Stephanie Tyler

Stephanie Joy Tyler , also known as Steph Tyler, is a British ornithologist, zoologist, naturalist, conservationist, and author from Monmouthshire. She is particularly known for her work on Dippers and the preservation of river habitats.

Career

Tyler gained her PhD in Zoology at University of Cambridge, where she also met and married Lindsay Tyler, a veterinarian. Tyler's doctoral thesis was on the free-range ponies in the New Forest. Following her marriage, Tyler moved with her family to Wiltshire where she conducted a study of the area's Grey Wagtails and became the most prolific female British bird ringer. The Tyler family moved first to the United Arab Emirates and then to Ethiopia in 1973.

In Ethiopia Tyler continued her work on bird ringing and made monthly contributions to the newsletter of the Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society. Tyler also provided articles and illustrations for the conservation journal Agazen, which was used in around 2,000 schools in Ethiopia.

In the 1990s, Tyler spent five years in Botswana where she worked on nest card-filling for the new BirdLife Botswana.

Tyler was a trustee of the Welsh Ornithological Society for eight years (2008–2015) and is currently the chair of the Monmouthshire Meadows Group.

In May 2026 Tyler was featured in BBC's Springwatch.

Honours

Welsh Ornithological Society Lifetime Achievement Award 2015

In 2023 she was awarded the Bernard Tucker Medal of the British Trust for Ornithology.

TV appearances

Hugh's Wild West Episode 1 (Dipper observation and conservation) Hugh's Wild West Episode 6 (Moth trapping and study) Tyler, Stephanie J. (1979) "Mortality and movements of Grey Wagtails" Ringing & Migration 2:3, 122–131 Co-Author The Gwent Atlas of Breeding Birds (Gwent Ornithological Society, 1987) O'Halloran, J., Gribbin, S., Tyler, S., & Ormerod, S. (1990). The Ecology of Dippers Cinclus cinclus (L.) in Relation to Stream Acidity in Upland Wales: Time-Activity Budgets and Energy Expenditure. Oecologia, 85(2), 271–280 Ormerod, S., O'Halloran, J., Gribbin, S., & Tyler, S. "The Ecology of Dippers Cinclus Cinclus in Relation to Stream Acidity in Upland Wales: Breeding Performance, Calcium Physiology and Nestling Growth.” Journal of Applied Ecology, vol. 28, no. 2, 1991, pp. 419–433 Ormerod, Stephen J. & Tyler, Stephanie J. (1993) "Further studies of the organochlorine content of Dipper Cinclus cinclus eggs: local differences between Welsh catchments" Bird Study 40(2):97–106 Tyler, Stephanie J.; & Ormerod, Stephen J. (1994). The Dippers. Poyser: London. Tyler, S.J. (1994). "The Yungas of Argentina: in search of Rufous-throated Dippers Cinclus schulzi". Cotinga. 2: 38–41. Tyler, Stephanie J. (1997) "First record of Basra Reed Warbler Acrocephalus griseldis in Botswana" Ostrich – Journal of African Ornithology 68(1):44–45 Tyler, Stephanie J. (1997) "Observations on the seasonal presence and moult of European Reed Warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus at a site in southeast Botswana" Ostrich – Journal of African Ornithology 68: 117–118 Tyler, S.J. & Borello, W.D. (1998) Birds of Gaborone area and where to find them (Botswana Bird Club) Tyler, Stephanie J & Tyler, Lindsay (2001) "Biometrics and moult data for nomadic Lark-like Buntings, Emberiza impetuani, in southeastern Botswana" Ostrich – Journal of African Ornithology 72(1):118–120 Tyler, Stephanie (2004) "The breeding and population status of the African Skimmer Rynchops flavirostris in Botswana" Ostrich - Journal of African Ornithology 75(4):329–332 Scientific editor of Peter Hancock & Ingrid Weiersbye (2016) Birds of Botswana (Princeton University Press) Cumming, Graeme, Harebottle, Doug, Mundava, Josphine, Otieno, Nickson & Tyler, Stephanie (2016) "Timing and location of reproduction in African waterfowl: An overview of >100 years of nest records" Ecology and Evolution 6(3): 631–646 Tyler, S. (2020). Gray Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y., USA