If it's outside of your experience or control, clearly you're going to
(15:01):
have to talk to the right sort of people there.
Adaptive management. So this is about adjusting and adapting mitigation measures as necessary.
Now, it could be that you said, well, we're going to put up a bat box on a tree, for instance.
Well, actually, that tree, when
you go on site, you know, this shouldn't happen, but, you know, it does.
You know, that tree is unsuitable to host that bat box.
(15:24):
Ah, right. Okay, well, we're going to put it now. So we may have to change,
adapt our mitigation measures in order to provide that outcome.
So that's a very simple adaptive piece of management. But clearly there's also water course changes.
There's, you know, where we're going to store the site compound,
for instance, may not have been where it was on the plan. They're going to have
(15:46):
to move the site compound.
Have we undertaken a survey of that site? You know, is it safe for actually
them to put their site compound on there, store the materials?
There's lots of different things that you may have to, you know,
change whilst you're on site. And again, it comes back to that communication.
You know, have we got the right information? If not, how do we get that?
So those are the sort of things that you'll be probably doing.
(16:08):
That's probably others as well.
And I say we're getting some other people on here, some great people who undertake
a lot of ecological clerk at work duties.
They're successful in what they do. And we'll hear from those in the next four months.
Well, let's have a look about some of the skills and qualifications you may
need in order to deliver a successful outcome.
So first of all, clearly, this is going to be the technical skills.
(16:30):
So this is your ecological knowledge and your surveying techniques.
Techniques so you know making sure you've got the strong understanding
of the wildlife you are surveying so
it's in that species whether it be in an animal or
a plant in the habitats ecological principles okay
do you know about the life cycle of certain plants the life cycle of certain
(16:51):
wildlife so animals you know do you know if actually you know this translocation
will actually work you know hopefully this is covered before you go on site
but it's still part of the leading to that successful outcome.
So it's not delivered actually on site, but this is prior to undertaking your clock of work duties.
You need those skills in order to advise your client and others to demonstrate
(17:14):
that the measures you're gonna put in place will actually work.
So a strong ecological knowledge, surveying techniques.
Okay, you're gonna be provisioned in ecological surveying and monitoring as
well. Monitoring, surveillance, undertaking those activities.
Are you competent enough? Do you need to bring other people in?
How do you get those people?
What other resources do you need in terms of equipment for monitoring on site?
(17:39):
Or even before you go on site, what areas are going to be subjected to those
surveys and things like that?
Clearly, regulatory knowledge. You need to know about legislation,
planning policy, best practices as well.
So legislation, obviously, in depth and at least a working knowledge.
(18:00):
Of environmental legislation regulations planning
policies that are relevant to the construction and
development sector but equally so obviously for environmental sector
too so you know the environment act for instance that
needs to be aware of and i mean because
that's going to help you inform your clients
the contractors on site and also for you to go
(18:22):
you know you're seeing something going on site i don't
think that's lawful what are we going to do about it or actually
they can do that it's not going to impact upon the legislation
you know it's not going to cause any disturbance there's nothing
that's been damaged or destroyed that's outside of the license if there's one
in place or a permit so you're happy for that to continue it's providing advice
so knowing your legislation knowing the policies and the conditions of those
(18:46):
policies is going to be extremely important to you best practice in practices
familiarity familiarity.
With industry best practice for ecological mitigation and habitat management
so keeping Keeping up to date with translocation, keeping up to date with mitigation
measures, what works, what doesn't work.
Again, this may inform your decisions before you go on site,
(19:08):
but equally so whilst you're on site doing that adaptive management, for instance.
Communication skills, we've covered those already, but clear communication.
So how are you going to get that knowledge? How are you going to get that confidence
in order to assist and deliver those successful outcomes?
