We are in the process of constructing informative personal biographies of our team so please come back and reacquaint yourself with our team members
Jonathan Kendrew BSc MSc CEnv MIEEM - Director
Jon has devoted the last twelve years to conservation
and sustainable development in the public and private sectors projects in
the UK, mainland Europe and Africa. Gaining his Honours degree in Environmental
Management from the University of Durham, he became involved in projects
to secure Integrated
Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Greece and Madagascar, before completing
a Masters degree in Aquatic Resource Management at King’s College London.
Jon is a Full Member of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management
(IEEM) and a Chartered Environmentalist. His role within Alpha Ecology Ltd
is Director and Principal Ecologist, calling upon extensive knowledge of
Badger, bats, Otter and most British mammals and birds, planning, policy
and legislation.
After being employed for six years as a commercial consultant ecologist including with Babtie Engineering and Conservation Consultancy Ltd, Jon established Alpha Ecology Ltd in Lanarkshire, Scotland, to provide sound scientific advice on Protected Species and habitats on the UK and aminland Europe. Working on Ecological Impact Assessments (EcIA), submissions for Appropriate Assessments (AA) and a diverse range of development proposals such as new highways, pipelines, windfarms, property development and brownfield restoration amongst others. WIth significant experience of large-scale projects, his approach to biodiversity and conservation is landscape based, considering the many factors of habitat & ecological functionality: energetics, climate change, gene flow, population dynamics and fecundity.
Licenced to work with bats in Scotland, England and Wales, his work with bat species in the UK has included local Bat Groups & education, bat research projects across England and Scotland, Bat Warden for Natural England, National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP) transect studies for the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT). His work on bat species has spanned 7 years and involved nearly all species of the bats found in the UK, including the rare Greater and Lesser Horseshoe bats, Bechstein's and Barbastelle bats. Fully conversent in survey and assessment methods, mitigation and development licencing for bats, Jon has worked on projects in the Highlands, Lothians, Lanarkshire and the Borders, and in southern England and Wales.
Jon is a keen ornithologist of over two decades experience in the UK, Finland, Portugal, France, Madagascar, North America and the Middle East. Licenced to work with Schedule I species Barn Owl in Scotland and England, he has conducted WeBS based surveys, Common Bird Census, Wintering Birds and Vantage Point Counts, including for proposals within or near European Designated Sites like Special Protection Areas (SPA’s), for mining and minerals, bridges, highways and other infrastructure.
Erika Dahlberg NDip BSc AIEEM - Associate Consultant
Erika is a specialist in bat ecology and has an Associate role in the Alpha Ecology team for bat related
projects, providing survey and analysis services. She is based in southern England and holds a Natural England bat roost visitor’s and
survey & monitoring licence and is an Affiliate member of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (IEEM).
Erika studied at Naturbruksgymnasiet
in her native Sweden for a National Diploma in Animal Care, and attained her Bachelors degree in Animal Management
from Sparsholt College/ Portsmouth University. She is currently completing a Masters degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation
at Napier University in Edinburgh.
Having moved into the conservation field Erika will divide her time between professional advisor roles and undertaking a PhD in bat ecology. Erika has significant commitments providing bat surveys for trees and woodlands, and for buildings in connection with Planning Applications and European Protected Species (EPS) licences. She gives professional training courses for ultra-sound analysis software and research projects, and regularly provides specialist training and workshops at the UK National Bat Conferences in York and Reading.
Since her move from Sweden to the UK in 2000 Erika has taken every opportunity to dedicate her educational, professional and volunteering time to bat work. She was the Head Zoo Keeper of nocturnal animals at a Tropical House in Gothenburg, Sweden, being the keeper of a colony of 80 Seba’s short-tailed fruit bats (Carollia perspicillata). Erika completed studies in 2004 on the social calls and echolocation calls of the Grey long-eared bat (Plecotus austriacus) and the Brown long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus) emitted during morning swarming. During the summer of 2008 she will advance a thesis on the social call of Grey and Brown long-eared bats in the south of England. ey long-eared bats are rare in the UK and have a restricted distribution - current knowledge of this species is limited and such studies are invaluable.
Her experience as a volunteer involves being an active member of a local bat group, conducting National Bat Monitoring Programme surveys, co-ordinating the local Bats and Roadside Mammals Survey being a Natural England Bat Warden, giving talks, workshops and training courses for bat groups and arranging bat walks for members of the public.