Social Science Impact Accelerator: [Paws on paths: Communicating the impacts of dog walking on ground nesting birds]

This project partners with the Thames Basin Heaths Partnership and Surrey Wildlife Trust to amplify the positive impact of our research on the behaviour of dog walkers in lowland heaths (Thomas, Papworth and Fellowes, 2024). We mapped and characterised owner and dog behaviour on reserves, demonstrating the potential for severe impacts on rare ground-nesting birds. This has been positively received by our proposed partners, and they approached us to work together and implement the recommendations of our research.

Together we will develop new onsite signage and a dedicated webpage about dog walking behaviour, generating instrumental impact through increasing dog walker awareness, changing owner behaviour, and ultimately generating positive environmental impacts. We will generate capacity impact by co-developing protocols and providing analysis training to allow our partners to monitor the impacts of these changes. This will document any positive, provable changes, with the aim of generating sustainable impacts on other reserves.