As part of the planning consent for the Cairn Gorm funicular railway, constructed in 2001, monitoring of Eurasian dotterel Charadrius morinellus is required due to the species’ sensitivity by way of its status as a qualifying interest on the adjacent Cairngorms Special Protection Area (SPA). NRP was commissioned to undertake and report on surveys of dotterel in 2005 and 2006. Further work in 2006 included: training of CairnGorm Mountain Ltd ecologists and rangers to undertake surveys in future years, and analyses of historical data to determine the optimal timing of surveys and investigate the effects of snow cover on the abundance and timing of breeding of dotterel.

Principal Investigator: P. Whitfield

Client: CairnGorm Mountain, Ltd.

Photo :A. Thorpe

For more information please contact phil.whitfield@natural-research.org