Staff and Associates
Click on a staff member from the list below to obtain a full profile
- Mr John Wann BSc, MSc, MIEEM
- Anja Rosler – Mammal Surveyor
- Dr. Kevin Cordes – Geologist
- Kevin Mawhinney – Bird Surveyor
- Mark Smyth – Bat Worker
Principal
Mr John Wann, was brought up in the Dublin suburb of Templeogue. He is a fully qualified botanist, receiving a BSc degree in Botany and Environmental Studies (University of Wales College Cardiff) and in 1992, an MSc in Environmental Science (Trinity College Dublin). In 2003, John established Aulino Wann & Associates.
Mr Wann’s paid and voluntary work in Ireland and overseas has led him to develop advanced skills in plant identification. His master’s thesis was on the relations between human pressures, forest destruction and the conservation of North Andean endemic birds, involving a study of the floristics and structure of a number of forest types in the southern Ecuadorian Andes and also collecting plants for Kew Gardens, Trinity College Dublin and Universidad Nacional de Loja, Ecuador.
In Ireland, John has been a voluntary plant recorder in various counties for the Botanical Society of the British Isles. As a research associate at the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin John was a contributor to the European Garden Flora (volumes 5 and 6) concentrating on New Zealand and Australian plant families.
He has carried out numerous plant surveys within the full range of habitat types as part of ecological impact assessments or for site designation purposes throughout the island of Ireland for such clients as National Parks and Wildlife Service, Coillte, Environment and Heritage Service Northern Ireland, Health Estates Agency Northern Ireland, Department of Finance & Personnel Northern Ireland, engineering consultancies, community groups and private developers and landowners.
John produced six draft wetland and freshwater habitat action plans including costings for the Environment and Heritage Service Northern Ireland. The production of these plans involved liaising with a wide range of stakeholders in local and central government, academia and NGOs throughout the island of Ireland. He has also carried out vegetation mapping and habitat monitoring using relevés within protected areas in the Irish midland counties for the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Dublin. John has also worked with databases at the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, as part of the management of the plant collections at the gardens and also on a project to compile a database of Irish champion trees.
In a voluntary capacity John was actively involved in the late 1990s with the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Heritage Forum (An Foram Oidhreachta). This was a forum of local community and voluntary groups with an interest in the heritage of the county that aimed to instigate a debate that would ultimately lead to the adoption of a county heritage policy. Arising out of these deliberations was the publication: An Foram Oidhreachta, Towards A County Heritage Policy, January 1997. John as the Irish Wildlife Trust representative on the Forum provided along with ecologists from other organisations specialist ecological input to this policy document.
As the Irish Wildlife Trust woodlands officer in the late 1990s, John in conjunction with local community groups raised awareness of the ecological and historical value of Loughlinstown Woods and the Shanganagh River and to promote the woodland as a recreational amenity by working with Loughlinstown Community Council, Loughlinstown Employment Group, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Parks Department, and other wildlife non-governmental organisations. The groups efforts culminated in two awards: An Cathaoirleach’s Special Environmental Award (under the Dun Laoghaire Corporation Community Awards Scheme) winners 1996 and Environmental Partnership Award winners 1997 in conjunction with Dun-Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.
He is a full member of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (IEEM) and served on the committee of the all-Ireland geographical section of IEEM between 2005 and 2007 helping to organise CPD events for Irish ecologists. He is currently on the council of the Environmental Sciences Association of Ireland.
Associates
In 1995, after 5 years of study, Anja Rosler graduated with a Diploma in Biology (equivalent of M.Sc.) from the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University in her native Germany, after specialising in botany, landscape ecology and nature conservation. In 2004, she acquired a postgraduate diploma in environmental management from the University of Ulster, Coleraine.
In both her professional and voluntary work, Anja has pursued a career in biological surveying and nature conservation. She has developed particular skills in the identification, recording and mapping of higher plants, bats, land mammals, birds and habitats. She has also gained substantial experience in practical nature conservation, in particular habitat management and restoration. She has good report writing and IT skills, including working with databases and GIS and is experienced in the use of data loggers with built in GPS, maps and aerial photographs. Her professional training has covered such areas as mammal (and in particular bat) ID, plants, habitat survey, assessment and management for conservation and the use of various practical conservation tools.
After graduating, Anja moved to the UK and joined the Norfolk Team of English Nature as an assistant conservation officer with responsibility for the project management of a major botanical survey in the Norfolk Broads, SSSI monitoring and GIS. During her position as a project officer with the RSPB, Anja carried out a review of the implementation of the Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) designation programme and relevant legislation in Northern Ireland. In a report, she made proposals for the amendment of nature conservation legislation. Anja took part in the 1998 NI Countryside Survey as a field botanist for the University of Ulster. During her work for the Habitat Survey Team of Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) Northern Ireland, she carried out botanical surveys of sites of conservation interest (pre-designation), obtained experience in criteria-based selection of ASSIs and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), compilation of maps and writing scientific papers required for site designation as well as an ASSI guides for landowners. She also carried out biological monitoring of designated sites, liaised with other government departments and NGOs and managed external contracts.
