Our Team
Leaders in Environmental Commercial Research
Our team’s expertise in environmental research for commercial projects is unrivalled; we are leaders in the field. The edge we enjoy over others in our field is based on a strong foundation in non-commercial and academic research having altogether published over 200 peer reviewed papers (Click here to view publications by our staff). We also have acquired a broad spectrum of specialist skills and knowledge over many years of practical experience. Our principal researchers are highly regarded by their peers and we employ similarly qualified field researchers, data analysts and administrators. These skills and our integrity in critical evaluation are the bases for our high standard of reporting.
Commercial Understanding
As an established commercial research organisation, we recognize our clients needs, whilst still retaining independent integrity needed to conduct high-quality research. We have worked with national and international organisations on a variety of environmental issues.
Our Team
We employ high-quality field researchers, whose work may be seasonal. Their skills and integrity in reporting are the bases for our high standard of analyses and reporting. Our core team comprises the following experts.
Managing Directors
Phil Whitfield PhD Phil is the Managing Director of Natural Research Projects and Senior Ornithologist for Natural Research. Phil’s professional career with birds started in the early 1980s at Edinburgh and Cambridge Universities researching the behaviour and ecology of wintering and breeding shorebirds (waders) before leaving academia for the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) to run the Montane Ecology Project, a long-term study of the interactions between birds, invertebrates, vegetation, grazing, recreation and climate in montane Scotland. He joined Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the government’s advisor on conservation in Scotland, as upland ornithologist, when the NCC devolved to country agencies in 1992, undertaking and commissioning research and providing advice on a wide range of ornithological issues, leaving as senior ornithologist to join Natural Research in 2005. Phil has authored over 50 peer-reviewed papers and numerous reports and articles. His research interests continue to be with shorebirds, with previous projects having been based in Scotland, Finland, Iceland, high arctic Canada, and the north slope of Alaska, working on a number of species including Eurasian dotterel, phalaropes, several calidridine sandpipers and plovers, turnstone and redshank. A later interest in birds of prey began when it became apparent several of his shorebird subjects were being killed by raptors, prompting several studies of the effects of raptor predation on shorebird behaviour and population ecology. Other work has included organising national surveys, supervision of several PhD students, raptor reintroductions, using GIS to study spatial ecology and model ranging behaviour, raptor and shorebird population dynamics, sexual selection, plumage variability, feeding specialisations, effects of habitat loss and incubation behaviour. Most recent work has been on the population ecology and conservation of golden eagles, and on impacts of wind farms on birds and methods for their study. Click here for Phil's CV.
Mike McGrady PhD Mike has worked for over 25 years on projects related to raptor ecology, and has conducted independent research on golden eagles, peregrine and prairie falcons, sparrowhawks, Steller's sea eagle, and griffon, cinereous, and bearded vultures in many countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and Central America. Particular interests include population dynamics and ranging behaviour (including migration), and using new techniques and technologies to conduct better research. He has authored over 40 peer-reviewed articles. Mike's work with Natural Research includes modelling ranging behaviour and assessing likely impacts of development on golden eagles, studying dispersal in golden eagles, demography of peregrine and sooty falcons, movement of vultures in central Asia, and training of Middle East oil workers in avian ecology and potential oil production-related impacts. He also contributes to Enviromental Impact Assessments done by NRP, especially when there are potential issues related to eagles and other raptors. Mike is a Director of Natural Research Projects and the Managing Director of Natural Research, and the Director in charge of Health and Safety. He joined NR/NRP in 2000. Click here for Mike's CV.
Business Manager
Bev Leithead Bev joined NRP in August 2007, having previously worked for the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) in Banchory. Based at Brathens, she is our Business Manager, and it is often Bev whom people calling the company first encounter. Bev has lived overseas in Brunei and New Orleans, but for the 10 years prior to that overseas stint, she worked for Barclays Bank. Bev is a certified book keeper and deals with all NRP & NR’s Administration, Finance & HR requirements.
