Seabird Ecologist

In the summers, alongside my printmaking, I work as Seabird Ecologist for the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust. Scilly supports a wonderfully rich and diverse assemblage of seabirds and I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in monitoring their numbers and breeding success here for over 20 years. A key project that I have been part of in recent years, is the world-renowned Seabird Recovery Project; a partnership endeavour to protect the seabirds in Scilly by removing rats from St Agnes and Gugh. To record the subsequent return and successful breeding of burrow-nesting storm petrel and Manx shearwater has been a joy. Many of my artwork inspirations are gained when out in the field, jumping on and off the outer rocks and islets counting these birds.

Isles of Scilly Seabird Monitoring & Research Project 2021 - Heaney, V. Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust Report

Breeding seabirds on the Isles of Scilly (2008) Heaney, V., Lock, L., St Pierre, P. & Brown, A. British Birds 101: 418–438

The Status and Distribution of European Storm Petrels Hydrobates pelagicus and Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus on the Isles of Scilly (2002) Heaney, V., Ratcliffe, N., Brown, A., Robinson, P. J. & Lock, L. Atlantic Seabirds 4(1): 1-16

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