Supervisory Team:
Prof. Kathryn Arnold – University of York
Dr Niall Burnside – University of the Highlands and Islands
Dr Lucy Mason – Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
Dr Mark Wilson – British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)
The coastal machair and farmed peatland landscape of the Uist islands in the Outer Hebrides supports internationally important densities of breeding waders, but populations have declined by 25% since 1983. An important driver of these declines is egg predation by introduced hedgehogs, but recent declines in areas without hedgehogs suggest that other stressors, including land-use and agricultural intensification are also involved. This project aims to better understand the extent and interactivity of these multiple stressors potentially driving machair shorebird declines. Supported by experienced supervisors, the Uist Native Wildlife Project team and RSPB conservation scientists, policy staff and land managers, the student will experience how scientific research is applied to directly influence and inform conservation management.
The student will develop expertise and skills in avian ecology, field data collection, wetland ecological quality analysis, radio telemetry, GIS analysis of animal movement data and modelling land use change, remote sensing and statistical analysis. They will become experienced in engagement as they work with a variety of stakeholders (e.g. farmers, land managers, conservation scientists, policy makers). These skills are transferable to academic, policy or industry careers. The candidate will carry out intensive periods of isolated fieldwork on the Outer Hebrides (North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist), so requires a clean UK driving licence. Ideally, they would have experience of fieldwork on waders, ground-nesting birds and bird ringing, but training will be provided.
Through fieldwork, the student will gain experience in a range of techniques which could include:
– wader nest survival monitoring,
– bird handling, ringing and radio tag attachment,
– assessing fledging success, fine-scale habitat use and predation risk through radio-telemetry,
– predator activity and habitat use monitoring (hedgehogs, small mustelids, gulls, raptors) using trail cameras, tracking sign and observation-based surveys,
– habitat surveys to assess conditions suitable for waders (indicators of soil chemistry, moisture level, sward structure).
– UAV surveys and drone handling
The student could also utilise GIS, and remote sensing methods using multi-spectral satellite and UAV data to further assess changes in land-use and habitat condition, ground-truthing these data using information recorded in the field. The proposed project will make the most of opportunities to monitor wader breeding success across a gradient of hedgehog densities during hedgehog removal through the Uist Native Wildlife Project. Existing landscape-scale and site-based shorebird and hedgehog datasets will be used to further assess the influence of multiple stressors on shorebird breeding success over time.
Hedgehog translocation is planned over the next few years, so this project is very timely and will monitor the effects of removing this key stressor, and provides a unique opportunity for student involvement in a large-scale conservation experiment. Unique to this project is the plan to integrate chick survival and productivity monitoring with a large-scale predator removal to determine the interacting pressures from predation and other stressor driving machair wader declines. Fine scale assessments of machair habitat use by waders and their predators, and therefore how habitat and land-use changes could be influencing predation rates, have never been done, so the student will be filling a key knowledge gap.
This project is a collaboration between the RSPB, University of York, University of the Highlands and Islands, with input from NatureScot and BTO. It will inform the direction and design of future conservation interventions for machair breeding shorebirds following the removal of invasive hedgehogs. Site-level research has hinted at associations between machair land-use, soil chemistry and changes in breeding wader assemblages, but more information about waders’ use of machair habitat mosaics is required to understand and manage the mechanisms underlying these associations. We urgently need to better understand population drivers at a landscape scale to inform conservation management and complement plans for hedgehog translocation if machair wader population recovery is to be achieved.
Essential Skills: Field-based skills; Data analysis; Communication skills across broad range of stakeholders;