Field Manager
Andrew Thorpe Andrew has been employed by Natural Research/NRP since 2001 and has been involved in project managing over 50 projects, mainly in Scotland, but also more recently overseas. Since 2007 he has participated in several expeditions to Oman to study shorebirds, supported by the parent company Natural Research. More recently he has been involved in commercial work for NRP in Oman, Abu Dhabi and Poland. Andrew has a wide-ranging interest in birds, but particularly in birds of the Scottish uplands. He has participated in many national and specialist surveys, including Dotterel, Merlin, Twite and Ring Ouzel. He has held a BTO ringing licence for 30 years and carried out a colour ringing study on inland and coastal Stonechats in Aberdeenshire during the late 1990s. Until recently, he was the County Bird Recorder for NE Scotland, a post he held for 15 years. He also holds the post of North Sea Bird Club Recorder based at Aberdeen University. Andrew is also responsible for staff welfare, training and recruitment. He helps develop and deliver commercial training courses and is responsible for the recruitment and training of our field staff. He is the Natural Research Health & Safety Officer and is currently devising an Apprenticeship Scheme for NRP.
Marine Manager
Digger Jackson PhD Digger has a life long interest in all wildlife, especially birds, mammals and fish. Since completing his PhD on breeding waders in 1988 at University of Durham he has led various research projects in Scotland and overseas. He spent 11 years as an RSPB research biologist working on a range of projects including studies on the ecology of black-throated divers, the causes of breeding wader population changes in the Outer Hebrides and the related subject of the impact on birds and the population ecology of hedgehogs introduced to Scottish islands. More recently he has worked overseas, in the Fiji Islands surveying rainforest birds for BirdLife International and studying the endangered Masked Shining Parrot for Wildlife Conservation Society, and helping with wader migration studies in Australia. Digger joined Natural Research in 2006 with his work focused on the ecology and behaviour of breeding divers and how conflicts with human developments can be avoided. His current work includes detailed studies of the flight behaviour of red-throated divers, to develop a predictive spatial flight-path model (along the lines of the PAT model for eagles) that can be used to guide the locating of developments within the breeding range, such as wind farms. Digger is a member of the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group and the Wetlands International Diver and Loon Specialist Group. His other interests include photography, travel to wild places and growing things.
Project Managers
Fiona Leckie Fiona graduated with an honours degree in Zoology from Aberdeen University in 1992. She has worked on a number of field projects around Scotland. These contracts included three seasons on the 'Langholm' raptors and red grouse project; two seasons on RSPB wader survey and seabird work; over a year with the Game Conservancy Trust woodland grouse project; and work on raven and chough. She has managed to get overseas, and spent six months crawling after yellow-eyed penguins in New Zealand during 1997. In 1998 Fiona returned to the North East to work for ITE (latterly CEH) in Banchory, and remained until the site closed in 2007. She was involved with field and lab work on a number of high profile projects relating to hen harriers, red grouse, woodland grouse and meadow pipits. She also broadened her field skills to include projects on otters, racing pigeons and even plants. Since she joined Natural Research in December 2007, Fiona has undertaken fieldwork on a number of proposed and existing windfarm sites around northern Scotland and Northern Ireland. She has also started training for some of the offshore survey work which NRP is involved in. Fiona is a Senior Project Manager working on a variety of baseline survey and research projects in both countries. She is part of the team which writes ornithology chapters for Environmental Statements and their Technical Appendices and as Data Manager she is part of the Data Team. She also instigated NR participation in a research project on capercaillie disturbance for which she participates in the fieldwork and GIS analysis. Aside from watching wildlife, Fiona enjoys tall-ship sailing, watching films and rugby.
Kevin Duffy MSc Kevin has worked with birds and other wildlife for over 25 years. Initially employed in Edinburgh Zoo, has also worked abroad, mainly on Mauritius on the conservation of the endemic and highly endangered echo parakeet. Kevin has worked for Scottish Natural Heritage on the second phase of sea eagle reintroduction in the NW Highlands, then for 5 years for the RSPB on red kite reintroductions in Scotland. Kevin started working for Natural Research in 2005, he works on a number of different projects including Red Kite tracking and carcass trails. Kevin has a variety of conservation and wildlife interests, including and especially reintroductions. Although he has mainly worked on birds, he also is interested in mammals (especially cats, mustelids), reptiles and amphibians.
Simon Pinder Simon has been interested in natural history since childhood. Between 1996 and 2003 Simon worked for various NGOs on conservation projects including six seasons seabird wardening, working on The Skerries and at Cemlyn Bay on Anglesey, Chesil Beach and Fair Isle. Simon has worked for the RSPB as a research assistant on the Suffolk coast locating breeding bitterns. He has also worked in Spain on an otter reintroduction project, in southern France as a wildlife guide in the Cevennes and Camargue, and at the International Bird Centre in Eilat, Israel counting migrating raptors. More recently he worked for an ecological consultancy as fieldwork manager for five years, involved with onshore and offshore wind farm projects. Simon joined NRP as a field ecologist in March 2009.
