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)
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....