Emma Rothero, The Open University

In my previous post, I wrote that we were ready to ask the questions but I was worried no one would want to answer.

Well, I needn’t have been concerned. We’ve completed 14 semi-structured interviews and have two more to do. We have written up the interviews we’ve done as draft case studies and I am just sorting out the process of getting the interviews transcribed.

It is gratifying to see that some of the managers have been very positive about our involvement in their sites, and of course, we continue to work with many of them. There are some sites where it has not been possible to implement recommendations, with good reasons, and some sites where work has progressed at speed.

The next phase is pulling all the findings together into some form of analysis and a paper. Working with Dr Jim McGinlay on this project has been very productive. Jim has been undertaking all the interviews on our behalf, and writing up the summaries, and I value his insight and understanding of both the ecological and conservation issues, and the social science elements.

I am excited about how the next phase will develop, making a story out of the data collected and producing something that should have real meaning for us and our partners in terms of delivery of conservation on the ground.