BSG is currently involved in a range of research projects and initiatives several of which are summarised below:

Biodiversity Research Grant
BSG has set up a grant to fund research into biodiversity conservation in the UK which will be made available on an on-going basis for suitable projects.

Through the grant BSG has co-funding a research project with Newcastle University which has been designed to assess the effect of wind turbines on the distribution of farmland birds.

Recent concern about the effects of turbines on birds found at coasts and in the uplands (e.g. raptors, wildfowl) has switched the focus for construction to lowland farmland. The group most likely to be affected on agricultural land is farmland birds; a group that has received considerable attention due to the well-documented population declines. It is generally perceived that wind farms cause little effect to passerines, however, although direct mortality by turbines is likely to be minimal, they could cause birds to be displaced. If this happens on a wide scale then the cumulative effects of wind turbines on farmland birds could be significant. The study aims to test the effects of turbines on within-field and between-field distribution of farmland birds.

The results of this research has now been published:

C. L. Devereux, M. J. H. Denny and M. J. Whittingham (2008) Minimal effects of wind turbines on the distribution of wintering farmland birds Journal of Applied Ecology 45:1689-1694 .

Biodiversity reseach contracts
BSG is involved with and has carried out a number of scientific research contracts for a range of including Natural England, Severn Trent Water, Forest Enterprise and the Bat Conservation Trust. Several of these projects have culminated in the publication of English Nature Research Reports including:

Number 479: Development control, local authorities and protected species surveys
Number 595: A provisional inventory of parkland and wood-pasture in the East Midlands
Number 650: Exotic plant species on brownfield land: their value to invertebrates of conservation importance

Biodiversity reseach projects
The practice is also currently involved in a number of ongoing research projects including:

Hay meadow restoration in the Peak District
This project has involved the succesful restoration of an MG5 hay meadow from an agriculturally improved pasture using a variety of management techniques over a five year period.

Woodland bat assemblages in Oxfordshire
A range of different surveys have been carried out over a two-year study into the assemblage of bats in a large area of woodland in Oxfordshire.

Impacts of climate change on water levels of lakes and reservoirs
This project investigates the ecological impacts of climate change on water levels of lakes and reservoirs and seeks to identify a range of adaptive measures required to protect biodiversity.