I offer the following services:

for samples from waders, passerines, reptiles, amphibians, rodents and lagomorphs. Costs are based on the effort required and the desired level of detail. For consulting on scientific studies, costs are negotiable depending on the funding of the project.

I have worked on behalf of a variety of companies and institutes as well as for academic theses where nutrition was one aspect of the subject.  Some of these have been published (give list of publications).

 

Method: analysis of faeces or stomach contents

Samples stored in saline solution, alcohol or refrigerated are suspended in water, filtered with filter paper and the solid remains sorted, measure and identified using 20 to 40x magnification.  Usually identification is the the family level only, depending on the objectives of the study and the reference material available.  Vegetation remains are compared with reference materials at 400x magnification.

The dimensions of prey items are estimated by comparison between the remains in samples and reference material.  The minimum number of prey per sample is calculated – for example, two mandibles or three legs of a given beetle species are assumed to indicate consumption of one individual.

Plant seeds are counted by the number of insertions of the flower at the stem, or the area of the testa remains divided by the median testa area for that species.

For larger samples (for example, lagomorph droppings), the samples will be suspended in water and as far as possible homogenized. Then subsamples are taken and counted on a square millimeter grid.

 

My experience with dietary analysis extends back to 1976 and includes working with the following bird species:

Partridge (Perdix perdix)Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix)

Spotted Crake (Porzana porzana)

Baillon’s Crakes (Zapornia pusilla)

Corncrake (Crex crex)

Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria)

Dotterel (Eudromias morinellus)

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)

Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus)

Bee-eater (Merops apiaster)

Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis)

Wood Lark (Lulula arborea)

Sky Lark(Alauda arvensis)

Crested Lark (Galerida cristata)

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)

Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)

Dunnock (Prunella modularis)

Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)

Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus arundinaceus)

Eastern Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus orientalis)

March Warbler (Acrocephalus palustris)

Aquatic Warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola)

Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)

Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus)

Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)

Wood Warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix)

Bonelli’s Warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix)

Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)

Pied Flycatcher (Muscicapa hypoleuca)

Stonechat (Saxicola torquata)

Winchat (Saxicola rubetra)

Common Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

Isabelline Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina)

Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka)

Mourning Wheatear (Oenanthe lugens schalowi)

Capped Wheatear (Oenanthe pileata)

Rock Thrush (Monticola saxatilis)

Ant-Eater Chat (Myrmecocichla aethiops)

Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)

Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica)

Blackbird (Turdus merula)

Great Tit (Parus major)

Bluetit (Cyanistes caeruleus)

Yellowhammer (Emberica citrinella)

Cirl Bunting (Emberica cirlus)

Ortolan (Emberica hortulana)

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

Serin (Serinus serinus)

Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys)

Rusty-margined Flycatcher (Myiozetetes cayanensis)

Social Flycatchers (Myiozetes similis)

 

Furthermore for the following mammals:

Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus)

Common Vole (Microtus arvalis)

Hare (Lepus europaeus)

Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

 

Stomach contents of mice were investigated partly in a greater extend.