Staff, Students & Associates

Masters Students (Dissertation)

Lisle Gwynn BSc (Hons) (Plymouth) John Day Building: 3.14 Tel:+27 (0)21 650 3310 Fax: +27 (0)21 650 3295 Email: lisle.gwynn@uct.ac.za

About Lisle

Growing up in Hampshire, England, Lisle’s interest in natural history transformed from curiosity to a full blown obsession under his father’s wing. With his career path chosen, he graduated from the University of Plymouth (England) in 2010 with a BSc (Hons) in Geography, specialising in ecology & conservation in the developing world.

Following his time in Plymouth, Lisle immediately left the UK for international waters, joining Organisation Cetacea (ORCA) as a Wildlife Officer onboard ships crossing the treacherous Bay of Biscay in the North Atlantic. A ‘jack of all trades’ field biologist, he spent this time at sea contrasting previous work with the tiny Duke of Burgundy Butterfly Hamearis lucina with at-sea observations of the giant Fin Whale Balaenoptera physalus, the little-known Sowerby’s Beaked Whale Mesoplodon bidens, and the mythical Cuvier’s Beaked Whale Ziphius cavirostris whilst selfishly pursuing one of his greatest loves – seabirds.

Despite extensive travel worldwide, Africa has always held a mystic appeal to Lisle, stemming from time spent hitch-hiking through the Arab-African north and the conflict-fractured west in his teenage years. It was a given decision then, that he would pursue a position at the Fitzpatrick Institute, and he moved here in March 2011 to undertake an MSc studying the ‘mystery’ buzzards of the Western Cape.

Working in collaboration with Centre of Excellence core team member Rauri Bowie (University of California, Berkeley) to unravel the genetic mystery of these unidentified Buteos, he will draw on his vast experience of the Palearctic buzzards and his reputation as an ‘imaginative’ field biologist to solve this long-running mystery.

Thesis

The identity, origin and impact of a 'new' Buzzard species breeding in South Africa (Supervisors: Prof. Phil Hockey and Dr. Arjun Amar).