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Our surveyors work to Herpetofauna
Groups of Britain and Ireland guidelines and are equipped
with the expertise necessary to carry out 7-day presence/absence
surveys and 15-day population size, density and distribution
surveys for all UK reptile species. We undertake surveys
for a wide variety of development, conservation and
research schemes.
Licence Applications
Licenses must only be obtained for impacts
to Smooth Snake and Sand Lizard resulting
from development. Licenses are not required
for impacts to Grass Snake, Slow Worm,
Adder and Common Lizard although it is
best practice to produce a method statement
for all mitigation works including details
of post development monitoring and management.
At Keystone we specialise in the design,
application and implementation of European
Protected Species licenses.
Our close relationship with licensing authorities
and statutory consultees together with our experience
of developing accepted mitigation schemes ensures
our licence applications and method statements will
be approved.
Impact Assessment
Impact assessment is required at various scales and
is fundamental to the design of a successful mitigation
strategy. We have undertaken impact assessments for
reptiles that range from concise reports for small
scale planning applications to the ecology section
of an ES for large scale projects.
Mitigation
At Keystone we work with our clients to prepare mitigation
strategies well in advance of their implementation
since the selection on an appropriate receptor site
and the translocation of reptiles are time consuming
processes that can delay development programmes.
Our expertise covers:
- Survey and assessment of potential receptor sites
- Selection of appropriate receptor sites
- Design of capture, translocation and exclusion
strategies
- Design, creation and restoration of reptile habitat
- Capture and translocation of reptiles
- Advise on the timing of works that may affect
reptiles
- Production of phasing plans for activities that
will impact upon reptiles
- Tool box talks and contractor briefings
- Supervision of works
- Destructive searches
- Preparation of management and monitoring plans
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