And I think this is the biggest part. you know we can we got
the species knowledge we got the regulatory knowledge and
(19:30):
we got the practice skills you know of undertaking the field
work and things like this but one thing that is really people struggle with
and i can understand this is that confidence of i don't think i'm quite ready
i haven't got enough it's one of these drivers what's your driver and when i
talk about drivers not my golf i'm talking about um that there's there's some
(19:50):
sort of within our Within our child,
we get formed, we give them this script.
By the age of probably seven to eight, where do we sit?
Do we seek out perfection? Because someone's told you, well,
if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing well.
And you've absorbed that information and going, oh, right, well,
a job can only be conducted if it's perfect.
(20:13):
It's actually, I've got all information, it's going to be delivered successfully
for the first time round.
And that may influence how you think now.
So you're going to go, well, I can't do this job because I don't think I would
do it very, very well. And this can hinder us. So...
Coaching it's putting my coaching hat on can really
help bring out that confidence level what are your drivers so
(20:35):
being perfect is going to be one equally so you
know you know another another element to us is like if
again going back to probably childhood you know
if you're told oh we're going to go to this we're going to go to this place we're going
to pick this up now hurry up hurry up you know get your clothes on
go go to go to school all that information
all of a sudden you realize that time
(20:55):
is extremely important and you tend to rush through
things hurry up hurry up hurry up that's another one in
terms of these drivers and it could be that that may
influence your actions on site you may
think okay well everything should be done really really quickly and
you know and time is more important than anything
else so you may rush through things and it may do you
(21:17):
well serve you well it probably has served you well up until
this point but sometimes you know being
perfect speeding things up you know expediency can
be detrimental it can be benefit but it also can be
detrimental so it's knowing your strengths and overdone strengths is going to
be extremely important and i think coaching can help you with all that stuff
so communication skills is clearly important clear communication effective communication
(21:41):
the ability to convey complex ecological information to non-specialists including
including construction workers and project managers.
So, you know, you may be able to communicate effectively to your colleagues
who know about ecology, but communicating that to someone, I say with little
or no knowledge, it's quite challenging.
Stakeholder engagements, other areas as well. So experiencing,
(22:03):
you know, you need to get experience of liaising with a wide range of stakeholders,
developers and regulatory bodies.
So, you know, exposure. And this comes with time, really.
And of course, as I mentioned about practical skills, obviously your
field work needs to be proficient you've got and and you
know if it requires it a physical capability to conduct
those field work let that field work in various weather
(22:26):
conditions and terrains as well so yeah you
know most of us can testify now put my
hands up now to be a fair weather ecologist but clearly
if you're on site you're going to be on site in all
weathers okay you need to be prepared for that so the practical
site of these elements health and safety it's
extremely important making sure that you are you
(22:47):
know if you're on the site especially on a building or construction site this
could be you know hs2 it could be a building site it could
be you know any sort of marine site you know working next to water are you competent
and capable of working within those environments do you know what to do in an
emergency because you will have to learn about emergency procedures on site
(23:07):
so that's ensure you know making
sure that you do know what to do in case you need to evacuate a site.
You know, we worked on industrial sites, for instance, steelworks, chemical plants.
And they take health and safety extremely seriously. And, you know,
there is no room for, you know, complacency on those sites.
You have to comply with all their regulatory requirements.
(23:30):
And, you know, if they say jump, you jump. You know, you're on their site now.
So, you know, and again, the practical skills, problem solving,
making sure that you've got those strong problem solving skills.
Creativity, for instance, innovation, you know, thinking. Thinking,
I don't like the term, but, you know, thinking outside the box type thing,
you know, just as long as it fits within your other areas, regulatory,
(23:52):
compliance and so forth.
Of course, how you conduct yourself on site is going to be extremely important.
Professionalism should be, you know, should just come naturally to you.
So, you know, you're acting professionally on site. You've got that integrity.
You're not going to go, oh, do you know what? Don't worry about that.
Don't bother putting those back boxes up.
