Associate Director
Role and responsibilities
Chris is the strategic lead for BTO Country Ofices in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, providing oversight of their programmes of research and the activities that underpin development of our supporter bases in each country.
Interests
Chris's team at BTO Scotland is responsible for a programme of science that is relevant to the Scottish context, with particular expertise in upland/montane/moorland and forestry research, and raptors. We also have research interests in urban issues, seabirds and stakeholder engagement/human-wildlife conflict resolution. Chris's team has the additional responsibility of enhancing the coverage and relevance of BTO-led long-term monitoring schemes in Scotland, and working more generally to increase BTO’s overall supporter base of Members, volunteers and funders in Scotland.
Chris has a particular background in avian demography and migration/movements, having previously held the posts of Senior Populations Biologist (Ringing Scheme) and Migration Atlas Project Manager at BTO. Since joining BTO in 1996 she has worked on a wide range of applied and policy-driven conservation research, survey and review projects, including: the conflicts of fish-eating birds with fisheries; the population dynamics of Canada Geese; the effects of predatory birds on wildlife in Scotland; demography and management of urban gull populations; goose management policy in Scotland; and other applied work on seabirds (gulls and auks), raptors and geese. She has a particular interest in raptors, and was one of the editors of the field guide to surveying and monitoring raptors. She is BTO’s main representative on the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Group, on behalf of which BTO Scotland employs the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Officer, Amy Challis.
Other Information
Honorary Lecturer, Natural Sciences, University of Stirling
BTO Scotland representative on the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Group
Licensed bird ringer
Qualifications
BSc (Hons) Ecology, University of Stirling, 1985-1989
PhD “Ecology and energetics of breeding Puffins: variation in individual reproductive effort and success”, University of Stirling, 1990-1993
Recent BTO publications
- Wilson, M.W., Beckmann, B.C. & Wernham, C.V. 2025. Reduced breeding success consistent with effects of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) on raptors in Scotland in 2022. Bird Study 72: 51-60 doi:10.1080/00063657.2025.2489015
- Author(s): Challis, A., Wilson, M.W., Eaton, M.A., Etheridge, B., Kortland, K., Mattingley, W., Steele, L.D., Stevenson, A., Stirling-Aird, P., Thornton, M., Titherington, J., Wernham, C.V. and Wilkinson, N.I. 2022. Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme Trends Summary 2009–2018. Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme Report
- Booth Jones, K., O’Connell, P., Calladine, J., Noble, D., Wolsey, S., Carrington-Cotton A. & Wernham, C. 2021. Northern Ireland Lowland Breeding Wader Survey. BTO Research Report 731
- Espín, S., Andevski, J., Duke, G., Eulaers, I., Gómez-Ramírez, P., Hallgrimsson, G.T., Helander, B., Herzke, D., Jaspers, V.L.B., Krone, O., Lourenço, R., María-Mojica, P., Martínez-López, E., Mateo, R., Movalli, P., Sánchez-Virosta, P., Shore, R.F., Sonne, C., van den Brink, N.W., van Hattum, B., Vrezec, A., Wernham, C. & García-Fernández, A.J. 2020. A schematic sampling protocol for contaminant monitoring in raptors. Ambio doi:10.1007/s13280-020-01341-9
- Wilson, M., Calladine, J. & Wernham, C. 2020. Audit of local studies of breeding Curlew and other waders in Britain and Ireland.
- Ainsworth, G.B., Redpath, S.M., Wilson, M., Wernham, C. & Young, J.C. 2020. Integrating scientific and local knowledge to address conservation conflicts: Towards a practical framework based on lessons learned from a Scottish case study. Environmental Science & Policy 107: 55. doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2020.02.017
- Challis A., Edwards C., Heavisides A., Holling M., Kortland K., Mattingley W., Riddle G., Roos S., Stevenson A., Stirling-Aird P.K., Stroud D.A., Wernham C.V., Wilson M.W. 2019. The Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme: recent developments in good practice monitoring. Bird Study doi:10.1080/00063657.2018.1477737
- Jarrett D., Calladine J., Milner J., Wernham C., Wilson M. 2019. Investigating wader breeding productivity in the East Cairngorms Moorland Partnership Area using collaborative methods.
- Jarrett, D., Calladine, J., Milner, J., Wernham C. & Wilson, M. 2019. Investigating wader breeding productivity in the East Cairngorms Moorland Partnership Area using collaborative methods.
- Wilson, M. W., Balmer, D. E., Jones, K., King, V. A., Raw, D., Rollie, C. J., Rooney, E., Ruddock, M., Smith, G.D., Stevenson, A., Stirling-Aird, P.K., Wernham, C. V., Weston, J. M. & Noble, D.G. 2018. The breeding population of Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands in 2014. Bird Study doi:10.1080/00063657.2017.1421610
- Derlink, M., Wernham, C., Bertoncelj, I., Kovacs, A., Saurola, P., Duke, G., Movalli, P. & Vrezec, A. 2018. A review of raptor and owl monitoring activity across Europe: its implications for capacity building towards pan-European monitoring. Bird Study doi:10.1080/00063657.2018.1447546
- Jarrett, D., Calladine, J., Wernham, C. & Wilson, M. 2017. Monitoring breeding waders in Wensleydale: trialling surveys carried out by farmers and gamekeepers. BTO Research Report 703:
- Ainsworth, G., Calladine, J., Martay, B., Park, K., Redpath, S., Wernham, C., Wilson, M. & Young, J. 2016. Understanding Predation. A review bringing together natural science and local knowledge of recent wild bird population changes and their drivers in Scotland. Moorland Forum
Other publications
Wernham-Calladine, C.V. 1995. Guillemot preening activity in relation to tick infestation. British Ecological Society Bulletin 26 : 187-195