Key facts

Overview

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Field techniques for surveying birds is a short, stand-alone training course which is taught entirely online. It can be taken from anywhere in the world and is international in its use of case studies. It will appeal to a variety of students and practitioners in conservation and management who want to improve their ability to conduct surveys.

This course can be taken with academic credit (assignment of up to 2,000 words) or without academic credit. This page relates to taking the course WITH CREDIT. For information about taking this course without academic credit, please click here.

Description

Each topic is covered via guided reading, online activities, and discussion forums. All the reading material is embedded into the course, but students additionally have access to the University's electronic resources and online journals, which they are expected to use for some of the activities. Participants are expected to study on, and contribute to, the course for around 10-15 hours per week. If the course is being taken for credit, participants will need to complete an assessment. There is a suggested calendar of activity which students can use to assist them in completing the course within the allocated five week duration of the course.

Field Techniques for Surveying Birds is part of the new Postgraduate Certificate in Ecological Survey Techniques.

Minimum IT Requirements

Please note that this course is taken online; to participate in our online courses we recommended a minimum computer specification.

Programme details

Topics covered by the course in Field Techniques for Surveying Birds include:

• Introduction to birds and bird surveys
• Bird surveys - first principles
• Passive Survey Techniques 1: Counts, area searches & territory mapping
• Passive Survey Techniques 2: Transects, distance sampling, aerial surveys & counting migrants
• Non-Passive Survey Techniques 1: Licensing & playback
• Non-Passive Survey Techniques 2: Bird capture & welfare issues
• Non-Passive Survey Techniques 3: Recording morphological data & tagging birds
• New technologies
• Bird survey design & considerations
• Reporting your results

Staff

Dr Jocelyne Hughes

Role: Director

Biography

I am Programme Director in Ecological Survey Techniques. Since 1998, I have been a Departmental Lecturer in the Department...more for Continuing Education responsible for directing a portfolio of environmental courses. Previously I was a college lecturer at St. Catherine's College, University of Oxford, a research fellow at University College London, and I have held University Lectureships at the University of Reading (1990-98) and the University of Melbourne, Australia (1987-89).

I am a Trustee of the Oxfordshire Nature Conservation Forum; member of the Institute of British Geographers and the British Ecological Society; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; member of the Commonwealth Scholars alumni network; organiser of my local Wildlife Conservation Group working with volunteers to carry out wildlife conservation projects.

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)1865 286948
Email: jocelyne.hughes@conted.ox.ac.uk

Teaching

I direct the Postgraduate Certificate in Ecological Survey Techniques; previously I directed the two OUDCE Undergraduate Diplomas in Environmental Conservation; and I have organised and developed a variety of short courses for professionals and the general public in the Environmental Sciences and Biology, including the annual Oxford Energy Futures conference.

I teach and supervise on a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the University of Oxford, including the MSc in Water Science, Policy & Management in the School of Geography & the Environment, and the Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice in the Department of Zoology (WildCRU). I am an external examiner at the Open University.

Research interests

My research focuses on the ecology, hydrology and management of wetlands. I have a particular interest in the ecological importance of microflow environments provided by aquatic plants in rivers and wetlands; water and nutrient cycling in wetlands; wetland vegetation dynamics; constructed wetlands.

Currently I carry out field research and monitoring into plant-water relationships at Marley Fen in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire. I have carried out field work in a diversity of wetland habitats in Tunisia, Australia, Antarctica, Guatemala and the UK. I am a research associate at the School of Geography & the Environment at Oxford.

Publications

Selected Publications: Zhong, S & Hughes, JMR 2002 Laboratory flume studies of microflow environments of aquatic plants Hydrological Processes 16, 3279-3289

Zhong, S & Hughes JMR 2001 Turbulent structure of open-channel flow over aquatic plants: a laboratory flume study. In (ed LI Guifen) Proceedings of the 29th International Association of Hydraulic Engineering & Research, Beijing

Hughes, JMR & Heathwaite, AL (eds) 1995 Hydrology & Hydrochemistry of British Wetlands , John Wiley & Sons, Chichester. 486pp

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Mr Damien Farine

Role: Tutor

My current research focuses on the social behaviour of birds, particularly interspecific interaction in mixed-species flocks. I am based at the...more Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, part of the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford, where I am studying towards a doctorate. Previously, I worked as an ecologist for CSIRO in Australia, where I investigated the potential for the production of sustainable biomass for bioenergy in Australia. This involved determining energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and soil carbon flows in agricultural and forestry systems, and I participated on several projects investigating options for climate change mitigation at regional to national scales.

During this time at CSIRO I also had opportunities to participate in many aspects of biodiversity research in remote parts of the continent, including Cape York and the Simpson Desert, where I conducted bird surveys by both land and air.

I still maintain a study site in Australia where I mist-net a diversity of birds including parrots, in order to explore ecological impacts of habitat change. However, my time is mostly spent in Wytham Woods near Oxford, where I am maintaining a PIT-tagged mixed-species population of tits and nuthatches on which I conduct behavioural experiments. I have also carried out field work on Albatross in the Southern Ocean and I am a life-long birdwatcher.

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Assessment methods

The University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education offers Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS) points for the course. Participants contributing to all the forums and successfully completing the assessment will obtain 10 CATS-equivalent points (FHEQ level 7) which may be counted towards a postgraduate qualification.

• Students must engage with, and contribute to all the discussion forums via the course VLE
• Students must submit a summative written assignment of up to 2,000 words. Pass mark set at 50%. Work awarded 70% or over will qualify for a distinction.

Teaching methods

Scholarships

Details of funding opportunities, including grants, bursaries, loans, scholarships and benefit information are available on our financial assistance page.

Fee options

Programme Fee

Fee: £675.00

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Programmes including this module

This module can be studied as part of these programmes:

• Ecological survey techniques