Paul’s role within HiDef is senior ornithologist and ID team leader, undertaking bird and marine mammal identification, QA and adjudication and overseeing the ID team. He has extensive experience of all marine and wetland species encountered around the north-east Atlantic and the Baltic, and also helps train the ID Team. Paul has identified over 500,000 bird and marine mammal images for HiDef and BioConsult. Prior to HiDef, Paul was an experienced ecological consultant and ornithologist who branched out into freelance consultancy after several years of working for non-governmental organisations (NGO) in survey and conservation roles. Paul is currently the Chairman of the British Birds rarities Committee and his bird knowledge and identification skills are widely respected throughout Europe. During ESAS standard offshore surveys, Paul amassed well over a thousand hours offshore in the North Sea, Irish Sea, North Atlantic and English Channel.