The Final Seminar, Battleby - 3 May 2016

Today marks the closing date for the submission of project proposals ahead of the seminar next week.  That said, we will welcome proposals at any stage, but please let us know if this is what you plan to do.

There will be no shortage of issues to discuss next week, but the aim behind the project proposals is to encourage participants to consider the issues in advance and come up with their ideas for what the future might look like.

The Final Seminar, Battleby - 3 May 2016 - Report Extract

If you are struggling to download the full project report to read the section on Collaborative Actions ahead of the seminar, help is at hand.  I have added an extract from the report, which just contains this section, to the project's webpage.

This will provide easy access to the essential reading before the seminar.  No excuses now!

The Final Seminar, Battleby - 3 May 2016

A final seminar will be held at the SNH Conference centre at Battleby on 3rd May.  All those who attended one of the three Project Review Seminars have been invited and at present 60 people have asked to attend.

The purpose of the seminar will be to:

1. Review the project findings and establish a common starting point, 
2. Agree the principles of collaborative working, 
3. Review the recommendations from the project report, 
4. Develop ideas for collaborative action (including local knowledge and practical outputs) which participants will commit to, and 
5. Agree how these objectives can be achieved and agree the next steps.

The principles established during the project will form the basis of the discussion during the seminar:

1. Maintain the momentum that has developed during the project. 
2. Development of any follow-on work should include input from all interest groups. 
3. An adaptive, collaborative approach should be adopted. 
4. Local knowledge should be incorporated from start to finish. 
5. There should be a focus on practical output. 
6. Scientific input is essential for establishing the protocol for any further work and for monitoring progress, but it must be clear that further work is not being proposed just to fuel more research. 
7. The declines in bird populations identified by the project require urgent action. Bravery may be required to introduce innovation into the way we approach the issues.

The seminar will provide an opportunity to review where we have got to with the project and more importantly allow us to consider how we can apply the project findings to make progress through the complicated, sensitive issues that are associated with predation.

  

The Understanding Predation project at the Scottish Parliament

Alex Fergusson, MSP with Lord Lindsay, Aileen McLeod, MSP
and members of the Moorland Forum in the Scottish Parliament

Aileen McLeod, MSP, The Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform attended the meeting in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 25th February, which was hosted by Alex Fergusson, MSP. This provided an opportunity for Prof Steve Redpath to present a summary of the findings from the project to MSPs. Lord Lindsay led the delegation from Members of the Steering and Research Groups, and while the home team may have out-numbered the MSPs it provided a useful opportunity to discuss the project on a national stage. We picked up some very useful suggestions about how to present the project’s findings to the new administration, after the Scottish Government elections in May.

We were able to demonstrate our appetite for developing the project’s findings into further work, including action on the ground. The Minister could not stay with us for long, but before she departed she made it clear that she understood the immediate need for further activity and she stated that such action would receive her support.

We used the meeting to 'road test' a short overview of the project that will be published on the website shortly. This will be a standalone, 4-page document that will provide an easy way to access the main findings of the project.

Scottish Land & Estates on BBC Radio Scotland

On Saturday morning, Radio Scotland's Out of Doors programme featured an interview between Euan McIlwraith and Tim Baynes about the Understanding Predation project.  Listen here on the BBC iPlayer, between 17:15 and 23:35 minutes into the programme.  The programme is available until 13 March 2016.

Tim Baynes is the representative of the Scottish Moorland Group and Scottish Land & Estates on the Moorland Forum and is also a member of the project's Steering Group.

Website off-line, 8pm, 12 February 2016

Due to 'essential maintenance' by the hosts, the Forum's website, will not be available for about 3 hours from 8pm tonight.

All being well, it will be fully restored thereafter.

The Understanding Predation report is launched.

The Minister for Environment launched the Report at SNH's Battleby conference centre, yesterday. Thanks to everyone attended and to SNH for hosting the event. It was a very good day.

The project contract may have finished, but a lot of the benefit of the project is still to come, as we spread the word about the findings of the Report.

It was clear from the presentations and the large amount of discussion that took place, that the findings from the Report have gained a lot of support. The question that now needs to be answered is, 'what happens next'?

