Professional summary

Richard is an ecologist and GIS specialist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, with expertise in the ecology of birds and mammals, British farmland and woodland, and the Białowieża Forest in Poland. Richard completed a Masters degree in GIS at the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in woodland bird ecology and remote sensing at Bournemouth University, joining CEH Monks Wood in 1999 before relocating to UKCEH Wallingford in 2008. Richard's research combines field surveys, spatial and statistical analyses, and the mapping of remote sensing data (e.g. LiDAR, Sentinel, drone) to understand ecosystems, habitats and species distributions.

Richard’s major research interests include woodland bird ecology, especially Marsh Tits, Willow Tits & Wood Warblers, and agri-environmental schemes for farmland birds and mammals, including the mapping and ecology of hedgerows. Other areas of research focus on rewilding, natural colonisation and regeneration of native woodland, the impact of invasive species such as the Grey Squirrel and Red-billed Leiothrix, and pesticide effects on birds of prey, particularly rodenticides (SGARs).

Richard serves on the UKCEH Animal Research Ethics Committee, has served as Vice Chair of the BTO Ringing Committee, a Senior Research Associate at the University of Oxford's Biology Department, and currently serves on the UK Woodland Birds Steering Group. Richard is the current Editor-in-Chief of the journal Bird Study.

Selected publications

Broughton Richard K. et al. , (2022), Long-term trends of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) show widespread contamination of a bird-eating predator, the Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) in Britain. Environmental Pollution, 314, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120269

Broughton Richard K. et al. , (2021), Long-term woodland restoration on lowland farmland through passive rewilding. PLoS ONE, 16, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252466

Broughton Richard K. et al. , (2022), Slow development of woodland vegetation and bird communities during 33 years of passive rewilding in open farmland. PLoS ONE, 17, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277545

Broughton Richard K. et al. , (2021), A regional-scale study of associations between farmland birds and linear woody networks of hedgerows and trees. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 310, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2021.107300

Broughton, Richard K. et al. , (2012), Describing habitat occupation by woodland birds with territory mapping and remotely sensed data: an example using the marsh tit. Condor, 114, 812-822, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/cond.2012.110171

Broughton Richard K. et al. , (2020), Multi-scale settlement patterns of a migratory songbird in a European primeval forest. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 74, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-02906-0

Broughton Richard K.; , (2020), Current and future impacts of nest predation and nest-site competition by invasive eastern grey squirrels Sciurus carolinensis on European birds. Mammal Review, 50, 38-51, https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12174

Broughton Richard K. et al. , (2020), Wilding of a post-industrial site provides a habitat refuge for an endangered woodland songbird, the British willow tit Poecile montanus kleinschmidti. Bird Study, 67, 269-278, https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2020.1863333

Broughton Richard K. et al. , (2022), Do large herbivores have an important role in initiating tree cavities used by hole-nesting birds in European forests?. Acta Ornithologica, 57, 107-121, https://doi.org/10.3161/00016454AO2022.57.1.007

Broughton, Richard K. et al. , (2013), Relationships between patterns of habitat cover and the historical distribution of the marsh tit, willow tit and lesser spotted. Ecological Informatics, 14, 25-30, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2012.11.012