Will founded New Homes for Old Friends to address the critical need for nesting and roosting spaces for Europe’s most endangered tree dwelling mammals.
He developed minimally invasive techniques which enable nest holes and bat roosts to be created with unprecedented speed and precision, achieving entrance and internal dimensions exactly matching Goedele Verbeylen’s research on dormice and statistical analysis of natural bat roosts – with no damage to surrounding cambium.
Working together with Susan Kerwin at Bat Rehabilitation Ireland and the team at Stiftung Wildstation Landshut, Will founded studies which demonstrated for the first time the strong preference of bat species in Ireland and Switzerland in rehabilitation for chainsaw carved roosts over other roosting opportunities.
Together with Goedele Verbeylen, Will founded our Belgian field study which demonstrated for the first time the use of carved nest holes by endangered garden dormice (Eliomys quercinus) and hazel dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius).
Will is honored by Parliamentary motions in both the Edinburgh and London Parliaments.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Will-Robertson-6
https://github.com/William-Robert-Robertson
Page prepared by Will Robertson and reviewed by Goedele Verbeylen.
References to research papers, etc. can be found here: References
“As climbing arborists, we exist at a unique confluence of art, science and athletics. Our profession has undergone a transformation from a dogmatic to a scientific era similar to that in medicine in the second half of the 20th century. As the challenges of biodiversity loss intensify, we find ourselves at a second turning point: we change from being consumers of research to leaders of the fundamental research and of the practical advances needed to ensure that trees remain homes to our most beautiful and endangered creatures.”
Blog
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From the tree crowns of an Irish forest I’d like to welcome you. At time of writing in July 2024 we’re focused on field studies, rehabilitation studies, bat counts and trying to work out what best to do after a devastating series of wildfires affecting Myomimus roachi in autumn 2023 and summer 2024 so this is just a basic site and we’ll be adding a lot more detail on species, people and techniques in English, German, French and Italian in autumn 2024. 🙂
Will 🌳🌲❤
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