(24:13):
I'll just check this off so making sure you've got the integrity to actually you know because,
where does that come from that probably stems from a lack
of confidence going oh i don't want to rock the boat so
i'm just going to go oh i'll just tick that off for you okay you
carry on and that's that's from a probably a fear
it's not from like you're helping someone out because there
(24:33):
are certain things that need to be done for the compliance area and
you know i've heard tales of that
happening on site and it does come back to bite you
so you may think i've got away with them don't have
to talk to that person or don't have to have a nasty conversation with
someone you know a difficult conversation you need to have those conversations
i say because it will help you in the long run okay build all that confidence
(24:58):
if it's the first time of conflict management and conflict it sounds bad but
conflict can be anything going oh i don't want to do that And then you telling
someone, making them understand,
to go, all right, now I know, that's fine, carry on.
So conflict management, it sounds quite scary, but, you know,
it's dealing with people.
So making sure that you're staying up to date with the latest information,
(25:21):
research. This is all for your professional conduct.
Continuously improving your skills for professional development and adhering
to ethical standards in your work.
OK, so, you know, all those, I hope that's helped.
I say it's just an introduction to the role and responsibilities of an ecological
clerk at work and also some of the skills, traits, behaviour, knowledge you'll need.
(25:44):
So i hope that's been that's a whirlwind of information so do take time to go
back and listen to that but i say next month we're having some guests on who
have got a huge range of experience in the ecological clark of works or a field
giving you their i'm sure horror stories.
Of sites of stuff that's gone wrong but equally
(26:06):
so majority of time where stuff has gone right and the
reasons why both things have gone right
you know it's whatever you've done in your prep because it's usually prepared and
your prep work that enables you for a successful delivery but
equally so it's your attitude whilst you're on
site you know that helping solving problems sort
of attitude and you know what to do you
(26:27):
know the reasons why things fail as well okay so hope that's been useful to
you thank you once more for listening to the ecology academy podcast i can't
even say it the ecology academy podcast enjoy the rest of your summer i say
we'll be back next month But for now, thank you for listening.
(27:10):
Music.
I'm Richard Dodd, and you're listening to the Ecology Academy podcast.
This is a show where we get to talk and learn about all things ecological,
including interviews with top ecologists, both employers and employees,
those working with ecologists, and also aspiring and inspiring career-seeking
individuals setting out to make a difference.
The show aims to provide you with insights, advice, and inspiration to help
(00:26):
you succeed and excel as an effective ecologist, and to make a real difference
to our natural environment.
Hello and welcome back to the Ecology Academy podcast.
Summer has finally arrived. And most of us now are in full swing in our ecological
surveys, undertaking ecological surveys and monitoring and helping our clients
(00:49):
deliver great projects across the United Kingdom.
And elsewhere, if you're a multinational company too. So if you are from outside
the UK, you're very much welcome to listen in to our conversations.
We are primarily focused upon the UK.
And just in case you are new, my name is Richard Dodd. I'm the host of the Ecology Academy podcast.
(01:13):
Now, again, if it is new, you are new to this podcast. There are plenty of episodes
for you to go back and listen to. We've got stuff on biodiversity net gain.
Information about data and how to obtain that, how to manage data,
why data and statistics are important.
We've got information about the BTO acoustic pipeline.
(01:33):
We've got a whole host of backtalks about back training.
And the last series we had was about grey-crested newts, about surveying for
grey-crested newts, and more importantly, about mitigation licenses.
Now, this month, we are going to introduce to you about the Ecological Clerk
of Works, what it is, what the roles and responsibilities are,
(01:55):
a little bit about training, about how to get those skills and attributes that
you need, the knowledge, the experience,
and confidence in order to deliver successful outcomes for both your clients
and, of course, for the natural environment.
So, I say this month is about an introductory to the Ecological Clerk of Works.
Over the next month, we are going to invite some interviewers and interviewees,
(02:20):
should I say, into the realm and discuss with them their experience,
their tips, their knowledge, how they approach Ecological Clerk of Works,
what to do, what not to do as well.
