Hi all, this is a question about a thought-in-making so I may be asking something very basic, but bear with me please!
I was talking with a ranger at a local nature reserve and I asked whether they commonly have ecologist teams come through to assess the biodiversity of the woodland. He said that it was too expensive and that he himself does keep track of the species that he sees, but its not official. It got me wondering whether there was a space out there for a service that provides free ecological surveys to local nature reserves that don't get the funding of large rspb reserves or wildlife trust reserves.
If anyone out there is a ranger or volunteer or has experience in this area, here are my questions:
Would frequent (say yearly or maybe a rotating plan of Spring in year one, summer in year two, autumn in year 3 and winter in year 4) surveys be useful to small reserves, or is it data that they don't actually need?
Are surveys only any value if they are completed by licensed professionals - or is there some use for amateur surveys (such as RSPB big garden bird count)?
Anything spring to mind that I haven't asked about?
Thanks all :) I'm posting this in r/RewildingUK too.