SOC Annual Conference and AGM

There are critical times of the year when environmental conditions have disproportionate impacts on the life history, prey availability, and breeding activity of seabirds. This study quantified the relationship between breeding success for five seabird species on the Isle of May, Scotland and three environmental covariates (sea-bottom temperature, stratification, and primary production) summarised over different temporal periods.  

Ella Benninghaus is a fourth year PhD student at the University of Aberdeen. Ella is predominantly interested in seabirds and for her PhD studies the link between oceanographic variables and seabird demography, diet, and distribution. For the last six years, Ella has also worked as a field scientist for UKCEH on the Isle of May, collecting data from a range of seabirds.  

George's presentation will cover his journey to becoming a wildlife gardener, starting as a young child through to a young adult at university. He'll look at how he first got into gardening and bird watching through his parents; growing up as an RHS Ambassador; working with Blue Peter and 8 out of 10 Bats; and finally at University and through his job. He will provide some ‘tips & tricks’ from his own garden that audience members can use in their own gardens at home. George will also be leading one of our workshops.

George, 19 years, is studying Environmental Science at the University of Stirling. His passions are wildlife, gardening, conservation and hiking. Before moving to Stirling, his hometown at the foothills of the mighty Pennines are where he enjoyed many a walk on the moors, drawing inspiration from the unique habitat.

George was crowned RHS Young School Gardener of the Year in 2014, and a year later he became the first RHS Young Ambassador in order to inspire other children to share his love of gardening and the natural world. George’s specialism is growing his own grub, wildlife gardening, dabbling at landscaping and he’s totally potty about ponds. George has loved nature all his life and feels a real drive to protect it, as it has helped him. George has made several TV appearances, including a regular spot as CBBC’s Blue Peter Gardener.

Restoration of former industrial sites is an excellent method to increase habitat for birds, particularly where space is limited. To best achieve this, we need to better understand succession’s effect across a variety of sites and at different habitat types, as well as how this translates for threatened species. This talk explores how the age and habitat type of restored sites, common in Scotland's Central Belt, affects their ability to support a high diversity of bird species, in particular threatened species.

Lucy Purbrick first got involved with SOC when she attended a Lothian branch talk in 2014 about the Fife white tailed eagle reintroduction for her primary seven project. Two years later she became a member of SOC, and was one of the first members of SOC Young Birders. She spoke at the 2019 SOC conference about her “patch on the app”, Linlithgow Loch, a site which influenced her love of birds from a young age. Lucy attended University of Edinburgh, where she was a member and eventually president of the bird society. She graduated with a BSc Honours in Zoology in July 2024. Lucy is passionate about science communication and community outreach, and has been volunteering with Edinburgh Zoo’s day-to-day engagement and seasonal education programmes for over two years. Her favourite bird is a House Martin, as seeing these in her street prompted her to get her first bird book aged 8.

Jeremy will use examples from RSPB’s work from Scotland, from elsewhere in the UK, and internationally, to take the journey from bird recording to bird conservation success. He will show how problem-solving scientific work can help us to detect and understand the causes of bird declines; to design and test solutions; and to measure success, at all scales from nature reserves to nations, and will pay tribute to some of conservation scientists whose ingenuity and dedication lies behind these stories.

Jeremy Wilson is Director of Science at RSPB, based in Scotland, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Honorary Professor at the University of Stirling. Jeremy is a recent Vice-President of SOC, and his long association with the Club began in the late 1980s when he came to Edinburgh University to undertake PhD studies of the social behaviour of Great Tits, and postdoctoral research on Dipper ecology on the Midlothian Esk, all supported by local SOC and Lothian Ringing Group members. After migratory visits to the BTO and to the Edward Grey Institute at Oxford University, Jeremy established a home range in the RSPB’s Conservation Science team where he has had the great good fortune to be able to devote his career to scientific studies to solve bird conservation problems.

Stan da Prato is a past president of the SOC and a current editor of the club journal Scottish Birds, as well as the chair of the advisory committee for Aberlady Bay Nature Reserve. He has a PhD on warbler ecology in the Lothians. Now retired after a career in education, he is also well known horticulturally, especially as a grower of alpine plants, editor of The Caledonian Gardener, a judge for Beautiful Scotland and a recipient of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Community Champion Award.

Identifying birds of prey can be challenging – they are often hard to see, are very shy and may only be a distant silhouette, disappearing over a hill. This light-hearted workshop takes a close look the species you’re most likely to come across in Scotland, and gives you some key tips that will help you separate your eagles from your Buzzards and your hawks from your falcons.

Ian Thomson is from Aberdeen. After leaving school he studied Ecology at Edinburgh University, and then did a variety of contracts including as a deer stalker, water bailiff, countryside ranger and research fieldworker, before landing his “dream job” as warden at Aberlady Bay Nature Reserve in East Lothian. After 15 years there, he moved on to join the Investigations team at RSPB in 2006, and has lead on their work in Scotland since 2012. He’s a mad keen birder and bird photographer, a slow cyclist and a diehard fan of Aberdeen FC. He’s been watching raptors in Scotland and abroad for 45 years!

This informal workshop will discuss what we can do to maximise our chances of finding unusual birds; how to decide where and when to go birding, what to look out for when you are there, and what to do if you are lucky enough to find something unusual.

Jared cut his birding teeth at an inland reservoir in central England before spending a few years chasing other people’s birds. After several years undertaking ornithological research in Central America, West Africa and Central Asia he spent time as site manager on the Isle of May NNR, working for the RSPB in Scotland and in Wales, as an marine ecological consultant and more recently with the Scottish Government. These days he spends most of his birding time in the East Neuk of Fife where recent bird finding highlights have included Fea’s-type Petrel, Stejneger’s Stonechat and Stejneger’s Scoter.