The York Research Database

Northern Wheatears are a common long-distance migrant breeding in northern Europe and wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. We have studied a population living on Fair Isle, Shetland, since 2008 and have demonstrated links between food availability on Fair Isle and both productivity and over-winter survival. The timing of change of food availability appears to be critical: only early spring food availability impacts productivity (though increased nesting attempts) and only post-fledging food availability impacts over-winter survival of juveniles. With global climate change influencing the timing of biological events we now need a more detailed understanding of how climate change alters wheatear food supply, requiring analysis of individual diet and seasonal warming impacts on food availability. The project therefore has two parts: to identify the diets of individual wheatears, focusing on differences between years, seasons (breeding, fueling and overwintering), territory habitat characteristics and individuals; and to identify the effects of warming at different seasons on the abundance and timing of invertebrate populations. The project will involve intensive fieldwork monitoring the wheatear population on Fair Isle, molecular analysis of diet samples, laboratory, mesocosm and field-scale warming experiments.