Because let's face it some of us have been thrown
and thrust into this this role of an ecological clerk
works with very little training and that's detrimental to
(02:43):
both ourselves to our companies if we're working for a company and also to the
natural environment others have got oodles of training and support and that's
why we are you know aiming for to ensure that we can deliver those successful
outcomes so enough of the waffle let's get straight into the program okay so what is an.
(03:04):
It's a crucial role to ensure that the construction and development projects
usually comply with environmental legislation and minimize their impact upon wildlife and habitats.
So you, as the ecological clerk of work, what is your responsibility?
Well, it's going to include a variety of different things. So it's monitoring,
it's advising, and implementing ecological mitigation measures.
(03:27):
So there it is in a nutshell, monitoring, advising, and implementing ecological
measures. And of course, one of the major elements of that would have missed
out is clearly supervision.
So we know that advising, implementing cultural measures, a lot of that can
be done under, you know, you will be the supervisor, the main contact on the site.
So you can see that it's a huge amount of responsibility that you will be given
(03:51):
and authority to actually ensure that the project is delivered successfully.
So let's look at some of the key responsibilities.
First of all, of course, site monitoring. You're going to a site and you're
going to undertake some sort of monitoring. Now, that could be daily monitoring.
So these are, you know, you're going to site every, could be every day during
(04:14):
the working week, or it could be even seven days a week, you know,
that you act out there undertaking the site inspections, site audits.
It could be you know you may be moving animals about
um you know looking at habitat doing different auditory audits
uh shall we say so it could be focused on one particular site
one particular habitat or one particular species or it's a whole range of things
(04:36):
you're looking at different things on a daily basis clearly then there's the
weekly monthly quarterly you know ad hoc checks as well there's difference in
the site monitoring so it could and it's not just the The daily ones, say,
could be over a period of time.
So those are the two. That's the site monitoring parts there.
There's the implementation of mitigation measures, of course,
(04:58):
to deliver successful outcomes for both the client and for the natural environment.
We need to ensure that they are implemented successfully.
So this is looking at...
First of all, the implementation of these, making sure that we know where they're
going, how they're going, what the responsibilities are of the individual,
you as the ecological clerk of work, your client, the contractors,
(05:21):
any other stakeholder involved there.
So it's implementation, making sure, and of course, getting the information
of where these measures are going is going to be extremely important,
are the right tools there.
So there's protective measures. Are you going to be overseeing the installation
of maintenance or protective measures such as exclusion fences.
(05:42):
Buffer zones, habitat protection areas?
Are you putting up bat boxes and things like this?
And there's, of course, species relocation. So supervising the capture and relocation
of protected species under license.
So we'll come on to a little bit about those areas, compliance legislation and so forth a bit later on.
But yeah making sure you've got the licenses in place you are
(06:05):
able to translocate the animals if they
you know if you're translocating an animal or the plant itself to
the right location you know where that location is so you've
got the plans and you've got the people there who know where things are going
and you've informed them so yeah implementation of mitigation measures is going
to be crucial to your your duties equally so there is an evidence of course
(06:29):
of compliance and legislation So the regulatory compliance,
ensuring that all the site activities comply with relevant environmental legislation
and the planning conditions, if they are relevant to your site.
So it's making sure that you, your client and other stakeholders are within,
are complying with legislation.
(06:50):
Also checking permits and licenses. So I mentioned before about species licenses.
Have you got the license in place? Are there any other licenses that need to
be in place in order for you to be on site as well?
So, you know, you need to verify that the necessary permits and licenses are
in place for activities that, as I say, may impact upon protected habitats or species.
(07:14):
So that's about the compliance and legislation. We can spend a whole episode talking about that.
Of course, there's communication and liaison part as well.
And I think this is going to be the key to a successful ecological clerk at
work, is the communication skills, both from you and from those you're interacting with.
