What a year 2021 has been!
What a roller coaster year 2021 has been for everyone. This has certainly been no exception for us, with the year being not only incredibly busy but everyone trying to stay safe during the challenging times of coronavirus.
Owing to an increase in our workload, Shellie Jackson joined us in March as our new admin lead. Shellie has proved to be an invaluable member of the team, keeping the team in check and organising the office through her obsession with MS SharePoint.
At the start of June, we welcomed back Ella Colenso who joined us in a full time role as an Assistant Ecologist. Ella worked with us on placement during 2019/20. Her hard work and enthusiasm during the time didn’t go unnoticed, and its great to have her back with us, after graduating with a first honours degree in Ecology from Reading University.
July was a busy month, with Quantock Ecology celebrating its fifth birthday. This gave us all an opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come and where the future may go. At the end of the month, we welcomed a student from Kingsmead School. During her week with us, she was able to assist with a number of surveys, giving her an insight into what the role of an ecologist would entail. She also proved to be a dab hand at constructing dormouse tubes, which were utilised on a large survey near Weston-Super-Mare.
Unfortunately, August saw us saying goodbye to a valued member of the team, Alastair Blake. Alastair was a hard working member of the team, and we wish him well in all his future endeavours.
During September, we welcomed our second student Kathryn O’Sullivan, who joins us from the University of Reading. Kathryn has picked up the job quickly and has helped the team through one of the busiest survey seasons we have ever experienced. Work showed no sign of slowing despite COVID, with the team undertaking an array of protected species and habitat surveys all across the country.
In November, we congratulated Alex Bridel, who became a licensed bat worker. This followed many years working as an accredited agent. Well done, Alex! At the end of November, Tom Hird joined as our third hire of the year, as a consultant ecologist. Tom’s background is in marine biology, but has many years also specialising in terrestrial ecology. Tom is our new resident aquatic expert and is about to be signed off on his level 1 bat survey license. We look forward to putting his skills to the test in 2022.
Merry Christmas from Quantock Ecology
After such an eventful year we will be taking a short but much needed break. As such. will be closed from 3pm on Thursday 23rd December and will re-open on Tuesday 4th January 2022.
We would like to wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas and thank all of our valued clients and subcontractors for their continued support. All the very best for 2022.