A UEA student has won a £1,000 ecology prize from the Bishop of Norwich for a study into the decline of greater spotted eagles.

Charlie Russell was rewarded for his dissertation aimed at improving understanding of why this bird of prey's numbers are falling.

He said he was "really grateful to receive this generous award", which will help him continue this research as part of his PhD studies at the university.

In his first dissertation paper, he investigated the impact of a loss of wetland areas in eastern Europe, primarily due to conversion for agriculture, but found that greater spotted eagles can successfully hunt and breed in these transformed landscapes.

"This indicates that the decline in numbers is probably a bit more complicated than just being due to habitat loss," he said.

"For the second paper I looked at the migration period, as threats on migration could be contributing to population declines. In this population, I found that males migrate to east Africa and females to Greece.

"This means that males and females experience very different conditions at this time, for example females spend more time in formally protected areas, whereas there are less protected areas in areas males migrate to. This can contribute to population declines if these different conditions mean that more males die on migration than females."

The prize was awarded by the Rt Revd Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich, who said the studies has "expanded our knowledge, especially about the negative impact of large-scale human behaviour".

"Having originally trained as an ecologist, I am all too aware that we need people to be researching and being passionate about exploring and protecting our single island planet home," he said.

In the third year of the Bishop of Norwich Ecology Prize, the University of East Anglia chose the recipient from among the postgraduate students in its ecology department.

Prof Jennifer Gill, course director of the MSc in Applied Ecology and Conservation, said: "The support provided by this award hugely helps our students as they embark on careers in conservation ecology, and the celebration of their research provides a great confidence boost."