In the spirit of the project, the answer to this question is not going to be imposed from a single source. Instead, it will be developed collaboratively from the full range of interests. What do you think we should do next? Use the comment facility on this blog to feed your ideas into the discussion.

We will be organising a seminar to consider the collaborative approach to 'what happens next', and all those who attended one of the previous seminars have been contacted to establish their interest and availability.

The first phase of the project is complete, but the best is still to come.

Final Seminar - postponed

The decision to postpone the final seminar, which had been planned to take place on Monday, 11 January, was made reluctantly.  There were several factors that were moving us towards postponement, but the final straw was a family bereavement within the Research Group, which would have meant that the Research Group would be short-handed for the event. 

I am looking at the options for re-organising the seminar with the Research Group, but due to the shortage of time between now and the publication of the final report on 1 February, it is possible that this will not take place until after the publication of the report.

This seminar would have provided an opportunity for people who have attended the earlier seminars, together with some members of the steering group, to provide some further input to help shape the final report.

I will be discussing alternative options to obtain this input with the Research Group at the end of next week, after all the feedback on the draft report has been assimilated.  However, those who want to get involved with this, will need to realise that turnaround time for any further input will be very short, to make sure that further input can be incorporated into the final report.

Online Questionnaire – Closing Date - 31 July 2015

A large number of responses to the questionnaire have been received, but there has to come a time when it is necessary to impose a closing date so that the results can be analysed.  Gill Ainsworth provides the background to this. 

Thank you to everyone who has already shared their views via the online questionnaire. Following your suggestions, we have invited a large number of organisations to participate in the research, in addition to all the members of the Moorland Forum.  There has been a great response and members of the general public and people representing many diverse interest groups have completed the questionnaire.

Now, there are just over two weeks to go before we close access to the questionnaire, so if you have not yet had your say, please do so by: Friday 31^st July 2015.

We are interested in your individual views, so even if colleagues from your organisation have completed a questionnaire, we would still like to hear from you.

A pdf version of the questionnaire can be used to preview the questions, but to submit your responses you asked to complete the online version.

Key results from the online questionnaire will be included in the project report.

Gill Ainsworth

University of Aberdeen.

Request to submit literature to the Understanding Predation project

This post has been written by Dr Chris Wernham, on behalf of the Project's Research Group.  She explains the process that is being followed to collect data for the Natural Science review and asks for details of any 'grey literature' that the searches may have missed.

The scientific literature reviewing for this project is now underway. This will involve systematic searching of on-line scientific databases to access scientific papers and other reports that are indexed in such databases, as well as further review of information in previous reviews (e.g. Park et al. 2005, 2008; Gibbons et al. 2007; Smith et al. 2008, Nicholl & Norris 2010). 

Further details are available on the Project's section of the Moorland Forum's website and include:

• Information on the scientific search and literature selection methods; 
• A work-in-progress bibliography of literature being considered by the review (please note this is a large file with some duplicates); and 
• A spreadsheet showing how literature will be filtered for use.

We are very aware that a wealth of relevant factual information may be available in what is known as ‘grey literature’, including reports and other publications (e.g. book chapters) that may not be included in on-line databases or be cited by peer-reviewed scientific papers. You can help to make this review as comprehensive as possible by making sure that we are aware of this type of material.

We are very keen for you to contact us now and tell us about the most important sources of literature relevant to this project that you consider we must review as part of the work (whether we are aware of them already or not). Please would you do this by the end of July at the latest.

As a reminder, we are looking for literature on the following topics (see the draft review structure for more information on the areas of research that will be covered by the review):

• Impacts of predation by avian or mammalian predators on wild birds in Scotland, with a particular focus on breeding waders and wild gamebirds;
• Impacts of other factors on populations of wild birds (again focussed on breeding waders and wild gamebirds) and their major predators (for examples of the factors we will be considering, see the project questionnaire); and
• Evidence for the success (or otherwise) of conservation-management techniques that could be used to mitigate against adverse effects of predation on breeding wader and wild gamebird populations (for examples of techniques we will be considering, see the project questionnaire).

Please use the contact form if you have suggestions for literature to include in the review.  Dr Mark Wilson from BTO Scotland (tel: 01786 466560) will contact you and ask for as much information as possible (authors, title, organisation, year) and, ideally, an electronic or hard copy if this is feasible. 

