15.03.07
Cornwall's landowners needed for bird study
Biologists from the University of Exeter's Tremough Campus
are asking landowners from Bodmin to Land's End to help with
their latest research.
They are about to embark on a major study of how the food
we put out in our gardens influences the health of wild birds.
For the study to be successful, they need people who own areas
of Cornish woodland to get involved.
Over the next three years, the researchers will study wild
birds in Cornwall to assess how what we feed them affects
their health. They will also analyse twelve years of bird-feeding
data from the BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch, provided by the British
Trust for Ornithology (BTO). The project, which is supported
by the BTO and bird-food manufacturer Gardman, aims to uncover
the health benefits of a range of different foods. The study
will look closely at the effects of the antioxidants in bird-foods
for the first time.
Dr Jonathan Blount of the University of Exeter's Cornwall
Campus said: "In the UK we buy 60,000 tonnes of
peanuts and birdseed a year, and many of us also put out scraps
of food in our gardens. It's likely that large numbers
of birds depend on us over the winter months, but almost nothing
is known of the long-term benefits. We hope that the study
will improve our understanding of how feeding wild birds during
winter can influence their health and reproductive success
several weeks or months later."
The study will cover a large area of Cornwall, stretching
from Bodmin to Land's End, and will focus mainly on
blue tits and great tits. In order to be successful, the team
needs access to a number of wooded areas, many of which are
privately owned. The researchers will put a number of bird
boxes in each woodland in order to attract birds, which they
will feed and monitor.
Dr Blount continued: "We hope that local landowners
will want to be involved in what promises to be a fascinating
study. As well as assisting us in furthering our understanding
of how we can best help wild birds, they will also enjoy the
benefit of attracting more songbirds to their land."
Anyone who owns woodland west of Bodmin and is interested
in helping with this study should contact: Dr Jonathan Blount,
01326 371877 / j.d.blount@exeter.ac.uk.
The £100 million Tremough campus is a Combined Universities
in Cornwall initiative of which the University of Exeter and
University College Falmouth are two of the founding partners.
It is funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One),
the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher
Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall
County Council. Set in 70 acres of countryside, but close
to the waterside towns of Penryn and Falmouth, the campus
offers a lively student community. Building on the success
of its existing degrees at the Cornwall Campus in Mining Engineering,
Geology, Biology, Geography, English and Renewable Energy,
the University is now able to offer degrees in Politics, Law,
History and Cornish Studies.
This is a NERC CASE studentship, partly funded by the British
Trust for Ornithology in partnership with Gardman –
the UK's largest manufacturer of wild bird-food products.
For further information contact Sarah Hoyle at the University
of Exeter on 01392 262062 or email: S.Hoyle@exeter.ac.uk.
The Objective One Programme for Cornwall and the
Isles of Scilly has invested in the Combined Universities
in Cornwall (CUC) project, both Phase 1 and Phase 2, through
the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European
Social Fund (ESF). The University of Exeter is a partner of
the CUC.
Editor's notes:
Clare Morgan
Media Relations Manager
Objective One Partnership Office
Castle House
Pydar Street
Truro TR1 2UD
Mobile: 07973 813647
Telephone: 01872 223439
cmorgan@cornwall.gov.uk
 back
to top
|
