RSK Wilding

Here at RSK Wilding we are acutely aware of the issues around BNG and the development of brownfield land, specifically in light of the Government’s (understandable) desire to focus house-building on our post-industrial sites. The problem is that not all brownfield land is low in biodiversity, often quite the opposite, so developers need to understand the implications of this. But it is also important to be aware that this can mean both constraints and opportunities. For more of an in-depth discussion into this nuanced issue, see the newly-published article - co-authored by RSK Wilding Director Jon Davies and our RSK Geosciences colleague Dr. Tom Henman - in 'Counting on Net Gain', in the latest edition of environmental SCIENTIST. #BNG #Biodiversity #RSKGroup

Environment Bank has just secured conservation covenants for eight BNG (Biodiversity Net Gain) sites, working in collaboration with RSK Wilding and RSK Biocensus. Jon Davies from RSK Wilding shared, "It’s wonderful to work with Environment Bank to help get their schemes approved and over the line, unlocking the supply of Biodiversity Units for developers." This marks an important step forward in supporting sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. 🌱 Click the link below to read more. 🌱 https://lnkd.in/ekYsp-NM #BiodiversityNetGain #Conservation #SustainableDevelopment #Biodiversity

RSK Wilding are really excited to be working closely with Environment Bank to help expedite delivery of their first official habitat banks/BNG sites. As the BNG team within RSK Biocensus, and also the team primarily delivering the Responsible Body role, we have worked with EB's legal lead @AlexaCulver to draw up Conservation Covenants for these first 8 sites, thus enabling them to be formally registered on the national Gain Site Register. As Responsible Body, we will now be carrying out compliance monitoring of these sites over the next 30 years, overseeing the establishment and long-term development of the habitats as committed to in the Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan (HMMP). In this way, we will be 'doing our bit' to help ensure that BNG delivers the significant biodiversity benefits that we all want to see. #RSKBiocensus #BNG #responsiblebody

RSK Wilding Director Jon Davies and Senior Ecologist Richard Prew were really privileged to visit Uganda in early July to talk about a very exciting sustainable cattle farming project called Wildebeef (established by Diederick Opperman and Ernest Baingana). It was such a pleasure to meet landowner Martha Byanyima and her staff, and to talk with her about how regenerative cattle grazing techniques could restore savanna habitat on her land whilst at the same time increasing beef yield (and quality), enhancing biodiversity, and even sequestering and storing more carbon than in the current overgrazed scenario. We also made a film of the visit, so will make that available when it’s ready. We expect this to be the start of something really big, not just in Uganda but beyond… Watch this space! 😊 #rskwilding #sustainability #biodiversity

𝐑𝐒𝐊 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠! It is very exciting times for us, what with 𝐁𝐍𝐆 going live in February and our new status as Responsible Body, so we are looking to expand the team. Take a look at our job advert at the link below, and if you think you’ve got what it takes, and would like to join an amazing team, get in touch. https://lnkd.in/eUjhPR_J #rskwilding #recruitment #bngecologists

RSK Wilding head Jon Davies this week led a panel discussion on BNG in urban environments at the Footprint+ exhibition and conference at Old Billingsgate, London. There was much discussion of the pros and cons of both on-site and off-site BNG delivery, with general agreement that on-site was important with regard to applying the mitigation hierarchy and providing green spaces for people in our towns and cities, whilst off-site was better in terms of the scale of ecological restoration possible and the opportunities to deliver other natural capital benefits (such as carbon sequestration, water quality improvement and flood risk mitigation). Many thanks to Haydn Keen, Business Development Director at RSK, for hosting the session.  #BNG #offsetting #rskwilding

Last week, RSK Wilding’s Natalie Bryce and Tim Graham gave the RSK Biocensus First Thursday Club webinar on our role as a Responsible Body under the Environment Act, hosted by Jon Davies. For anyone keen to understand what a Responsible Body does and, more specifically, what Conservation Covenants involve, how they differ from s106 agreements, and the numerous different circumstances in which they can be employed (i.e. not just for BNG!), you can see the recording of the webinar here (alongside many other fascinating talks!): https://lnkd.in/eRzSBpHw #BNG #responsiblebody #conservationcovenant

What a wonderful few days for the Wilding team up at Argrennan House in Dumfries & Galloway, strategising, seeing some inspirational habitat restoration projects and most importantly getting together and having fun! Thank you so much to Phil from the National Trust for Scotland for showing us around the Threave Landscape Restoration Project (and arranging for an osprey to fly overhead with a large trout in its talons!) and to Jenny Barlow from The Langholm Initiative for showing us around the amazing Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. #rskbiocensus #BNG

Exciting news! RSK Wilding will be attending the upcoming ‘From Theory to Practice – Navigating Mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain’ event.    📅 Thursday 25th April, 7:45am – 10:00am    📍 Museum of Liverpool   📢 Join us where our very own Jon Davies and Natalie Bryce will be speaking at the event, specifically about our Responsible Body status, and sharing their insights.   For more information, please click on the link below. https://lnkd.in/djDtMyxT   #biodiversity #netgain #museumofliverpool