Sarah Wanless is an animal ecologist in the UK and is an expert on seabirds; she is a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

and is Honorary Professor at the Universities of Glasgow and Aberdeen.

Education and career

Wanless was born in Scarborough, England and moved to Aberdeen, Scotland in 1969 for her undergraduate degree and then her PhD, which focused on northern gannets over three seasons on the island of Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde. She worked at the

Institute of Terrestrial Ecology The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) is a centre for excellence in environmental science across water, land and air. The organisation has a long history of investigating, monitoring and modelling environmental change, and its science ma ...

, the Nature Conservancy Council and the

British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...

before joining the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) permanently in 1996 as a Higher Scientific Officer. She rose to Individual Merit Scientist and retired in 2016 but is still involved with research as Emeritus Fellow at CEH.

Research

In the 1980s, Wanless began one of the first radio-tracking studies into seabirds in the Northern Hemisphere, which helped to identify the foraging areas and the dangers that seabirds face due to climate change, pollution, fishing and off-shore wind farms; much of this research was conducted on the Isle of May in the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

in Scotland. She was the first female visiting scientist to the British Antarctic Survey's research station on Bird Island in

South Georgia South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east� ...

, where she studied the diving behaviour of South Georgia shags for two southern summers. Wanless also studied gannets on Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire and researched the foraging of

puffin Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...

s outside of the breeding season. Over her career, Wanless published 250 papers, her bird tracking data was contributed to the Global Seabird Tracking Database.

Honours and awards

Wanless was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the

2023 New Year Honours The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

for services to seabird ecology. * Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2006 * Awarded the Marsh Award for Conservation Biology by the Zoological Society London and the

Marsh Christian Trust Marsh Charitable Trust, also known as Marsh Christian Trust, is a national charity in the United Kingdom, based in London. It is a registered charity under English law, and was established in 1981 by Brian Marsh, the current Chairman. Marsh was ap ...

in 2007 * Gave the

British Trust for Ornithology The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is an organisation founded in 1932 for the study of birds in the British Isles. The Prince of Wales has been patron since October 2020. History Beginnings In 1931 Max Nicholson wrote: In the United State ...

's Witherby Memorial Lecture in 2012 * Awarded the Godman-Salvin Medal by the

British Ornithological Union The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds ("ornithology") and around the world, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry ...

in 2015 * Named one of the Outstanding Women of Scotland in 2018 by the Saltire Society * Awarded the Peter Scott Memorial Award by the

British Naturalists' Association The British Naturalists' Association (BNA), founded in 1905 by E. Kay Robinson as the British Empire Naturalists' Association (BENA), is an organization in the United Kingdom to promote the study of natural history. It publishes a journal called ...

in 2019 * Received an honorary Professorship in the Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Glasgow and an honorary Professorship in the Department of Zoology at the University of Aberdeen * Given lifetime achievement awards from the U
Seabird Group
ref name="Saltire" /> and the Pacific Seabird Group

Bibliography

Wanless wrote ''The Puffin'' with Mike P. Harris, published in 2012 by

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

a revised version of the original 1984

Poyser T. & A. D. Poyser began as a British publisher, founded by Trevor and Anna Poyser in 1973, to specialise in ornithology books. It was located in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, and later in Calton, Staffordshire. T. & A. D. Poyser often worked in co ...

monograph.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wanless, Sarah Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Women ornithologists English ornithologists Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People from Scarborough, North Yorkshire Women ecologists 21st-century British scientists 20th-century British scientists Members of the Order of the British Empire