Baseline Ecological Surveys
A biodiversity baseline survey is the essential first step in conserving and enhancing the biodiversity value of a site. It establishes what is present, in what condition, and where, giving you the evidence needed to inform conservation, management, and planning decisions that follow.
Baselines are increasingly commissioned with regard to emerging Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) thinking in Ireland. While Ireland has not yet adopted a mandated BNG metric or legal requirement equivalent to England’s Environment Act 2021 regime, CIEEM’s 2025 report on BNG in Ireland confirms strong sectoral support for a hybrid approach, combining quantitative metrics with professional ecological judgement, developed specifically for Irish conditions rather than imported wholesale from the UK. We design our baseline methodology to be compatible with this direction of travel, so that survey data gathered now retains its value as formal Irish BNG guidance develops.
Equally, and just as commonly, a baseline is commissioned independently of BNG, to provide a robust, detailed reference point against which future management actions, restoration measures, or monitoring programmes can be prescribed and their success objectively measured over time.
Our approach
Our baselines combine desk study and field survey, carried out by experienced field surveyors and interpreted by senior ecologists.
- Desk study: review of existing biological records (NBDC, NPWS designated site data, National Biodiversity Action Plan targets), aerial imagery, and any prior survey history for the site.
- Field survey: habitat mapping to the Fossitt classification, target notes on species and features of ecological interest, and protected species surveys scoped to the site’s habitats and the season of survey.
- Technology: we use GPS-referenced field mapping, GIS-based data capture, and, where appropriate, drone-assisted habitat mapping and acoustic monitoring, to produce a methodology that is robust, defensible, and repeatable. A repeatable baseline is what makes future monitoring meaningful, if the original methodology cannot be replicated, change over time cannot be reliably demonstrated.
