Company Director and Senior Environmental Consultant

Patrick Crushell established Wetland Surveys Ireland in 2007. He received an honors degree in Applied Ecology from UCC, a Masters degree in Environmental Resource Management from UCD and PhD (Environmental Sciences) at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. The focus of his PhD research was on soak systems of Clara bog, Co. Offaly, his research also took him to the Netherlands, Estonia, Latvia and Argentina. He is a Chartered Ecologist and full Member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM).

Patrick has been working in the area of nature conservation and ecological assessment since 2002. He has worked as a consultant ecologist in the preparation of Ecological Impact Assessments on over 500 different projects for a range of organisations including government agencies, engineering firms, local environmental groups and NGOs and has appeared as an expert witness on numerous occasions.

Projects that he has been involved in include impact assessments of various development proposals; pre and post – construction monitoring; wetland surveys; evaluation of proposed designated sites; bird surveys; flora and fauna surveys; restoration and management of habitats and baseline ecological surveys.

Patrick was a Member of the Board of Directors of the Irish Peatland Conservation Council (2002- 2008), represented environmental NGOs on the government appointed Special Area of Conservation (SAC) Appeals Board.

Environmental Consultant, Freshwater & Marine

Mary Catherine graduated with an honours degree (BSc) in Zoology from UCC in 2011. Following that, she worked in the education centre in Fota Wildlife Park, where she was responsible for giving talks and tours to the public and school groups as well as assisting with field ecology courses for second level students. 

Mary Catherine then undertook a masters degree (MSc) in marine biology in UCC. This involved a 6-month research project which was focused on the ecology of an invasive algae species. This research developed her interest in the area of invasive species ecology, which led to Mary Catherine carrying out a PhD on an invasive barnacle species from 2013-2016. Mary Catherine has also worked as a marine biology tutor for primary school children and as a marine ecology walks leader on blue flag beaches.

Mary Catherine has experience in habitat surveys and mapping, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), report compilation and educational work on the Pearl Mussel Project.

Environmental Consultant, Freshwater

Willie Crowley has almost 20 years experience as a professional ecologist in peatland ecology, ecological surveying and reporting. He received an honours degree in Applied Ecology from UCC in 1999 and a Masters degree in Ecosystem Conservation & Landscape Management from NUIG in 2001.

Most recently Willie worked as project ecologist with the EU LIFE project ‘The Living Bog’, where he was responsible for all ecological outputs of the project. This included publication of a cutover raised bog habitat classification.

Willie previously worked on several Conservation Status Assessment and monitoring projects; surveying, GIS mapping and reporting on the conservation status of EU Annex habitats such as raised bogs, limestone pavement and calcareous grassland as well as reporting on the implications for management on these habitats.

Willie worked for Coillte in the establishment of a biodiversity database for nature conservation management. He has been involved in local/regional projects such as the survey of the semi-natural grasslands in Cork and Waterford, and specific studies on bog and fen sites including Abbeyleix and Scohaboy.