Kay Hinchsliffe; Senior Ecologist
This month we were privileged to share the company of Kay Hinchsliffe, Senior Ecologist at renowned ecological specialists OHES Environmental. Unusually, I’ll leave the opening gambit to Kay, whose eloquence (though I tried, believe me), can’t be bettered…
“A childhood spent in the countryside pond dipping, dung hunting and woodlice collecting has inevitably led me to this career path – which is apparent in hindsight, but not necessarily throughout the journey. As a young adult and after a little travelling and soul searching, determined that I would single-handedly save the world, I completed a degree in Environmental Sciences. Here, I had some inspirational tutors who gave me the belief that everyone can make a difference in their own way to the environment – whether that be simply turning off a light or changing internationally policy.”
Kay has never stood still in her career, beginning life as an academic Research AgroEcologist and then Ecology Consultant before achieving her species licences and professional accreditations and taking up her current specialist role.
It’s evident the moment you begin to talk to Kay that she has a deep-seated love for the natural world and thrives on the diversity of her work which takes her from bat box consultancy at central London hotels, to knee deep sampling fish populations in rural Wales. She’s even designed mitigation to reduce the interplay between badgers and fighter jets on a MoD airfield but her favourite part of all is…
“working in remote sites, where you are reminded how small you are (and indeed your role is) in the grand context of the landscape and the natural environment”
It all sounds rather like a dream job so we asked her what the downsides were…
“Without a doubt, the physically hardest part of the job is the 2am alarm which precedes a dawn bat survey. There is no feeling quite like jumping out of bed, straight into your waterproofs with bat detector in hand, followed by standing in the dark for a few hours in the hope of catching a glimpse of illusive bats returning to their day roost as the sun rises…And the gratification of knowing that once you have found that roost, the bats within it, and indeed their surrounding habitat, will be protected and their longevity within that landscape maintained…”
Kay’s views on landscape and the environment are insightful, articulate and represent the much needed shift in attitudes that will serve to preserve this world for future generations
“We are all connected, whether by choice or not, to the landscape and our environment. Indeed, we all passively impact upon it and reciprocally the changes in the environment impact the way we live our lives now and in the future. Our connection with the environment is innate and deep rooted. I consider that we are custodians to this wonderful earth and it is our duty to work with the environment to facilitate the inevitable growth and development of humankind whilst reducing our adverse impacts and ensuring we pass on an ecologically diverse legacy to future generations.”
A big part of landscape architecture and indeed architecture can be working with ecologists to mitigate against environmental and ecological damage so we asked Kay what her views were on working with professionals in the landscape design industry.
“Good landscape design can benefit the ecology of the natural environment. I regularly work with Landscape Architects at the design stage of build projects where, as part of the wildlife mitigation, and thus planning condition, it is imperative that the site does not have an overall negative impact on the site’s ecology.”
Kay works with landscape architects to help them build solutions into their designs that overall create a net gain for wildlife. It would be easy for her to be viewed by professionals as a OFSTED style inspector, hindering urban development but it’s clear that Kay’s approach is one of collaboration rather than dictatorship and it’s our view that this method of nurturing strong professional relationships provides the best results for the ecology in both the short and long term. She takes the view of educating her clients and partners, thus building in good practices and policies that they can replicate on future projects.
At Studio 31, we consider ourselves conscientious landscape architects and it’s professionals like Kay that support us in improving our designs and methods for the greater good. It’s fair to say that most people we meet across this industry love their roles but with Kay it radiates from her very core and that is quite literally contagious.