Annual Bishop of Norwich Prize for Ecology awarded to UEA graduate
By: Communications
University of East Anglia (UEA) master’s graduate, Adam Bourton, has won the 2026 prize for his conservation work with beach-nesting birds in North Norfolk.
The annual £1,000 Bishop of Norwich Prize for Ecology is awarded to the UEA student achieving the highest marks for a master’s dissertation in Applied Ecology and Conservation.
Adam worked with the RSPB to find out whether nest cages improved the hatching success of ringed plovers, currently on the UK red list of highest conservation concern.
Adam’s research was inspired by seeing the birds up close at a fundraising event, where he observed them “run around the beach like little bandits, with their distinctive mask-like facial markings, I just thought they were great – really entertaining little birds.”
The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, who studied ecology at university himself and is the Lead Bishop for Environment for the Church of England, said: “Caring for God’s creation is a vital part of my calling and it is a privilege to be able to support MSc students studying ecology at the University of East Anglia.
“Adam’s research is already helping support populations of endangered ringed plovers along the coastline of Norfolk and much further afield and he is a worthy winner of this year’s award.”
Professor Simon Butler, course director for the MSc in Applied Ecology and Conservation at the University of East Anglia said: “We are delighted to see Adam's excellent dissertation recognised with the Bishop of Norwich Ecology Prize. Our coasts are shared spaces, enriching the lives of the many people who visit them and providing vital breeding and feeding grounds for many bird species. Balancing these shared uses is a significant challenge and understanding the pressures coastal species face is crucial to this.
“Adam’s project reports exactly the kind of careful, practical research that conservation in such habitats needs, giving land managers clear guidance on when and where to protect nests to best support one of the UK's Red Listed shorebirds.”
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