J Hanlon Ecologist & Naturalist - J Hanlon Ecology Surveys

About me

I am a Cambridge-based freelance ecologist & naturalist, offering field survey support to consultancy clients, specialising in birds, bats & herptiles. I am fully insured and have been working freelance in this role since 2013.

I grew up in East London where I developed a keen interest in wildlife in my formative years. In 1996 I graduated from the University of Wales Bangor with a BSc (Hons) degree in Zoology with Marine Zoology (Class 2 i). I travelled Australasia and Asia for 15 months during 1999-2000 and soon after my return I joined the Civil Service, working in several roles whilst writing & travelling in my spare time, publishing my first book in 2006 and second in 2011. In 2013 I began working as a freelance ecologist, specialising in bird, bat and herptile surveys. I continued my natural history writing as an occasional contributor to - and then a monthly columnist for - BBC Wildlife magazine.

Ornithologist

I have nearly 40 years' experience as a keen birder and have conducted a range of commercial bird surveys since 2015, including VPs, breeding bird and winter bird surveys, species-specific surveys (corn bunting, nightjar, Stone curlew and little tern colony monitoring) and (annually since 2018) audio sound-recording and monitoring of nocturnal migrants. I have worked as a proof-reader and sub-editor on multiple county reports, was a regular contributor to Birdwatch and Birdwatching magazines and have been formally credited by the British Birds Rarities Committee with the discovery, identification and documentation of a number of significant national rarity sightings, including a small number of species recorded only a handful of times in the UK.

Many bird surveys are still conducted by inexperienced ecologists without the audio identification skills needed to adequately document all species using a site. In my experience up to to two-thirds of bird calls may go unnoticed or unidentified by inexperienced surveyors. Identification of songs and calls cannot be learned by any other means other than by years of experience & fieldcraft. Such experience qualifies a birder-surveyor to recognise at least 98% of songs and calls in a UK context, reducing the chance of missing a significant species on site.

From 2024 I have been able to take on larger projects by moving into Resource Management using a lifelong network of useful contacts now working as subcontracted surveyors.

photo (c) James Lowen

Herptile specialist

I have conducted a number of reptile and newt (GCN) surveys, and have completed translocations of both, as well as sampling for GCN eDNA. As a Zoology graduate and a keen wildlife photographer in my spare time I have a good understanding of herptile biology, ecology and field identification, having spent many hours searching for more than 20 native & naturalised species at large in the UK.

Bat surveyor

I have worked as a volunteer with a number of local bat groups over a period spanning around 30 years, and have assisted with commercial bat surveys every year since 2013, primarily emergence and re-entry surveys, but also transects and as a volunteer assisting with hibernaculum surveys and mist-netting/ harp-trapping projects. Since rescuing and releasing my first Pipistrelle bat as a teenager living in London in the 1990's I have worked with and documented some 19 bat species in the UK alongside some of the leading figures in bat ecology, science & conservation.

Clients

Applied Ecology, Arbtech, Avian Ecology, Brindle & Green, Castle Hill Ecology, Chris Vine, Huckle Ecology, JD Ecology, MKA Ecology, NIRAS, Udall-Martin Associates, Falco Ecology, Skopeo Ltd, Mindful Nature Ecology, Rocket Ecology, Footprint Ecology, Lunar Ecology, Practical Ecology, Barefoot Management Services