Ecological Assessments

From reporting to recommendations, we can support your project with high-quality, easy-to-understand ecological assessments.

What type of assessment do you need?

There are several types of ecological assessment that may be required to license your proposed works, including but not limited to:

  • Preliminary Ecological Appraisals (PEA)

  • Phase 1 Habitat Surveys and Extended Phase 1 Surveys

  • Ecological Impact Assessments (EcIA)

  • National Vegetation Community (NVC) surveys

The surveys and reporting needed will depend on your location, your project requirements, and the scale and potential impact of your project. Usually, we begin with a Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA). This is a broad brush assessment of whether protected species or habitats may be impacted and if there are other ecological issues to take into account (e.g. invasive species).

What Happens Next?

You may need additional surveys depending on the results of your PEA (or other survey types if we started elsewhere). If this is the case you will get a report indicating protected species may be present and further species specific survey work is necessary. 

For example, if there could be bats, badgers, red squirrels, or great crested newts and your PEA was carried out for a planning application, you would need specific surveys for those species before the application can be determined by your local planning authority. For each of these we would indicate when surveys need to take place, and produce a report with recommendations for mitigation where needed to support your licence application.

FAQ

  • Environmental Impact Assessments are larger, in-depth reports, usually reserved for bigger development sites, they include broader issues such as noise pollution and visual impacts of proposed works. An Ecological Impact Assessment is a more in-depth report than a Preliminary Ecological Appraisal and is likely to be included as a chapter in an Environmental Impact Assessment.

  • While surveys can be carried out at any time of year, clearer results are likely in Scotland between mid-April and late-October. It’s best to arrange your initial surveys early in the life of a project in case there is additional survey effort required.

    If in doubt, contact us at admin@daviddoddsassociates.com and our team will be happy to answer your questions!

  • In short, because there are different reasons for needing a report! We will always use the most pragmatic approach based on the size and complexity of your proposed work and regularly advocate for ‘common sense’ approaches to reporting across Scotland.

  • The simplest way to find out is to contact us at admin@daviddoddsassociates.com where our professional ecologists will be able to help you!