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I m dressed in a white coat and nitrile gloves and there are no optics in sight. To most, this might seem like some of the more unusual birding attire, and yet I find myself within inches of something special – Siberian Stonechat. Admittedly, not the bird itself but its droppings.
As a PhD student working under Prof Martin Collinson in the wildlife forensics lab at the University of Aberdeen, this is the ninth time I have found myself in this scenario in autumn 2019, with an eastern stonechat in my hands just begging to be identified. Admittedly, after the poo hit the fan with the Sennen Paddyfield Pipit identification in December, I welcome this return to something a little more familiar.
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