(07:35):
Now, communication skills can clearly be the verbal, you're on site talking
to the site contractor, talking to other contractors, delivering those talks,
relaying information back to the clients or to the contractor about any issues arising.
And equally so saying, well done, great job.
You know, everything's in place. I'm really happy. Boom, ticked it all off.
(07:58):
Okay. So communication is going to be key.
Having the right conversation at the right time with the right amount of information.
So the stakeholder engagement is going to be really crucial here.
So you're going to act as a liaison between the construction team,
more than likely, developers,
local authorities, there's the statutory nature conservation organizations,
and other stakeholders, such as it could be, you know, your architect and the,
(08:22):
you know, as I say, or landscape.
Architects, making sure that anything is delivered on time.
You know, by the way, I'm talking about an ideal world here.
You know, there's a lot of things during this communication part that we know does go wrong.
And I say having strong communication skills is really quite crucial.
Advisory role. So on site, there may be some things that may not go to plan.
(08:46):
I mean, let's put it this way.
I can probably count on one hand the number of sites we've been to where everything has gone to plan.
The vast majority of the time, things do change. It can change even just like
the site, the day you're turning up on site.
It could be that materials haven't arrived. It could be that,
you know, the back boxes aren't in place or they're in the wrong area.
(09:08):
So there's a lot of delays. You need to advise.
OK, well, that's the wrong place. We need to go over there. Okay,
I'm going to be coming next week to do this.
And, you know, advisory role is extremely important. So you're providing on-site
advice and guidance to the contractors, project managers on the ecological issues and best practices.
And I think that's one of the key parts is to stay in your field to make sure that you are.
(09:33):
Talking and giving advice on things you are aware of and have knowledge of, that competency level.
So we shouldn't be giving advice in areas where we don't have that experience.
You know, of course, if you do find yourself in that position,
you know, it's clearly, you know, you need to phone a friend.
So, of course, there's reporting and documentation, record keeping.
(09:55):
Pink i know it's you know bureaucracy and you know
we hear these terms it's extremely important to maintain
detailed records of your site inspection your visits
when you visit because it's going to be one of those licensed conditions
for instance or planning conditions to keep a
record a diary of on-site um you
know activities so who who attended what was
(10:17):
the reason for your visit what was the outcome of your
visit what the actions who were the people responsible for
delivering those actions and by when so there's a
lot of information you need to actually you
know obtain whilst you're on site and that could be.
Start you know before you even arrive on site making sure you've got
the relevant documents inform the people that you
(10:37):
have your site visit but you know as a priding evidence
may be a requirement at some point so
maintaining detailed records your site inspections your observations
and any say key incidents or breaches of
those ecological protocols reporting you may
have to report back at some point and so to either end
a license if it's a protected species license for instance monitoring
(11:00):
reports reports to your clients you
know so may go and who do they go to is it
just one is it the statutory nature conservation organization such
as natural england or natural resources wales scottish
national heritage or are there other bodies
local authorities is it you know maybe the local yeah i say it could be you
(11:20):
know the clients want to report themselves it could be the contractors so just
making sure that you know who the reports are going to and the reasons why so
it's i say it's that paper trail or e-trail of what happened actually on site.
And, of course, the big one here is training and education.
I'm not talking about training and education for ourselves as Ecological Clarker
(11:42):
works, but I mean to others on site, those who may have little or no ecological knowledge.
So it's your toolbox talks. So you're conducting, and what is a toolbox talk?
We can get into details about that.
Sometimes it's written in a licensing condition of exactly what you need to
cover within your talk, for instance. But other areas are going to be site-specific.
