Mitigating against recreational disturbances on songbirds in a National Park

Demand for public access to natural environments is rising following the COVID-19 pandemic, as the wellbeing benefits of nature visitation are increasingly recognised. However, human recreation can negatively impact wildlife, requiring that recreation-associated harm to wildlife is reduced via evidence-led mitigation strategies. However, many impacts remain poorly understood. For example, the public hears that visitors and their dogs likely impact birds in protected areas, but the effects of specific aspects of visitor disturbance on bird communities are unclear, making it challenging to prioritise mitigation options and target user groups. This interdisciplinary PhD project will use novel approaches to measure the impacts of recreation activities on woodland and shrubland bird communities in the New Forest National Park, and develop and assess the effectiveness of a behaviour-change intervention.

The former aspect will be achieved through a combination of methods. Firstly, we will use secondary data from structured and unstructured bird surveys to build integrated community models. Along with that we will use existing data on recreational patterns in the New Forest to disentangle the effect of these activities on the bird communities. Secondly, the student will conduct fieldwork and deploy acoustic monitors across areas with a gradient of recreational disturbance. Field surveys offer taxonomically detailed but temporally restricted data. Acoustic recorders gather data over longer periods of time, yet require much processing to identify species. To process and analyse acoustic data, the student will use available machine learning tools like BirdNET-Analyzer. This will enable us to understand how recreation is affecting bird populations, including species of high conservation importance. This method can also provide a methodological experiment of how using acoustic recorders compares to traditional bird surveys.

The latter goal of the project will be achieved by using behavioural science to design and trial an educational intervention at changing an impactful visitor behaviour, as well as testing the effectiveness of already existing educational interventions such as signs asking people to keep dogs on lead to avoid disturbing ground nesting birds. This assessment will be achieved through interviews and questionnaires.