G Bradbury

About me:

Since 2020 I have been researching the impacts of re-introduced beavers (Castor fiber) on stream water quality in England.

I came to the department from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust charity (WWT) where I was a Nature Reserves Management Advisor, working with Managers across 10 nature reserves to help ensure compliance with designations and operations and improving management for wildlife features.

Prior to this I was a Senior Consultant for WWT, managing and delivering wetland habitat and landscape restoration projects, surveys and monitoring. Highlights include a rapid assessment of wetlands in Oman, helping set up a national waterbird monitoring program in Kuwait, management planning advice for a new wetland nature reserve in Chile, project managing the surveys and design for the restoration of 180ha of fen from arable farmland for the Great Fen Project and a swathe of other fluvial and floodplain wetland habitat restoration and Sustainable Drainage Scheme (SuDS) projects. I was also lucky enough to fly over 200 marine wildlife aerial surveys around the UK and Danish coasts for nature conservation monitoring and offshore renewable energy assessments.

Previous roles include seabird colony reserve management and surveys around the UK and internationally.

Broad research specialisms:

Wetland ecology, restoration, water quality, water birds, seabirds

Interests:

Can beaver-modified ecosystems mitigate water quality deterioration caused by diffuse pollution?

Supervisors: Prof. Richard Brazier, Dr. Alan Puttock, Dr. Gemma Coxon (University of Bristol), Dr. Stewart Clarke (National Trust)

Funding Body: NERC FRESH

Using a multiple-site, control-impact research design I am investigating nutrient fluxes upstream, within and downstream of beaver wetlands in the south-west of England. Research methods include deployment of multi-parameter sensors (sondes), regular water and sediment grab samples for chemical analysis and sonar monitoring of pond sediment bathymetry changes. These will be combined to examine effects on nutrient pollutant loadings and storage under a variety of flow conditions across sites.

Qualifications:

MSc Biological Recording, University of Birmingham

BSc Environmental Biology, University of St. Andrews