As the nature conservation warden for the National Trust at Crom Estate, Anja had responsibility for all habitat management, a wide variety of biological survey & monitoring work, management of staff and residential volunteers, liaison with Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, EHS, the Forest Service and the farming community, grant applications, liaising with the media, compilation of interpretative material and the environmental education program.
One of her most recent projects was a 3-year botanical grassland survey for EHS. As the overall project manager, she was responsible for the co-ordination of fieldwork, GIS and data analysis. Anja also participated in the 2006 Ancient Woodland Inventory Project run by the Woodland Trust, contributed to several plant Species Action Plants for EHS, and compiled information for the creation of web-pages on species of conservation concern for the Ulster Museum.
Anja has carried out extensive voluntary work with various conservation organisations, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Department of Conservation in New Zealand, where for several weeks she worked on critically endangered endemic species.
Dr. Kevin Cordes is an environmental consultant with a broad range of experience and skills obtained through research and commercial employment. He obtained a BSc. Geology degree in 1989 with mining experience gained in South Africa in 1990. Geo-technical experience was first obtained in 1991 at John Grimes Associates. Between 1993 and 1994, Kevin undertook a MSc. Environmental Pollution Control, passing with an award for the best thesis that investigated the trace element contents of selected plants in the vicinity of a copper-alloy smelter. This led to a bursary being given for a PhD project investigating the leaching of trace elements from power station wastes and their uptake by aquatic plants. It also involved compiling a floral inventory on fly ash and bottom ash wastes at coal-fired power stations.
After successfully completing his PhD, Kevin worked as Technical Editor before taking up a mine waste and environmental investigation position at the Geological Survey of Ireland where detailed ecological surveys of mine sites was part of his remit developed by himself to fulfil the project brief. He has undertaken further environmental investigation work in Britain, Ireland and most recently in Dubai.
Kevin Mawhinney – Bird Surveyor
Mr Kevin Mawhinney originally qualified as an engineer, in 1978 receiving a HND in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Northern Ireland Polytechnic. After a period with British Gas and Northern Ireland Electricity, Kevin left to persue his life-long interest in ornithology. Kevin is currently recognized as one of the fore-most ornithologists in Northern Ireland. His paid and voluntary ornithological survey and monitoring work has led him to develop advanced skills in bird identification. He has worked on several high profile bird surveys for Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Northern Ireland including the British Trust for Ornithology Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and Wetland Bird Surveys (WeBS). Other surveys have included RSPB Volunteer and Farmer Alliance Surveys in Northern Ireland 2002-2004, RSPB Giant Bird Table Project - monitoring usage of sacrificial crops by granivorous birds 2001-2004, Beached Bird Survey 2003-2004, Hen Harrier Survey Northern Ireland 2004 and Red Grouse Survey Northern 2004.
He has also carried out a research project to test the impact of supplementary winter food provision on the breeding success of populations of granivorous farmland birds involving habitat surveys at 24 experimental sites in Northern Ireland and NW England. All these projects have given him extensive experience in writing clear, concise bird reports and working to tight deadlines. He has also carried out bird conservation advisory work notably advising non-agricultural landowners on the cultivation of sacrificial crops and wildflower meadows as a seed resource for granivorous farmland birds as part of the RSPB ‘Giant Bird Table’ project and also advising farmers on the setting up of bird feeding sites as part of the RSPB ‘Bird Aid’ project. His other interests besides ornithology are hillwalking and mountaineering, activities that he has pursued for many years in the UK, Europe and the Americas.
Mark Smyth has been a member of the Northern Ireland Bat Group for 15 years and has been on the committee for 10 years. During his time on the committee he has organised and led many bat walks and talks. He has also organised bat and bat detector workshops in Counties Fermanagh and Antrim. He has also carried out bat surveys as part of Environmental Impact Assessments for the last 7 years for individuals, the Northern Ireland Bat Group, architects, and Environment and Heritage Service Northern Ireland. Mark has advised and appeared on TV programmes for BBC1 NI, BBC2 NI, and Ulster Television. He has presented many lectures on bats including one for the National Bat Conference, Belfast in 2004. He has lectured on bats and their threats in England, South Africa, USA and Belize. Mark has had a keen interest in wildlife all his life initially specialising in birds before being hooked on bats. He has helped on dawn chorus walks. Mark has recently formed a swift awareness group to help stop the decline of the Common Swift Apus apus in Northern Ireland.