On the 1st of March, Ana Couto, Esther Jones and Katherine Whyte from the Offshore Renewables Group travelled north for a research retreat with some of our collaborators on the PrePARED Project. The aim was to spend a few days working with University of Aberdeen, based at the Lighthouse Field Station in the town of Cromarty.

The PrePARED (Predators and Prey Around Renewable Energy Developments) Project aims to further understand the relationships between marine predators and their prey during offshore wind farm development. As part of the project, BioSS are working on studying seabirds and their prey in the Forth and Tay region, and University of Aberdeen are studying marine mammals and their prey in the Moray Firth region.

A large part of this research project is transferability; the idea that we need to understand how the results observed in these study areas may be applicable to future wind farm developments, and to different regions around the UK. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss transferability, and consider the similarities and differences between these two concurrent studies. During the course of the 3-day meeting, we explored different data we were using, possible statistical modelling approaches, and the potential outcomes we may get from the project for informing future offshore wind development.

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We had a productive few days working with University of Aberdeen, with lots of ideas on how we can work together going forwards within the project. Once the work was done for the day, we were also lucky enough to sample the local sights and attractions of Cromarty, including some lovely coastal walks, a movie night at the community cinema and more than one visit to the local bakery! Thanks again to University of Aberdeen for hosting us.