The Cambridgeshire Bird Club recognises that it has a fairly good knowledge of bird distribution and phenology in the county of Cambridgeshire, but that much more needs to be understood in terms of the ecology and behaviour of birds, not least in the interests of effective nature conservation. The Club would therefore like to stimulate more ornithological research within its own county.
With the death of Bob Scott in 2009, the Cambridgeshire Bird Club lost its former Chairman, and the British conservation scene a passionate advocate who had helped establish nature conservation in this country. The Club is convinced that an award for ornithological research in Bob Scott’s memory would fit in well with his aims and ideals.
The Club has held discussions with the Department of Zoology, Cambridge University and the Department of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University to explore the feasibility and options for such a prize.
The prize will be awarded for ornithological field research on wild birds in Cambridgeshire. Work directly or indirectly supporting bird or wider nature conservation, as well as work undertaken by young people, would be especially welcome but is not a condition for receiving the prize. The research should have finished not longer than three years ago.
The prize is open to non-professionals. The Club would particularly welcome submissions by school, college and university students (undergraduates). PhD research would not be eligible.
Reports of the research need to state clearly its aims, methods, results and conclusions and the latter should be discussed in the light of the ornithological literature. The submission might represent interim results of ongoing research, or a completed research project.
It is intended to publish the full or a shortened version of the report in the Club’s annual Cambridgeshire Bird Report.
The aim is to award the prize annually at the Cambridgeshire Bird Club Annual General Meeting in March. The winner will receive a reward of £100 and a certificate. Submissions should be sent to the Chairman of the Cambridgeshire Bird Club by 15 January each year.
The selection of the winner will be undertaken by a jury consisting of the Chairman of the Cambridgeshire Bird Club, another Club member appointed by the Club’s Council, a representative of the Department of Zoology, Cambridge University, a representative of the Department of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, and Ann Scott.
At the 2014 AGM, the Bob Scott Prize was awarded to Steve Allain and Mark Goodman for their work on the Great Crested Newts at Bar Hill Crematorium
At the 2013 AGM, the Bob Scott Prize was awarded to Kate Hepworth for her dissertation "The importance of habitat structure: factors effecting the nest-site selection and reproductive performance of the great tit (Parus major) and the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) in an urban garden" submitted to the Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge in 2012.
At the 2012 AGM, the Bob Scott Prize was awarded to Aaron Grainger for his research on the value for bird populations of a newly created lowland wet grassland on ex-agricultural land at Tubney Fen.