(12:04):
You know and and so it's conducting training
sessions and toolbox talks for construction personnel it's
to raise their awareness about the ecological issues on site
and also the mitigation measures that you'll be putting in
so they need to be aware of what's going on site why
you're there what to do if there's an emergency you
know those last those you know those fines they find
(12:26):
yeah on site for instance those um under they
may discover something they don't know what to do you
want to reassure them that right if you do find something here's my
number or here's where i'll be on site today come and
get me you know things they should do and also
more importantly things they probably shouldn't do whilst they're on site and
that going back to that communication part that is you know remember you're
(12:50):
talking to an audience who probably got i say little or no knowledge and that
clearly a toolbox talk is it can be good for health and safety but more so it's a it's about
ensuring that I say that those successful outcomes for, you know,
the clients, your contractors,
other stakeholders, and of course, natural environment, the animal or species,
you know, the plant itself.
Providing materials so it could be that you're going
(13:13):
to have to not only present or you know and present
your presentation could be you just speaking in
front of a group of people or it could be in a site
container compound you giving a presentation that
the clients requested you delivering a little powerpoint or
whatever it is presentation to them handing out leaflets
distribution of education materials to ensure that all
(13:34):
the workers on site because if it's you know
they're not going to all turn up on day one so you're going to may have to
go there on you know periodically to to
inform the next wave of contractors on site so handing
out that information understanding their concerns and
answering their questions you know and it's it is
getting on to uh you know the communication part is crucial there
(13:56):
getting on to sort of their level uh really problem solving
and adaptation okay so problem
solving clearly is a big part what you're going
to be doing nothing really goes right on site there's always
something that's going to be thrown up at you and you're there
as advisor to solve that problem now
you may be able to solve that problem right away okay we've got an issue with
(14:19):
we don't know where to put this back box up for instance okay that's a relatively
easy problem to solve whereas we've run out of material we're going to be delayed
works with the contractors aren't here the pipes burst it's flooding this ditch.
We've actually lost in transit something. So, you know, it's problem solving
things in a dynamic situation.
(14:39):
Now, you may be able to deal with that, as I say, right on site,
but sometimes it may be, okay, well, I don't know about that.
Okay, well, I'm going to go and ask, you know, a supervisor.
It could be your supervisor or it could be the site supervisor to find out more
information before you can provide that competent level of advice.
And if If it's outside of your experience or control, clearly you're going to
(15:01):
have to talk to the right sort of people there.
Adaptive management. So this is about adjusting and adapting mitigation measures as necessary.
Now, it could be that you said, well, we're going to put up a bat box on a tree, for instance.
Well, actually, that tree, when
you go on site, you know, this shouldn't happen, but, you know, it does.
You know, that tree is unsuitable to host that bat box.
(15:24):
Ah, right. Okay, well, we're going to put it now. So we may have to change,
adapt our mitigation measures in order to provide that outcome.
So that's a very simple adaptive piece of management. But clearly there's also water course changes.
There's, you know, where we're going to store the site compound,
for instance, may not have been where it was on the plan. They're going to have
(15:46):
to move the site compound.
Have we undertaken a survey of that site? You know, is it safe for actually
them to put their site compound on there, store the materials?
There's lots of different things that you may have to, you know,
change whilst you're on site. And again, it comes back to that communication.
You know, have we got the right information? If not, how do we get that?
So those are the sort of things that you'll be probably doing.
(16:08):
That's probably others as well.
And I say we're getting some other people on here, some great people who undertake
a lot of ecological clerk at work duties.
They're successful in what they do. And we'll hear from those in the next four months.
Well, let's have a look about some of the skills and qualifications you may
need in order to deliver a successful outcome.
So first of all, clearly, this is going to be the technical skills.
(16:30):
So this is your ecological knowledge and your surveying techniques.
Techniques so you know making sure you've got the strong understanding
of the wildlife you are surveying so
it's in that species whether it be in an animal or
a plant in the habitats ecological principles okay
do you know about the life cycle of certain plants the life cycle of certain
(16:51):
wildlife so animals you know do you know if actually you know this translocation
will actually work you know hopefully this is covered before you go on site
but it's still part of the leading to that successful outcome.
So it's not delivered actually on site, but this is prior to undertaking your clock of work duties.
