My current research activities concern the effects of nutrient availability on avian reproductive performance.  To address this question, I am conducting a supplementary feeding study at the Chaddesley Woods National Nature Reserve (Worcestershire, UK).  The Reserve is a 101-hectare site of mainly broad-leaved deciduous woodland, owned by English Nature and managed by the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust.  The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of spring and early summer food supplementation on the breeding performance of garden birds.

My PhD started in 2005 and is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).  The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) are CASE partners and my CASE supervisor is Dr. Dan Chamberlain.  This project is in collaboration with Dr. Stuart Bearhop and Gill Robb at Queens University Belfast, and has strong links with CJ Wildlife., the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and the Birmingham University Ringing Group.  My supervisor at Birmingham is Dr. Jim Reynolds and my co-supervisor Prof. Graham Martin.

In 2004 I graduated from the University of Wales, Cardiff with a BSc. (Hon.s) in Zoology that included a professional training year at Llysdinam Field Centre in mid-Wales.  In 2005 I spent four months at Archbold Biological Station in south-central Florida working for the University of Memphis investigating the reproductive ecology of Florida scrub-jays.  Later that year, I spent two months at Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory in Kent gaining general ornithological experience.  In the future I hope to pursue a career within academia.