What working at Tyrer taught me about botany

I (Katherine) started working here at Tyrer Ecological Consultants back in January 2022 - just over four years ago as I write this! It’s been an exciting, fulfilling and occasionally stressful four years, but, upon reflection - I am thankful for every challenge that has come my way.  In particular, I’ve been reflecting on how my role at Tyrer enabled me to develop my botanical skills and pursue my personal dreams, i.e., a PhD. Something I’m not sure I would have been able to do elsewhere.

Prior to working at Tyrer, I had developed an interest in botany and would have considered myself to be moderately skilled at plant ID - or at least knowing where to look to get the ID that I was after. It is only in working as an ecologist that I have come to appreciate that there is much more to botany than simply knowing which plant is which; it is also knowing what different plants and communities of plants mean. This, in my opinion, is what makes botany exciting.

How have I come to appreciate this? Primarily through the projects I have been fortunate enough to work on. However, I cannot forget that I owe a great debt to the freedom I have been afforded in regard to my working hours and of course, my supportive, intelligent and inquisitive colleagues whom I have learned alongside. I would like to write here about a few key projects and experiences that have propelled me on my journey.

The Day-to-Day

Firstly, there is the day-to-day. Our bread and butter is Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA). This involves identifying each species and habitat on a site, and the potential for a site to support species, so that we may assess how a development may impact our native wildlife. When I started at Tyrer, I was working towards taking my FISC, and I would use every site visit as an opportunity to hone my skills, trying to leave no plant unidentified! Doing this twice a week for 8 to 9 months played a huge part in establishing a foundation for my botanical knowledge. As most sites would be arable land, industrials sites and small housing developments, I quickly became familiar with the common and widespread, the ruderal and ephemeral, and species indicative of nutrient enrichment. It must have been helpful as I miraculously achieved a FISC Level 5 that year.

The Specialist Projects

Kylee, the Director of Tyrer, has always been receptive to our wishes to undertake specialist work - including opportunities that we have found ourselves! As a result, I have been able to visit and work on an array of habitats throughout the length and breadth of England and Wales including coastal sand dune, hay meadow, blanket bog, acid grassland, fen, ancient woodland and heathland, to name but a few. These projects, varied in nature, range from species specific recording, habitat identification, habitat mitigation and even habitat translocation, have been instrumental increasing my knowledge of plants from the common and widespread to the rare and scarce. As an ecologist, these skills are essential for it is us who must identify protected species and habitats - if we incorrectly identify a habitat or species, we may fail to protect it and / or incorrectly advise our clients.

The Teaching and the Training

By far my favourite part of my job is the odd occasion that I get to feel like a student again. Particular botanical highlights for me include training in National Vegetation Classification (NVC), Grass Identification, Fen Identification and aquatic plant training in Anglesey where I got to visit oligotrophic lakes, fens and bogs which support some of our rarest flora! Though exciting to me, I appreciate they may not always look it… see pictured below pillwort (Pilularia globulifera), an inconspicuous and unassuming species of fern that is classified as ‘scarce’ in Great Britain.

I have also enjoyed and benefitted from teaching and learning with my colleagues! For the past two years I have run a Winter Twig Identification session where each member of staff has been assigned a selection of five species of tree to become proficient at the identification of during winter time and have shared what they know with the wider team. Collectively, I am quite confident that Tyrer could identify the majority of Britain’s native trees in winter in no time!

Finally, the Inspiration

Back to my original point… what it all means. Through all of these experiences and the research to inform their respective reports I have come to learn which plants are indicators of calcareous substrate, of disturbance, of absence of disturbance, of good quality habitat, of poor quality habitat etc. Nature is indeed a language that can be read and translated into legislation which protects a particular species or habitat. For the most part, our domestic legislation does a good job of protecting our high-nature-value habitats and allowing development on low-nature-value sites - I have seen it work in both directions whilst sat at my desk many times.

There are, however, gaps. Times where domestic legislation fails to protect habitats - partly because they have not been formally categorised, and therefore cannot be identified or protected. One such habitat that meets this description is ancient grasslands, a broad term that encompasses long-term traditionally / or low intensity managed grasslands where species richness, carbon storage and genetic diversity levels are high. The categorisation and study of this habitat type is the subject of my PhD. I would not have the insight, knowledge, expertise, support and time to undertake my PhD were it not for me having worked at Tyrer.

I am excited to continue to work here on a part-time basis where I hope to work on many more exciting botanical projects alongside my PhD studies!

Best,

Katherine

If you have a site with complex habitats and / or rare species that you require advice on in regard to navigating the planning system - please do not hesitate to get in touch!