You need those skills in order to advise your client and others to demonstrate
(17:14):
that the measures you're gonna put in place will actually work.
So a strong ecological knowledge, surveying techniques.
Okay, you're gonna be provisioned in ecological surveying and monitoring as
well. Monitoring, surveillance, undertaking those activities.
Are you competent enough? Do you need to bring other people in?
How do you get those people?
What other resources do you need in terms of equipment for monitoring on site?
(17:39):
Or even before you go on site, what areas are going to be subjected to those
surveys and things like that?
Clearly, regulatory knowledge. You need to know about legislation,
planning policy, best practices as well.
So legislation, obviously, in depth and at least a working knowledge.
(18:00):
Of environmental legislation regulations planning
policies that are relevant to the construction and
development sector but equally so obviously for environmental sector
too so you know the environment act for instance that
needs to be aware of and i mean because
that's going to help you inform your clients
the contractors on site and also for you to go
(18:22):
you know you're seeing something going on site i don't
think that's lawful what are we going to do about it or actually
they can do that it's not going to impact upon the legislation
you know it's not going to cause any disturbance there's nothing
that's been damaged or destroyed that's outside of the license if there's one
in place or a permit so you're happy for that to continue it's providing advice
so knowing your legislation knowing the policies and the conditions of those
(18:46):
policies is going to be extremely important to you best practice in practices
familiarity familiarity.
With industry best practice for ecological mitigation and habitat management
so keeping Keeping up to date with translocation, keeping up to date with mitigation
measures, what works, what doesn't work.
Again, this may inform your decisions before you go on site,
(19:08):
but equally so whilst you're on site doing that adaptive management, for instance.
Communication skills, we've covered those already, but clear communication.
So how are you going to get that knowledge? How are you going to get that confidence
in order to assist and deliver those successful outcomes?
And I think this is the biggest part. you know we can we got
the species knowledge we got the regulatory knowledge and
(19:30):
we got the practice skills you know of undertaking the field
work and things like this but one thing that is really people struggle with
and i can understand this is that confidence of i don't think i'm quite ready
i haven't got enough it's one of these drivers what's your driver and when i
talk about drivers not my golf i'm talking about um that there's there's some
(19:50):
sort of within our Within our child,
we get formed, we give them this script.
By the age of probably seven to eight, where do we sit?
Do we seek out perfection? Because someone's told you, well,
if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing well.
And you've absorbed that information and going, oh, right, well,
a job can only be conducted if it's perfect.
(20:13):
It's actually, I've got all information, it's going to be delivered successfully
for the first time round.
And that may influence how you think now.
So you're going to go, well, I can't do this job because I don't think I would
do it very, very well. And this can hinder us. So...
Coaching it's putting my coaching hat on can really
help bring out that confidence level what are your drivers so
(20:35):
being perfect is going to be one equally so you
know you know another another element to us is like if
again going back to probably childhood you know
if you're told oh we're going to go to this we're going to go to this place we're going
to pick this up now hurry up hurry up you know get your clothes on
go go to go to school all that information
all of a sudden you realize that time
(20:55):
is extremely important and you tend to rush through
things hurry up hurry up hurry up that's another one in
terms of these drivers and it could be that that may
influence your actions on site you may
think okay well everything should be done really really quickly and
you know and time is more important than anything
else so you may rush through things and it may do you
(21:17):
well serve you well it probably has served you well up until
this point but sometimes you know being
perfect speeding things up you know expediency can
be detrimental it can be benefit but it also can be
detrimental so it's knowing your strengths and overdone strengths is going to
be extremely important and i think coaching can help you with all that stuff
so communication skills is clearly important clear communication effective communication
(21:41):
the ability to convey complex ecological information to non-specialists including
including construction workers and project managers.
So, you know, you may be able to communicate effectively to your colleagues
who know about ecology, but communicating that to someone, I say with little
or no knowledge, it's quite challenging.
