Stuart Thomas Ecologist & Wildlife Consultant


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Current Projects and Surveys

Current work

I’m currently engaged in work for Entec UK Ltd on a potential wind farm site in Mid Wales. I’ve been contracted to undertake spring and summer ornithological surveys that involve vantage point and moorland bird survey methodologies.

Also for Entec, I’m continuing to undertake extensive surveys on a sensitive coastal site in the south-west. These have taken the form of breeding bird surveys, intertidal/shorebird and a series of walkover field surveys.

In Shropshire, I’ve been contracted to carry out ornithological, great crested newt and bat surveys for a potential wind farm site in the north of the county for Baker, Shepherd & Gillespie Ecological Consultants. Assessment of the site is ongoing and reptile survey work will commence later in the summer.

Work is also set to resume in a big way offshore with the government’s recent plans for an increase in energy generated by offshore wind farms (see below). Pre-construction survey work/assessment will be a major chunk of work at these sites for at least a year (often longer) in order to produce an appropriate impact assessment.

UK Government plans huge offshore wind farm expansion

The UK government has today given the clearest signal yet that it is serious about significantly bolstering the UK's renewable capacity, unveiling proposals that would see vast swathes of the country's coastal waters used for offshore wind farms.

Speaking to the European energy industry at a conference in Berlin, business secretary John Hutton said that the UK would open up its seas to 33GW of offshore wind energy, enough to power 25 million homes by 2020.

Currently, eight gigawatts of offshore wind capacity have been approved, including the one gigawatt Thames Array project, but the new plans would see an additional 25GW added by 2020.

Hutton said that the proposals would be subject to a Strategic Environmental Assessment, but argued that if approved, the plan would make a significant contribution towards meeting the EU's target of generating 20 per cent of energy from renewables by 2020 and provide power equivalent to that used by all the UK's homes.

"The UK has some of the best offshore wind resource in the world, a long history of design, installation and operational expertise in the offshore environment and the skills and manufacturing capability to transfer to this exciting new sector," he said. "The challenge for government and for industry is to turn this potential – for our energy and economy – into a cost-effective reality. This will be a major challenge."

The proposed expansion of offshore wind is expected to focus on the North Sea, western Scotland and possibly even the Channel and will open up "the vast bulk of the UK's continental shelf to large-scale development".

To help drive the development of the proposed wind farms, the government said that in addition to bolstering subsidies for offshore wind, tidal and wave power through its renewables obligation scheme, it would also instigate a new regulatory regime designed to make it easier for offshore wind farms to connect to the onshore grid.

Morocco Birding Trip

In late March to early April 2008, myself and a colleague visited Morocco for 10 days and had a wonderful bird filled holiday albeit slightly tiring having covered nearly 3000km in the 10 days!  We saw 187 species during our stay. Report can be viewed HERE (pdf file)

Trip reports

Czech Republic in 2005; report can be viewed HERE (pdf file)

Southern Turkey in 2004; report can be viewed HERE (pdf file)


 

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