Download the beaver trial report It is very exciting to see Forestry England's report about the Yorkshire beaver re-introduction trial, featuring monitoring from a variety of universities and natural history groups - including Teesside University! While the chief aim of the trial is to assess how beaver can reduce flood risk, I am very privilege to monitor aquatic plant colonisation and ecosystem changes over time, as well as to supervise students developing a variety of novel research for their final year project.

While in 2023 and 2024, we came very close to observing 50 species of grasses during the walk, this year, we came even one inch closer to 50 mark! Here is a link to the species that have been observed this year and in previous years. This list should also be useful to get ready for next year. As you can see, 50 taxa were observed, however, only if the…

Very proud to report that my application for full membership of CIEEM, the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, has been accepted. Full membership is awarded to "senior professionals with a high degree of knowledge, experience, skills and professionalism" in the field of ecology and environmental management. During the application, I demonstrated proficiency in the following competencies:

Over the summer 2025, I was fortunate to meet and train about 30 professional ecologists during Field Studies Council courses. We focussed on plant and habitat identification as well as discussed surveys practicalities. This was an opportunity to apply some of my specialised skills in botany and vegetation science, in a variety of policy-relevant contexts - such as Biodiversity Net Gain, tree planting schemes, priority habitats, etc.

This drone footage shows PhD student Austine Otabor and supervisor Dr Ambroise Baker collecting a Above Ground Biomass sample from rewilding site Wild Saltholme, managed by RSPB Saltholme, Northeast of England. This field work is part of a research project monitoring abiotic, biotic and socio-ecological change during rewilding. Credits to our multi-talented and multi-tasking technician Miles Dimbleby for flying the drone.

I attended this excellent workshop led by Rebecca Senior from Durham University, the local Wildlife Trust and the British Ecological Society's Rewilding SIG . Excellent discussions around monitoring change during rewilding and the various approaches practitioners and academics are working towards.

Baker, A. (2025). Brownfield in the Tees Valley are golden assets for nature recovery. In practice : bulletin of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management. Issue 128, pp 30-33. Read the full article pdf here. Abstract: This article highlights the ecological value of open mosaic habitat on previously developed land (OMH), a type of brownfield, and the legislation in place to protect it for the biodiversity it supports.

Aim There is compelling evidence that drivers and patterns of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning vary across multiple spatial scales, from global to regional, landscape and patch. However, macro...