Background
My main focus has been on organising national surveys of scarce breeding species in the UK, the results of which help to identify any problems and, in some cases, lead on to developing conservation solutions. These have included surveys on hen harrier, nightjar, woodlark, Dartford warbler, ring ouzel and cirl bunting, as well as coordinating national bittern monitoring since 2005.
In some cases, novel survey methods have been devised for individual species, such as a playback method along transects for surveying ring ouzels.
I have a keen interest in lowland heath and am a member of the RSPB Lowland Heathland Nature Recovery group.
I am the RSPB representative on the Wetland Birds Survey (WeBS) steering group, with representatives from British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT).
I am supporting recently established Common Bird Monitoring schemes in Botswana, Kenya and Uganda, and am involved with the Global Wild Bird Indicator project.
I provide ongoing support to BirdLife Cyprus's monitoring of illegal bird trapping.
Partners and Collaboration
- Dr Teresa Frost, British Trust for Ornithology
- Dr Ian Burfield, BirdLife International
- Mr Andrew Stevenson, Scottish Natural Heritage
- Mr Tassos Shialis, BirdLife Cyprus
Contact
Simon Wotton
Senior Conservation Scientist, Conservation Science