Dr Jennifer Smart of Norfolk has been awarded the prestigious Marsh Award for Ornithology by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) for her work in the conservation of breeding waders like lapwing, redshank and black-tailed godwits.
As a group, waders are amongst the most endangered, suffering from a variety of issues that include habitat loss and increased predation. Over the last 15 years, Jen has become a leading voice in the world of breeding wader conservation and her research has played a seminal role in defining the conservation strategies most important for the successful management of breeding wader populations.
Many of Jen’s research findings have informed today’s management of some of the largest breeding wader populations in low lying wetlands, particularly on the RSPB’s network of reserves but also influencing management of grasslands across landscapes managed primarily by farmers both here and abroad. Recently, Jen has been working in a controversial area, examining how predation impacts ground-nesting birds and what can be done to reduce those impacts. Her research has spanned testing fencing to protect breeding waders from predators; managing field margins to provide alternative prey for predators to managing the sward and wet features that are crucial for providing waders with the right habitat for nesting and rearing their chicks.
Dr Sam Franks, nominating Jen for the award said, “Jen’s passion for waders can be summed up by her recent 600-mile bike ride in 8 days across southern England to raise funds for waders. She shares her expertise and leadership with humour, compassion, enthusiasm and openness, and is an exemplary and inspirational role model to many. Fittingly, she has just recently been appointed as Head of RSPB Conservation Science for Scotland & Northern Ireland, and I have no doubt that she will bring the same dynamism and passion to this new role as she brings to her other ventures. She is a very worthy recipient of this award.“.
Dr Jen Smart, said, “I am delighted to receive this award which is testament to the teamwork across the RSPB, my academic collaborators, especially UEA and to the many PhD students who’s ideas and energy have driven forward much of this work. Receiving awards like this create moments that last a lifetime – so thanks to everyone who played a part.”.
The Marsh Award for Ornithology is awarded to an ornithologist who is making a significant contribution to the field, typically someone who gained a PhD between ten and twenty years prior to the award being made.
The Marsh Awards are supported by the Marsh Christian Trust and presented by the BTO.
OK, time to burn some goodwill…
The BTO should really engage brain before opening mouth. If I’m sitting in Strathbraan worrying how the little, baby curlews are going to survive the nasty, nasty ravens then this is an absolute goldmine of justification for my actions. You can’t win the game by leaving open goals for the opposition.
Before you roundly condemn my point of view, remember this. Birds of prey don’t care about who is right and who twists the facts for their own ends. All they care about is not being blown out of the sky.
Careless talk costs lives.
Stuart I’m not exactly sure what you are driving at here. Can you explain/amplify please.
I certainly do not wish to roundly condemn your point of view but there are a couple of points that lead me to disagree. First, I believe that if the BTO should start to suppress data that, for whatever reason, was ‘inconvenient’ to a particular conservation message or policy it would quickly lose credibility on all sides. It seems to me that as a research organisation rather than a campaigning organisation it is of primordial importance that the results it publishes can be trusted. If the people who think the only good moor is a predator-free moor were to get the idea that the BTO or other bodies were hiding data that suggested predation affects wader productivity then I believe that would be very much a propaganda gold mine for them in their efforts to fend off attempts to curtail their raptor-killing ways.
It is hardly a controversial notion to suggest that ground-nesting waders can suffer heavy losses from predators and, if I understand correctly, Jen’s work involves identifying management strategies that do not involve killing every predator within five miles. The strategies she has developed may not all necessarily translate well into upland situations but the work does not exactly constitute a charter for a scorched earth approach to predator control.
Yes I am with Stuart, this habitat loss gets blamed all the time and mostly is a load of rubbish.
Corvids whatever the scientists prattle about they are no problem.
Of course they are they simply one group that benefit from today’s lifestyle and farming and have become too many.
They have wiped out some colonies of birds like Guillemots on cliffs for a fact.
“Yes I am with Stuart, this habitat loss gets blamed all the time and mostly is a load of rubbish”
First, I don’t think that is what Stuart said. Secondly, I am amazed that you seriously think habitat loss as a cause for biodiversity decline is “mostly a load of rubbish”. That conclusion flies in the face not only of scientific research but also the obvious experience of anyone who has been familiar with the countryside over the past fifty years or more.
This is fantastic news and is a very well deserved accolade for JS. I’ve watched her on a video of a presentation at the Foxology conference organised by LACS in its better days. That was the first time I’d heard the point that the artificial protein boost predators get from the release of gamebirds, at a time when natural food supplies should be decreasing, could mean more predators and therefore more predation on ground nesting birds. In retrospect I was a bit embarrassed that had never occurred to me, so I was grateful to JS for plugging a hole in my mental acuity – only three hundred more to go. The mix of totally objective professionalism and her wonderful, infectious enthusiasm (she had no hesitation in cooing over a picture of some lapwing chicks) was a joy. The RSPB has some cracking employees.