Niall Burton

Head & Principal Ecologist

Niall Burton

Contact

Niall manages a team of seven staff undertaking pure and applied research on the UK’s waterbirds and seabirds.

Interests & Responsibilities

As Head of the Wetland and Marine Team, Niall oversees BTO’s research into waterbirds and seabirds, working closely with Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) staff in the BTO's Monitoring Team. The team's research explores the wide range of factors that may affect waterbird and seabird population dynamics, including climate change, habitat change and loss and the impacts of coastal and offshore developments. Niall's personal research work has focussed on assessing how waterbirds (from individuals to groups) respond to disturbance, habitat change and habitat loss.

Other Information

Niall is currently chair of the British Ornithologist's Union (BOU) Meetings Committee and has been a member of the BOU's Council since 2011. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia.

Qualifications

BSc in Physical Geography, Reading University, 1986-1989 MSc in Ecology, University of Durham, 1989-1990 PhD on the roosting behaviour of waders, University of Durham, 1991-1995

Recent BTO Publications

Feather, A.P., Burton, N.H.K., Johnston, D.T. & Boersch-Supan, P.H. 2025. A review of existing methods to collect data on seabird flight height distributions and their use in offshore wind farm impact assessments. Research Report no. 780. British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford, UK ISBN: 978-1-912642-77-9 55pp
Harris, S.J., Baker, H., Balmer, D.E., Bolton, M., Burton, N.H.K., Caulfield, E., Clarke, J.A.E., Dunn, T.E., Evans, T.J., Hereward, H.R.F., Humphreys, E.M., Money, S. and O’Hanlon, N.J. 2024. Seabird Population Trends and Causes of Change: 1986–2023, the annual report of the Seabird Monitoring Programme. British Trust for Ornithology ISBN: 2976-8950
O’Hanlon, N.J., Harris, S.J., Thaxter, C.B., Boersch-Supan, P.H., Robinson, R.A., Balmer, D.E. & Burton, N.H.K. 2024. Seabird population and demographic monitoring in the UK: a review and recommendations for future sampling. Research Report no. 754. ISBN: 978-1-912642-49-6
Johnston, D.T., Thaxter, C.B., Boersch-Supan, P.H., Davies, J.G., Clewley, G.D., Green, R.M.W., Shamoun-Baranes, J., Cook, A.S.C.P., Burton, N.H.K. & Humphreys, E.M. 2023. Flight heights obtained from GPS versus altimeters influence estimates of collision risk with offshore wind turbines in Lesser Black-backed Gulls Larus fuscus. Movement Ecology 11 View at journal website (DOI: 10.1186/s40462-023-00431-z)
Green, R.M., Thaxter, C.B., Johnston, D.T., Boersch-Supan, P.H., Bouten, W. & Burton, N.H.K. 2023. Assessing movements of Lesser Black-backed Gulls using GPS tracking devices in relation to the Galloper Wind Farm<br /> . British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford, UK ISBN: 978-1-912642-54-0
Clewley, G.D., Thaxter, C., Scragg, E.S., Masden, E.A., Barber, L.J., Conway, G., Clark, N.A. & Burton, N.H.K. 2023. Daily, seasonal and annual variation in area use of Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Larus fuscus) related to offshore renewable developments. Bird Study 70 : 13-24 View at journal website (DOI: 10.1080/00063657.2023.2190080)
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