References

Gibbons D. W., Amar, A., Anderson, G. Q. A., Bolton, M., Bradbury, R. B., Eaton, M. A., Evans, A. D., Grant, M. C., Gregory, R. D., Hilton, G. M., Hirons, G. J. M., Hughes, J., Johnstone, I., Newbery, P., Peach, W. J., Ratcliffe, N., Smith, K. W., Summers, R. W., Walton, P. and Wilson, J. D. (2007) The predation of wild birds in the UK: a review of its conservation impact and management. RSPB Research Report no 23. RSPB, Sandy.

Nicoll, M. & Norris, K. (2010) Detecting an impact of predation on bird populations depends on the methods used to assess the predators. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 1, 300-310.

Park, K.J., Calladine, J.R., Graham, K.E., Stephenson, C.M. & Wernham, C.V. (2005) The impacts of predatory birds on waders, songbirds, gamebirds and fisheries interests. A report to Scotland’s Moorland Forum. BTO Scotland & Centre for Conservation Science, Stirling.

Park, K.J., Graham, K.E., Calladine, J. & Wernham, C.V. (2008) Impacts of birds of prey on gamebirds in the UK: a review. Ibis, 150, 9-26.

Smith, R.K., Pullin, A.S., Stewart, G.B. & Sutherland, W.J. (2008) Is predator control an effective strategy for enhancing bird populations? CEE protocol 08-001 (SR38). Environmental Evidence: www.environmentalevidence.org/SR38.html.

Understanding Predation and the Scottish Game Fair

I will be at the Scottish Game Fair for the next three days and would be delighted to meet anyone who would like to know more about the Understanding Predation project.  The Heather Trust is sharing a stand with the World Pheasant Association, in part of the GWCT arena.

There is still time to complete the project questionnaire, which can be downloaded from the link on the Moorland Forum's website. The workshops are in full swing and Gill Ainsworth is liaising with other organisations and individuals who have expressed interest in attending one.  The workshops will continue until the end of July and questionnaires received during this period will be fully analysed.

Project Review Seminars

The involvement of stakeholders is a fundamental part of the Understanding Predation project. The previous post describes the workshops that will be held with a wide range of relevant organisations before the end of June. The next opportunity for input by stakeholders will be three project review seminars that will take place in October and November.

The seminars will consider the initial results from the project, which will be presented in a draft report to the Steering Group, at the end of September. The seminars will provide a chance to revisit interesting findings from both the natural science review and the collation of local ecological knowledge. In particular, the seminars will explore areas of the review where the conclusions from the two information sources differ and the possible reasons for any differences. The conclusions from the seminars will feed into the production of the final report, and the seminars will therefore offer stakeholders a further opportunity to influence the final report.

The seminars will be open to everyone, although it may be necessary to limit numbers to about 40 at each event. This is because the process that will be used during the seminars will be very interactive, and it will not work well with larger numbers of participants. Also, as far as possible, it will be helpful to have approximately even representation across the range of interests in the work at each review seminar.

The dates and locations for the three review seminars have been fixed as:

• Tuesday, 27th October 2015, at The Dewars Centre in Perth;
• Tuesday, 3rd November 2015, at SNH, Great Glen House, Inverness; and
• Thursday, 12th November 2015, at SNH, Silvan House, Corstorphine, Edinburgh.

More details about the three seminars will be published nearer the time, but if anyone is interested in attending, please keep the dates free in diaries and / or use the contact form on the Moorland Forum website to advise the Project’s Administrator about which seminar you would like to attend.

Welcome to Gill Ainsworth

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Dr Gill Ainsworth who will be joining the project team, this week.  She has been appointed by the University of Aberdeen as the post doctorate researcher for the project.

To take up this position Gill is returning to Scotland having been in Australia since 1999.  She brings a wealth of experience to the project, both from her research work but also from earlier experience in the corporate world. She completed her PhD in Social Science and Conservation last year, so has much relevant knowledge to apply to Understanding Predation.

Gill will be working with the Research Group this week and will be attending the Steering Group meeting on Friday, 27 February, when we will be agreeing the development of the initial workshops with stakeholders.