Stakeholder engagements, other areas as well. So experiencing,
(22:03):
you know, you need to get experience of liaising with a wide range of stakeholders,
developers and regulatory bodies.
So, you know, exposure. And this comes with time, really.
And of course, as I mentioned about practical skills, obviously your
field work needs to be proficient you've got and and you
know if it requires it a physical capability to conduct
those field work let that field work in various weather
(22:26):
conditions and terrains as well so yeah you
know most of us can testify now put my
hands up now to be a fair weather ecologist but clearly
if you're on site you're going to be on site in all
weathers okay you need to be prepared for that so the practical
site of these elements health and safety it's
extremely important making sure that you are you
(22:47):
know if you're on the site especially on a building or construction site this
could be you know hs2 it could be a building site it could
be you know any sort of marine site you know working next to water are you competent
and capable of working within those environments do you know what to do in an
emergency because you will have to learn about emergency procedures on site
(23:07):
so that's ensure you know making
sure that you do know what to do in case you need to evacuate a site.
You know, we worked on industrial sites, for instance, steelworks, chemical plants.
And they take health and safety extremely seriously. And, you know,
there is no room for, you know, complacency on those sites.
You have to comply with all their regulatory requirements.
(23:30):
And, you know, if they say jump, you jump. You know, you're on their site now.
So, you know, and again, the practical skills, problem solving,
making sure that you've got those strong problem solving skills.
Creativity, for instance, innovation, you know, thinking. Thinking,
I don't like the term, but, you know, thinking outside the box type thing,
you know, just as long as it fits within your other areas, regulatory,
(23:52):
compliance and so forth.
Of course, how you conduct yourself on site is going to be extremely important.
Professionalism should be, you know, should just come naturally to you.
So, you know, you're acting professionally on site. You've got that integrity.
You're not going to go, oh, do you know what? Don't worry about that.
Don't bother putting those back boxes up.
(24:13):
I'll just check this off so making sure you've got the integrity to actually you know because,
where does that come from that probably stems from a lack
of confidence going oh i don't want to rock the boat so
i'm just going to go oh i'll just tick that off for you okay you
carry on and that's that's from a probably a fear
it's not from like you're helping someone out because there
(24:33):
are certain things that need to be done for the compliance area and
you know i've heard tales of that
happening on site and it does come back to bite you
so you may think i've got away with them don't have
to talk to that person or don't have to have a nasty conversation with
someone you know a difficult conversation you need to have those conversations
i say because it will help you in the long run okay build all that confidence
(24:58):
if it's the first time of conflict management and conflict it sounds bad but
conflict can be anything going oh i don't want to do that And then you telling
someone, making them understand,
to go, all right, now I know, that's fine, carry on.
So conflict management, it sounds quite scary, but, you know,
it's dealing with people.
So making sure that you're staying up to date with the latest information,
(25:21):
research. This is all for your professional conduct.
Continuously improving your skills for professional development and adhering
to ethical standards in your work.
OK, so, you know, all those, I hope that's helped.
I say it's just an introduction to the role and responsibilities of an ecological
clerk at work and also some of the skills, traits, behaviour, knowledge you'll need.
(25:44):
So i hope that's been that's a whirlwind of information so do take time to go
back and listen to that but i say next month we're having some guests on who
have got a huge range of experience in the ecological clark of works or a field
giving you their i'm sure horror stories.
Of sites of stuff that's gone wrong but equally
(26:06):
so majority of time where stuff has gone right and the
reasons why both things have gone right
you know it's whatever you've done in your prep because it's usually prepared and
your prep work that enables you for a successful delivery but
equally so it's your attitude whilst you're on
site you know that helping solving problems sort
of attitude and you know what to do you
(26:27):
know the reasons why things fail as well okay so hope that's been useful to
you thank you once more for listening to the ecology academy podcast i can't
even say it the ecology academy podcast enjoy the rest of your summer i say
we'll be back next month But for now, thank you for listening.
(27:10):
Music.
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