Archive of: training

Caledonian Conservation Ltd staff have a wide range of expertise, and run training courses to share skills and knowledge with other ecology professionals.  Training that Chris Cathrine (Director) delivers includes running courses on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM), the  leading professional body for ecologists and environmental managers in the UK and Ireland.  Having run great crested newt survey and mitigation courses for CIEEM since 2015, Chris is also delivering Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) and wind farm bird collision risk modelling training courses for the professional body in 2017.

CIEEM runs EcIA courses for ecology professionals throughout the UK, ensuring trainers have appropriate experience of the country training is delivered in as relevant legislation and policies are devolved.  While updating the EcIA Level 2 course for Scotland, Chris worked with CIEEM’s England and Wales trainer, Mike Dean, and attended one of his courses in Wales to ensure that training would be appropriate but consistent between the UK countries.

Chris delivered his first CIEEM EcIA training course in Scotland last week, at a venue in Edinburgh, drawing on over 10 years' experience as an ecological consultant and his previous roles with Local Authority and as planning casework officer for a conservation charity.  Participants came from a range of backgrounds including consultants, charities / NGOs and government agencies / local authorities, really adding depth to group activities and encouraging interesting questions.  After all, EcIA principles can be applied to reports supporting planning applications, ecology chapters in Environmental Statements for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs), Habitats Regulations Appraisals (HRAs), conservation management plans for sites – any project that could impact ecology.  The course was a success, based on informal and formal feedback, and Chris is looking forward to running more EcIA training on behalf of CIEEM in the future.

Chris will be running the following courses on behalf of CIEEM this spring:

• Wind Farm Bird Collision Risk Modelling - 30th March - Aberdeen
• Great Crested Newt Ecology and Survey Techniques - 19th April - Airdrie
• Great Crested Newt Mitigation and Assessment - 20th April - Airdrie

To find out more about Chris’s other courses delivered as part of CIEEM’s training programme and to book on to these or other events, visit:  cieem.activclient.com/CIEEM/Events/Event-Listing.aspx

To find out more about CIEEM, visit:  www.cieem.net

All of Caledonian Conservation’s crack field ecology survey team have completed Outdoor First Aid (+F) courses this month with First Aid Training Co-operative, to refresh these essential skills.  

Conditions were towards the damp side underfoot in the grassy tussocks near the Mugdock Country Park Visitor Centre for ‘unresponsive casualty’ simulation (and good-to-firm on the car park tarmac for recovery position rolling), and rather chilly at Edinburgh International Climbing Centre (EICA Ratho) but everyone passed all aspects of the course with flying colours. 

We continue to be fully qualified to administer first aid for the next three years and hopefully are more than adequately equipped for the rigours of all year round outdoor survey work which can involve working in remote and exposed areas of Scotland. Health and safety for our team and those around us is our top priority.

The newly issued Team CalCon woolly hats (red edition replacing the previous green ones!) were also found to double up as excellent extremity warmers for anyone unfortunate enough to be put into a ‘clear, draining airway’ position and required to be left on a hill (or in a car park) whilst help is raised.

Our team was trained in two batches, and both Outdoor First Aid (including Emergency First Aid at Work +F) were superb - we would highly recommend the First Aid Training Co-operative based on our experiences!

Director Chris Cathrine had a great time last week teaching two courses on great crested newts for CIEEM.

The first course covered ecology and survey techniques, and included practical hands-on sessions on newt identification and surveying skills. The second course went into more depth about great crested newt assessment and mitigation, and included a wide range of scenario-based group activities. 

Feedback from the two courses was great, and we hope to run more in future. Comments included "Excellent comprehensive guidance all round", "very knowledgeable and personable tutor" and "catered for a wide range of people with different backgrounds and experience".

As well as running courses via CIEEM we are able to provide courses to other organisations and individuals, so why not have a look at our training page at http://www.caledonianconservation.co.uk/services/training/ to see what else we offer.