Research

MSc Entomology thesis, Harper Adams University

Exploring the relationships between elevation, species richness and elevational range: Orthoptera in the Pyrenees, Spain, 2021-2022

I researched the effects of elevation on Orthoptera species richness and elevational range (Rapoport's rule) in the Parc Natural de l'Alt Pirineu in the Catalan Pyrenees.

From the entomology side, I enjoyed the challenge of getting to grips with the identification of this group, spending many a hour scrutinising photos and specimens with the microscope. The huge diversity of inverts found in the meadows of this area of the Pyrenees is something I was extremely excited to experience.

To record my observations and specimens, I built a Django application which uses a SQLite database to store the data (with a big thank you to Carles for helping when I had questions). With my obsessive need to make sure I had all metadata nicely recorded as well, this provided a great way for me to easily enter details of all of the surveys and study sites, making it much easier for me to spot missing information and typos. In fact, I gave a talk about this application at the SORTEE conference 2022.

MRes Environmental Biology thesis, University of St Andrews

Effects of woodland habitat fragmentation on bird species richness, Fife, Scotland, 2010

I researched the effects of woodland habitat fragmentation on bird species richness across Fife. I designed and undertook transect surveys in woodlands across Fife, then analysed the data and wrote up the results as a thesis.

As an interesting aside, I recorded red squirrel sightings whilst doing the surveys. When reporting these to the local recorder one Sunday evening using their web-based form, they thought their system had developed a bug because there were so many! All bird observations were reported through Bird Track.

Fieldwork

Bird surveys

Bird ringing, Breeding Bird Survey, Waterbird Survey, Projecte Orenetes

I have been ringing birds since 2011 and have a C permit with a mist-net endorsement. When I have time, I take part in standardised surveys in the UK and Catalonia, but the rest of the time, I report my observations through citizen science web-portals which feed data into different areas of research about bird movements and population changes, among others.

Entomology surveys

Bee walk, general observations

Most insects that I record are observations I make on walks or in our garden. I am very grateful to the many volunteers who create fantastic online resources for identifying insects.

Cusuco National Park, Honduras

Ornithology surveys in Neotropical rainforest, 2011-2012

I spent two fantastic summers doing bird ringing and point count surveys in the rainforest of Cusuco National Park as part of the biodiversity research programme run by Operation Wallacea.