Why should we care about farmland birds with James Kempton - EP 16

Edd Colbert talks to framland bird specialist, James Kempton, from the University of Oxford. James is conducting surveys of birds at FarmED as part of a supplementary bird feeding project across the NE Cotswold Farmer Cluster Group. He talks about the importance of birds as part of an integrated farmland ecosystem and the benefits to farmers of increased numbers of bird species on their land. Edd and James are joined by some of FarmED’s avian residents and visitors - yellowhammers, robins and chaffinches!

James Kempton is a DPhil student at the University of Oxford’s Department of Zoology. His research concerns flight of albatrosses and falcons, and in particular how an understanding of their flight control and energetics can inform the development of more sustainable and capable drone technology. As part of his interest in sustainability, James is leading the survey component of a project that investigates the impact of supplementary feeding on farmland bird species. This project takes place in association with the NE Cotswold Farmer Cluster, headed by Tim Field, and is funded by a Farming in Protected Landscapes (FIPL) grant.

With sustainability interests abroad, he is also leading a research expedition to the Cyclops Mountains of New Guinea in search of ‘lost’ and new animal species whose (re)discovery will help garner sustainable conservation interventions in this extraordinary and threatened mountain range. My Zoology page: https://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/people/james-kempton?Richard Broughton's 2020 paper on which the current study design is based: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00063657.2021.1922356?journalCode=tbis20FIPL in Cotswolds National Landscape page: https://www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk/looking-after/farming-in-protected-landscapes/