Bob Stakim Bob has had a life-long interest in birds, especially of moorland & upland. He has studied hen harrier merlin & peregrine under licence from Scottish Natural Heritage and as a member of the South Scotland Raptor Study Group since 1983. Bob has attended a variety of mountain leadership courses. Prior to joining NRP in 2003, Bob carried out independent bird surveys for various consultancies, including surveying & advising on land restoration & management for birds on Scottish Coal opencast sites. At NRP Bob is a keystone to the high quality field work upon which our consultancy work depends. Bob's hobbies encompass music, including playing the guitar for pleasure, walking & fly fishing, he has recently taken up photography.
Dave Walker After working for the National Trust on the Farne Islands Dave’s involvement with golden eagles began in Cumbria where he was the RSPB’s senior protection warden during 1979 to 1985, when he also became particularly interested in eagle behaviour. He began to monitor a population of eagles in north Argyll in 1986, has been employed to study eagles in a large portion of the western Highlands, on all of the major Hebridean islands and took part in all three national eagle surveys. Away from golden eagles, he has worked on white tailed eagles, hen harriers, peregrines, merlins and red and black throated divers, amongst other species. Dave spent two years as warden of an upland grouse moor/nature reserve where he was involved with habitat management for upland waders, red and black grouse. He also undertook fieldwork for the Sound of Barra and Sound of Harris SPAs. Away from birds he has been monitoring the population dynamics of a red deer herd since the mid 1980s and is actively involved with red squirrel conservation in Cumbria. Dave was a founder member of the Cumbria raptor study group, is a member of the Argyll rsg and, during 1997-2002, was a regional organiser and a member of the steering and methodology committees for the Cumbria breeding bird atlas project. His work with NRP is centred on long-term golden eagle monitoring projects in Argyll investigating the impact of windfarms on eagles, which includes work with other birds of prey and upland species, and he is also involved with Greenland white-fronted goose roost monitoring. He has also taken part in a study of the grey-headed fish eagle in Cambodia. Dave started working with NRP on Kintyre in 1997.
Duncan Cameron Duncan’s love of natural history started at a very young age, kindled by accompanying his father rough shooting, ferreting and sea fishing on the Isle of Arran. Fascinated by birds, Duncan attended ornithological night classes at the age of 12, tutored by the late Donald Watson (renowned wildlife artist and ornithologist) in 1968. His first bird survey was in 1972 for The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland at the age of 16. After spending a period in retail management, Duncan returned to conservation, undertaking surveys on woodland grant schemes. Black grouse work included monitoring and finding lek sites and monitoring deer fences for bird strikes. He also became involved with golden eagle protection watches. Further survey work came through working for the Woodland Trust Scotland and the RSPB in the new Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. Working full time for 9 years with the RSPB, Duncan was warden at Inversnaid reserve and red kite officer in Central Scotland, where radio tracking and individual kite survival monitoring demonstrated how persecution was adversely affecting the population growth of the red kites in Central Scotland. He has also worked on tree sparrows, pied flycatchers, capercaillie and raptors. Mammal surveys include feral goat, red fox and red deer. He enjoys gardening and tries cooking and DIY around the house. Duncan joined NRP in March 2009 as a field ecologist.
Jonathan Clarke Jonathan graduated from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 2004 with a BSc in Physical Geography. During his time there he co-founded the University's Natural History Society, leading weekly bird watching excursions into some of mid Wales' most remote and inhospitable parts, as well as regular trips to East Anglia and Scotland. He went on to join West Midlands Police; mapping and re-creating crime scenes, and later developing his GIS skills as an Intelligence Analyst. Jonathan enjoys travelling and has backpacked across much of Europe and Africa always with his binoculars around his neck. Back in his home town of Walsall, he spent any spare time as an Explorer and Cub Scout Leader, until he relocated to Inverness and accepted a job with NRP in May 2010. Since then Jonathan has been undertaking European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS) training to enable him to play a more active role in offshore survey work for the company. He is also spending quite a bit of his spare time training to become a bird ringer.
