This summer has been an exciting time for GiGL as we have been working on a brand new habitat database. Our legacy habitat datasets (we’ve never had a habitat database) have served us, our partners and our stakeholders incredibly well but the diversity and coverage of having this new database will provide greater opportunities to better monitor, understand and improve the habitat landscape. It has the potential to revolutionise the ways in which we can study the natural environment in London and we are confident this database will better support both The Mayor’s London Environment Strategy and the delivery of Biodiversity Net Gain. Brace yourselves – here’s everything you need to know about this exciting new project.

On the 22nd of July 2019 London became the world’s first National Park City; and this celebration of London’s natural environment has sparked a city-wide interest in the capital’s greenspaces. While there is no official change to how London is managed, the National Park City movement aims to shift the mindset of Londoners to a greener, healthier and wilder city…

“…Like a rocket, the bird shot straight up into the air from the ground. Momentarily hovering before jauntily flying in a large oval shape. Singing like it had accordions for lungs, a warble so beautiful and so loud and then, just before it plummeted to the ground like it had forgotten how to fly, it let out a repeated single note that sounded like the kind of noises my brother and I used to make when firing water pistols at each other. Pew Pew Pew! “It’s a skylark.” I said, tying up the poo bag, my rescue dog grinning up at me. And on we walked…

Ben is GiGL’s Community Officer. He delivers work for community partners and clients. This includes work for members of the public and community groups, as well as carrying out work with students that wish to use GiGL data for research projects…

It’s been an exciting time at GiGL HQ these last couple of months; a period of change, rebuilding and planning. There were farewells and welcome additions to the GiGL Family, as well as time spent reviewing GiGL’s systems and services to better communicate how we serve Londoners and the biodiversity around them…

Emma is GiGL’s Partnership Officer. Drawing from her experience working with GiGL partners, research students and the community over the years, Emma will be answering frequently asked questions and explaining commonly misunderstood terms in this new article series. In this article: What is AoD? So what exactly are SINCs and POS? Why do we measure AoD? How is AoD used? How is AoD measured?

Environmental data have always been one of the cornerstones of planning applications and with the increased importance and influence that the living environment has on our city, the drive for a well-informed planning process has only increased…

Laura is GiGL’s Database Officer. She delivers work to review, develop and maintain GiGL’s datasets of the capital’s Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs) and their citations, open spaces, and habitats…

Partnership is used to describe relationships, business associations and cultural collaborations. Partnership is about sharing and shared endeavours. To GiGL, our partners are organisations who have a stake in London’s natural environment and the data that illuminate it…

…I returned to the UK in 2011, moving into a house boat on a wharf at the junction of the rivers Brent and Thames. One day, while working on a small patch of garden on the wharf’s bank, I noticed a tiny little snail that I hadn’t previously encountered; after making enquiries around the neighbourhood, my landlord told me it was a Thames two-lipped snail (Balea biplicata)…