Chris has considerable experience in project management, designing and implementing ecology surveys and assessment, gained over four years working with NGOs and over 15 years as an ecological consultant.Chris has worked in Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, and Isle of Man on a wide range of projects including Ecological Impact Assessments (EcIA) for developments, Site Condition Monitoring of protected sites, conservation research, habitat management, policy, guidance, training courses, university lecturing, and public interpretation.
Chris's areas of expertise include birds (holding a licence for all Schedule 1 species in Scotland), reptiles, amphibians (holding great crested newt licences for Scotland and England), and invertebrates (particularly spiders, beetles, and true bugs).
Chris has recently authored guidance for reptile and great crested newt survey and mitigation. Chris has published many articles in a variety of publications such as CIEEM In Practice, The Coleopterist and British Arachnological Society Spider Recording Scheme News, including three articles on devolved environmental law, habitat management (e.g. brownfield, farmland, peatland, vegetated shingle, deadwood) bat surveys for wind farms, grass snakes, beetle distribution, wood ant nest translocation protocols, invertebrates and ecosystem services, deadwood habitat management and a revised distribution and ecology note for Heliophanus dampfi (the bog sun-jumper – RDBK). He has also co-authored 26 Scottish invertebrate group documents for Buglife (including Hymenoptera [Aculeates, parasitoid wasps and sawflies] and Odonata), and edited many others, which involved data collation and contacting many other invertebrate experts to provide the necessary information.
Reflecting his broad range of knowledge and experience in invertebrates, Chris was an external lecturer at University of the West of Scotland (UWS) Paisley Campus for two years, where he taught elements of their Animal Diversity module. He also runs Ecological Impact Assessment training on behalf of CIEEM.
Chris is a trustee of Amphibian & Reptile Groups of the UK (ARG UK), and a member of many ecological societies including the British Ecological Society, British Arachnological Society, and the British Myriapod and Isopod Group (BMIG). He is the South Scotland Area Organiser for the British Arachnological Society (BAS) Spider Recording Scheme, a full member of CIEEM (MCIEEM), a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London (FLS), a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society (FRES), and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA). He also holds a current emergency First aid certificate, Outdoor First Aid certificate (+F), a Rescue 3 Swiftwater Rescue certificate, has completed risk assessment training (with the BTCV), holds a BORDA off-road driving qualification (Standard Level) and holds a current CSCS card.
