They say it’s grim up north! By’eck it is! We have only had 16 hours of sunshine in Leeds for the month of November so there is some truth in saying you’re OK ’on Ilkla Moor baht ‘at”, – a sun hat that is . That said, Leeds is considered by many to be the city of the North, and whilst we are not London or the South East, we sure pack a punch for such a small city.
We have been busy working on projects with our Cardiff and Guildford offices, whilst growing our team, including appointing our new head of arboriculture, Neil Francis, and building a workload to take us forward.
We have recently teamed up with Wessex Archaeology to undertake Ecological Clerk of Works roles with respect to the ecology and archaeological investigations on a site in Anglesey. Part of the works is within 120m of a SSSI called Trer’ Gof (noted for being a small basin mire). The site receives slightly mineral-enriched waters from the surrounding boulder clays, which leads to an interesting flora, including great pond sedge and marsh fern. We have built sedimentation traps to ensure that run-off does not affect the alkaline-rich nature of the SSSI. Anglesey has been noted for having cloddiau (pronounced clawwdd or clouth) which are stone walls capped with soil and grass – a veritable mansion for reptiles and newts!!
George Osborne has said that corralling the North’s population of 15 million into a collective force could result in its rivalling that of London and the South East. It would be “a collection of northern cities sufficiently close to each other that combined they can take on the world”, he said.
Well, I don’t think that the northern cities will necessarily take on the world just yet. But hopefully 2016 will be another successful year for the Leeds branch of Thomson Ecology!
