Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my wife Dr (Dr!) Chloe Evans for putting up with me playing with my computer for many hours whilst the sun was shining. Professor Stewart Thompson for his kind words and inspiring thoughts, as well as Dr Michael Gerth, my supervisor. A large proportion of this study was based on similar work of Dr Samantha Franks at the British Trust for Ornithology. I’d like to thank her for her advice and comments. Thanks also go to Paul Harvey at the Shetland Biological Records Centre who kindly provided the Shetland Breeding Bird Survey that was used as the basis for this study. My biggest thanks go to Nathalie Pion at RSPB Shetland. She has spent many hours explaining important ideas and data to me, and without her advice and expertise I would not have completed this project. I would like to acknowledge her extensive contribution to the discussion section of this study.

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” - John Muir