Research Ecologist
Office:
Stirling
Team(s):
Wetland and Marine Research Team
BTO Scotland
Alastair is currently working alongside Natural England to improve knowledge of seabird flight heights and collision risk with offshore wind turbines in UK waters. His primary role is to undertake a review of existing methods for collecting seabird flight height data to inform our
understanding of flight height distributions and their use in impact assessments.
Interests and responsibilities
Alastair has a broad interest in ecology and conservation with a particular focus on predicting the response of ecological systems to environmental change. He is especially interested in improving his understanding of how to sustainably manage the many valuable services that ecosystems provide.
Qualifications
BSc (Hons) Environmental Science, University of East Anglia, 2010
MRes Ecology, University of Nottingham, 2014
PhD, Bangor University: ‘A modelling approach to assessing the environmental impacts of harvesting intertidal bivalves from natural populations’, 2023
MRes Ecology, University of Nottingham, 2014
PhD, Bangor University: ‘A modelling approach to assessing the environmental impacts of harvesting intertidal bivalves from natural populations’, 2023
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. BTO Research Report 780:
- Calbrade, N.A., Birtles, G.A., Woodward, I.D., Feather, A., Hiza, B.M., Caulfield, E.B., Balmer, D.E., Peck, K., Wotton, S.R., Shaw, J.M. & Frost, T.M. 2025. Waterbirds in the UK 2023/24. BTO/RSPB/JNCC/NatureScot
- Rhoades, J., Feather, A., Harwood, A., Banks, A. & Boersch-Supan, P.H. 2025. Evaluating aerial LiDAR and other approaches to avian flight height measurement – ReSCUE Project Validation Study Report. BTO Research Report 796:
- Woodward, I.D., Calbrade, N.A., Birtles, G.A., Feather, A., Peck, K., Wotton, S.R., Shaw, J.M., Balmer, D.E. & Frost, T.M. 2024. Waterbirds in the UK 2022/23.
Other publications
Mason, L.R., Feather, A., Godden, N., Vreugdenhil, C.C. and Smart, J., 2019. Are agri‐environment schemes successful in delivering conservation grazing management on saltmarsh?. Journal of Applied Ecology, 56(7), pp.1597-1609