Research interests

My early research was concerned with the physiology of bird migration and the endocrine control of lipid metabolism in poultry.

For most of the 80s I was Visiting Research Fellow at the Royal Veterinary College, where I collaborated on studies on avian embryonic physiology with Colin Dawes and the London Zoo.

Latterly, I have focused on the roles of extra-embryonic structures in the avian egg, including the shell, with a substantial sideline in the form of studies on natural incubation in waterfowl - primarily the Mandarin Duck, formerly funded by NERC. In this species I have also investigated the role of shell surface microbes during natural incubation in collaboration with Kate Graeme-Cook and Ruth Cromie at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.