Prior to working at the BTO, he spent 20 years as a lecturer in biological sciences at the University of Dundee.

[4] He was responsible for publishing the two largest surveys on British bird populations[citation needed].

Since 2000, he has been a trustee of The British Birds Charitable Trust, which publishes British Birds magazine[5] On retirement from the BTO, he took up an honorary professorship with the Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling, at the University of St.

[3] He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours, "for services to conservation".

[6] In 2020, his book written with James Parry, about the ornithologist and photographer Emma Turner, was published.