Who we are

WrEN is a collaborative project between University of Stirling, Forest Research and Natural England, working in partnership with a range of government advisory agencies and non-governmental organisations. A large number of people have contributed to ideas, organisation, data collection and analysis.

The WreN team on "retreat" in January 2019. From L to R: Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor, Frank Ashwood, Elena Vanguelova, Kevin Watts, Kirsty Park, Robbie Whytock,

Currently the core team consists of:

Professor Kirsty Park (University of Stirling)
Dr Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor (Research Fellow, UoS)
Dr Robbie Whytock (Postdoctoral researcher, UoS)
Dr Kevin Watts (Forest Research)

Collaborators past and present

Dr Frank Ashworth (Forest Research)
Olivia Azevedo (PhD student, UoS)
Dr Simon Duffield (Natural England)
Dr Matt Guy (Research assistant, UoS)
Mark Ferryman (Forest Research)
Dr Lauren Fuller (now at SEPA)
Sam Hughes (PhD student at University of Leeds)
Prof. Bill Kunin (University of Leeds
Dr Nick Macgregor (now at Parks Australia)
Dr Elena Vanguelova (Forest Research)
Dr Sietse van der Linde (Forest Research)
Dr Clare Wilson (University of Stirling)

Students

Many undergraduate and master's students, based at Stirling or elsewhere, have contributed to the WrEN project and are listed in alphabetical order below:

Thomas Armitage (undergraduate, UoS) "Ground invertebrate communities in secondary woodlands", 2014
Anna Bolger (undergraduate, UoS) "Flying insect communities in secondary and ancient woodlands", 2017
Adreea Boston (masters, University of Aberdeen) "The influence of hedgerows on bat foraging activity in woodlands", 2017.
Kypfer Cordts (masters, UoS), "Elucidating the effects of woodland succession on bats using LiDAR", 2018.
Veronica Furey (undergraduate, UoS) "Examining responses of mammals to woodland creation using camera trapping", 2020.
Emma Ghesquière (masters, Rennes University, France) "Bird occupancy patterns in secondary woodlands", 2016
Jamie Irving (undergraduate, UoS) "Ground invertebrate communities in secondary woodlands", 2014
Ed Lewis (undergraduate, University of Edinburgh) "Ground flora species in secondary woodlands", 2013
Michael Masters (masters, UoS) "The influence of local and landscape scale variables on the dawn chorus timing within a woodland network", 2018.
Suzie May-Graham (masters, University of Leeds) "Use of secondary and ancient woodlands by foraging bats in England", 2016
Lauren Murphy (masters, UoS) "Bryophyte distribution in secondary woodlands", 2014
Clare Porteous (masters, UoS) "Ground flora species in secondary woodlands", 2015
Ron Rotbarth (undergraduate, UoS) "Use of secondary and ancient woodlands by foraging bats in Scotland", 2017
Nadine Royle (undergraduate, UoS) "Ground invertebrate communities in secondary and ancient woodlands in Scotland", 2017
Imogen Schwandner (undergraduate, UoS) "Examining responses of mammals to woodland creation using camera trapping", 2020.
Frazer Silcock (undergraduate, UoS) "Comparison of avian communities in secondary and ancient woodlands", 2019.
Marike Whyte (masters, University of Leeds) "Ground invertebrate communities in secondary and ancient woodlands in England", 2016
James Winter (masters, UoS) "Assessing the impact of hedgerows on the activity of bats in central Scotland", 2017.

Field assistants & contractors

Our work would not have been possible without the work of the skilled field assistants who have contributed to the WrEN field surveys and taxanomic identification. Listed in alphabetical order below:

Roy Allen, invertebrate surveys, 2015
Katy Baird, spider identification
Katja Bitenc, invertebrate surveys, 2014
Stephen Brennan, small mammal surveys, 2014
Pete Carey, ground flora surveys, 2015-16
Ruth Coxon, small mammal surveys, 2014
Paul French, bird surveys, 2015
Matt Guy, mammal surveys, 2020
Natasha Hambley, small mammal surveys, 2014
Ian Hayward, invertebrate surveys, 2014
Joe Hope, lichen surveys, 2014-15
Lloyd Garvey, beetle identification
Holly Langridge, small mammal surveys, 2014
Zeltia Lopez, bat sound analysis, 2014-15
Philip Sansum, moth surveys, 2017
Will Scott, moth surveys 2017
Rory Whytock, bird surveys, 2015
Scott Wilson, ground flora surveys, 2015

Some of the WrEN team....