Ged Connelly Ged traces his interest in natural history back to his childhood. In his employment he has always sought jobs that would get him outdoors. So, he started his working life working in forestry. Unlike many on our team that are strapped to computers, Ged is out in the field almost all of the time. His lifelong interest in wildlife has trained him to be a good observer and he has a range of field skills that are difficult to find in biologists nowadays. Ged as worked for Natural Research since 2003, our work depends upon quality field work and Ged is a key link in the chain. When Ged is not looking at wildlife through binoculars, he is often doing so through a camera because he is a keen photographer.
Jonathan Brain Jon graduated in 1976 with an honours degree in applied biology from the University of London. He has a life-long interest in all aspects of wildlife but birds in particular. He has been a bird ringer for 12 years and is involved in wing-tagging sea eagles. He has contributed to the Irish Golden Eagle Reintroduction Project by collecting all the donor stock provided by the Western Isles of Scotland. Jon has worked for the British Trust for Ornithology in connection with the ringed plover survey and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the merlin survey. He has also undertaken raptor nest searches in a self-employed capacity for a wind farm company. When not bird watching Jon likes to disappear for a couple of hours on his Triumph Bonneville motorcycle. Jon joined Natural Research in March 2010.
Data, GIS and Reporting team
David Scott David is responsible for GIS data entry, analysis and map production. Before joining Natural Research in 2010 he worked as a technical and operations assistant for a weather forecasting company, providing services for the offshore and shipping sectors. Prior to this, David spent 30 years as a plant ecologist with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and its predecessor the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology. His main research interests included the impacts of large herbivores on plant diversity and vigour. He also has many years field experience in habitat mapping. As an author on over 25 peer reviewed papers, and numerous technical reports, David is very experienced in data handling and analysis. David enjoys hill walking and cycling.
Hollie Cornforth Hollie graduated from Stirling University in June 2009 with a BSc in Environmental Science. She joined NRP in July 2009 and is based at the Brathens office, where she deals with inputting all the data collected by the fieldworkers each month and scanning field work sheets and maps. She is also responsible for data checking and is involved with upgrading the data entry system. Hollie is also the Natural Research Adiminstrator tasks which include editing the website.
Lauren Jackson Lauren has an Environmental Science honours degree from Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. She developed a keen interest in birds and conservation through her work with the Victorian Wader Study Group. Lauren has worked for NRP since 2005, initially in field surveys and data processing. In particular she has been involved in the red-throated diver studies in Shetland. Lauren works for NRP as a part-time analysis and admin assistant, organising Environmental Statements and printed papers and analysing moorland bird surveys. At home in Perthshire, Lauren hobbies include growing vegetables and looking after the rest of her small holding. As of the 1st February 2012 Lauren is on maternity leave.
Simon Hulka Simon has been involved in bird survey work for 20 years. Since 1994 he has principally worked on surveys of upland bird populations in Scotland. He joined Natural Research in 2001 and since 2002 has mainly studied the breeding ecology of red-throated divers; initially investigating flight and foraging behaviour at proposed wind farm developments on the Isle of Lewis and Shetland; then for a PhD study funded by Natural Research, looking at the relative importance of factors determining red-throated diver breeding performance on Shetland. Simon continues to be involved with red-throated diver studies as part of the Natural Research long-term monitoring programme. He is also involved with assessing the effects of marine renewable developments on seabirds for Natural Research.
Administration and Finance
Lynda Maddrick Lynda moved to Aberdeenshire from Lancashire with her family in 2008. She worked in an admin role at Robert Gordon University’s Sport Centre before joining NRP at Brathens in September 2009 as Finance Assistant to Bev Leithead. Outside of work, Lynda enjoys walking and exploring this beautiful part of Scotland, and playing guitar.
PhD Students
Ewan Weston Ewan graduated with first class honours in Zoology from Aberdeen in 2006. Since then he has worked on Hen Harriers with NR in Northern Ireland before spending 9 weeks studying Little Auks in East Greenland with a small team from Alaska Pacific University and the French Polar Institute. He is an active member of the North-East Scotland Raptor Study Group and visited his first Golden Eagle nest a the age of 15, and now helps out with the annual long term monitoring of the 18 pairs in NE Scotland. He also plays an active role in the current reintroduction of Red Kites to Aberdeenshire, helping with all phases of the project. He has a wide range interest in other birds, but particularly enjoys raptors, waders, crossbills and kingfishers. He has held a ringing licence since he was 16 and is a very active member of Grampian Ringing Group, ringing several thousand birds each year. Ewan has been back working with Natural Research since November 2007 and began his PhD at Aberdeen University in October 2009 on juvenile dispersal of golden eagles.