About us
Les May
I am a teacher. My primary interests are in the use of all aspects of digital technology to record and analyse animal behaviour. The applied aspects of this involve programming in Delphi and taking and editing videos of animal behaviour. At present I have a particular interest in the behaviour of Canada Geese. Being large birds which are easy to approach they are ideal subjects for teaching techniques for recording animal behaviour in the field.
Their biology is also of interest. The population is expanding rapidly and they are coming to be considered a nuisance in some areas. In some areas birds are fed copiously by the public. How much of their daily energy requirements are being met is unclear. It should not be assumed that this supplementary feeding is the cause of the steady growth in the population though it may be affecting other aspects of their breeding biology.
Some time after hatching broods from different parents come together to form what have been called 'creches' in the United Kingdom and 'gangs' in the United States. What is unusual about this example of apparent co-operation is that pairs of adults may drive other parent birds away from the creche but show no aggression to their goslings.
Puzzling over problems like these is what keeps me enthusiastic about Biology.
Alan Fielding
I started my career as a marine biologist, with an interest in competition between seaweeds on the seashore. However, logistical constraints (Manchester is a long way from the sea) brought about a career change.
I am fortunate(?) enough to have been around as the early personal computers began to appear. Indeed, I learned to program, in BASIC, on a Commodore PET computer (look it up on the web). I wrote an early textbook on the uses of computers in biology and spent a sabbatical year studying at York University for an MSc in Biological Computation. I also developed an interest in multivariate and machine learning methods. If you want to find out more see http://www.fieldingstats.co.uk.
My main research interests are now the ecology and conservation of birds of prey, particularly golden eagles. If you want to find out more see my list of publications.
I also have a interest in learing and teaching issues in higher education, particularly related to the use of online resources, such as this. Currently I am one of the university's Senior Learning and Teaching Fellows.