From Miner to Ecologist
Chris Needham went from subterranean misery to a life of ornithology.
Chris, 49, grew up in the Dearne Valley, South East Barnsley. At 16, Chris left school without qualifications, and not knowing what he wanted to do - it was 1974 and his head was full of glam rock. As a result, his dad marched him off to the pit and got him a job as an electrician. Chris hated it, but stayed at the pit because he didn’t know what else he could do.
Chris's interest in bird watching began when he was a young boy. This hobby kept him sane during his mining days and Chris would go bird-watching whenever he could. If he worked nights, he’d go bird-watching during the day – moments of freedom before he went back underground.
In 1991 the Dearne Valley pit closed. Chris was given the option of working at the Selby coalfield, however he thought it was time to do something for himself - something that he enjoyed - so he took redundancy instead. Chris wanted to do an ecology degree, so at 32 started studying for A levels, and then went to Sheffield University where he did a degree in Pure and Applied Ecology. After that he completed a Masters in Environmental Management. During this time he was instrumental in the management of Wath Ings which later became part of the 's Dearne Valley nature reserves.
Chris is now an ecological consultant – when a planning application is put in by a property developer, it’s Chris’s job to assess the impact on local wildlife, for example badgers, breeding birds, grey crested newts and so on. Chris has never been happier.
Did I just hear an Ecologist put in a vote for Opencast mining?
Complain about this postto correct the blurb on Chris - penultimate sentence: 'grey crested newts' should read 'Great Crested Newts' (the upper-case letters are because they are a specific species)
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