Keith C Hamer

Wow, this is an important paper. We had some evidence early on from @ukbms.bsky.social sites but rarely had good data in grazing regimes. But @tombrereton.bsky.social always said that extensive cattle was the best for butterflies and this add yet more evidence

Schematic illustration of variation in selection predominantly determined by (a) spatial effects, (b) temporal effects or (c) spatio-temporal effects

Annual variation in natural selection on two reproductive traits (egg laying date and clutch size) between 1980-2024 in blue and great tits in 8 sub-populations of Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire

Scatter plots - with associated correlation coefficients - for annual estimates of natural selection on reproductive traits in blue and great tits. Relationships are moderately to strongly correlated across years, suggesting that there are common drivers of variation in selection in both species

What most determines variation in the strength of natural selection? Spatial variation, temporal vn or space*time together? New research by @jorgensoraker.bsky.social et al. exploring this Q using 45y of Wytham tit data. Strong time & space*time signal + cross-species corr'n

doi.org/10.64898/202...

Limited thermal tolerance in tropical insects and its genomic signature - Nature A survey of tropical insect populations and thermal tolerance limits indicates that species from lowland areas have low capacity to survive increased temperatures, and that thermal tolerance is limite...

Looks like a fundamental study and approach ... Limited thermal tolerance in tropical insects and its genomic signature. Insects at high elevations utilize plasticity to cope with rising temperatures, whereas lowland species have limited plastic abilities. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪🌐

This week's EGI seminar will be given by Prof Hanna Kokko @kokkonut.bsky.social from Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz @unimainz.bsky.social on the role of time in avian trade-offs. All welcome in person in LT1 in LaMB @biology.ox.ac.uk 3.30pm on 6 March. Also live-streamed: details available ⬇️

Latest Wadertales blog on why timing of breeding advances more in short-distance migrants: wadertales.wordpress.com/2026/02/28/m..., from neat new @ecol-evol.bsky.social paper led by Verónica Méndez using 16 years of data on Icelandic waders: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#ornithology

Ecological harshness has a weak influence on reproductive trade-offs in a great tit population Abstract. Lack’s seminal work on bird clutch sizes has spurred expansive research on reproductive trade-offs, especially focusing on offspring quantity–qua

New paper out in @jevbio.bsky.social
Using 58 years of data, we look at the effect of environmental variation on reproductive trade-offs in great tits.

With @jsmartin.bsky.social, @dzchilds.bsky.social, Ella Cole, @sheldonbirds.bsky.social, @paniw.bsky.social & Arpat Ozgul

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

After a Devastating Bird Flu Outbreak, Scotland's Seabirds Are Slowly Recovering—and So Are the Scientists Who Witnessed Their Decline The world’s largest colony of northern gannets was decimated by bird flu in 2022. Now, as their numbers climb again, researchers are collecting data to understand the virus’ lasting effects

My story for @biographic.bsky.social on the aftermath of HPAI in Northern Gannett colonies was picked up by Smithsonian Magazine! A nice thing to see while resurfacing briefly during another round of kid sick days...

A ridiculous way for BBC ‘News’ to headline an article in which it’s clear that the Wildlife Trusts’ plans are overwhelmingly popular. But it has spurred me into making a donation towards this brilliant project—if you would like to chip in too, here’s the link 👇🏻

#Northumberland #Wildlife #Rewilding

Think "non-denominational" means no religious influence at your child's school? Actually, it just means it's not tied to a specific church. Here's our CEO Fraser explaining more. Tell your MSP to vote to let school pupils opt out of religious observance: humanist.eaction.org.uk/religious-ob...

A lovely article about our research on Gannets featuring interviews with #seabirders @heyjooode.bsky.social and @sue-lewis.bsky.social

#ornithology

Custom Made: Personalised folded and framed maps Buy a personalised map with your own centre point, title and photo, using iconic Ordnance Survey mapping. From £7.99. Canvas & framed options. Free delivery

I love maps... but how did I not know about this site?! Create your own Ordnance Survey map centred wherever you wish, with choice of resolution, mapping style, even personalised cover image...

shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/custom-made/....

New tool for predicting effects of offshore wind farms on seabirds The development of offshore wind is a key instrument in the shift toward renewable energy, but such interventions can also impact marine biodiversity. Seabirds are among the most threatened bird…

Using advanced modelling, we can now better measure the lethal and non-lethal effects of #offshore #wind power plants on #seabirds - read more here: seapop.no/en/2026/02/n...
@ninanatureresearch.bsky.social

A European storm petrel nesting among rocks in Mousa, Shetland.

The RSPB is looking for surveyors to census the UK’s largest Storm Petrel colony on Mousa, Shetland.

We need 2-4 volunteers who are comfortable working and camping in a remote location with limited facilities, to help complete playback surveys during mid-July 2026. 🪺🏝️🏕️

Thrilled to share my first PhD publication - gannets put more effort into diving when they are in groups 🐟🐟🐟

Out now in @meps-ir.bsky.social www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...

+Thanks to my coauthors who put a lot of effort into collecting the videos!

#seabirds #ornithology #animalbehaviour

Bird with colourful bill flying low over water.

EARLY VIEW in IBIS

A half century of monitoring reveals contrasting survival responses of Icelandic seabirds to climate and fisheries pressures | onlinelibrary.wiley....

Sarah E. Gutowsky et al | #ornithology 🪶

Am I imagining things or has the Beeb used a picture of Coquet Island for this 'volunteers wanted' piece on Skomer?
#NEbirding

Congratulatiosn to MSc student Mariia Vlasova, PhD student @yuhengsun.bsky.social, and Janet Chik on their Mol Ecol paper ‘Parental Age Effects on Offspring Telomere Length Across Vertebrates: A Meta-Analysis’ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Energetics link long‐term environmental variations to breeding success in a wild penguin population Using a unique 25-year dataset, we uncover how environmental changes scale up from individual to population responses. We show that sea ice drives individual energetics, while parental foraging effor...

!📃New paper📃!
My 2nd PhD paper is out in @animalecology.bsky.social ky.social !
Using a unique 25-year #biologging and population monitoring🐧 dataset , we uncover how environmental changes 🧊 scale up from individual to population responses.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#move

Seven satellite-tagged Hen Harriers lost on English grouse moors in 2025 The RSPB has announced that seven satellite-tagged Hen Harriers are suspected or confirmed to have been illegally killed in England during 2025, renewing calls for licensing of all gamebird shooting to tackle raptor persecution.

The RSPB has reported that seven satellite-tagged Hen Harriers are suspected or confirmed to have been illegally killed in England during 2025, all on or close to land managed for grouse shooting:

⏰ DEADLINE APPROACHING...

...for the 2026 BOU Summer Placement Scheme

Financially supporting undergraduate students to carry out summer #ornithology research placements

Application deadline: 30 January 2026

Guidelines & application form: bou.org.uk/funding/s...

An individual‐based model to quantify the non‐breeding season impact of wind farms on seabirds A novel individual-based model to predict the impacts of offshore wind farms on seabirds during the non-breeding season, using long-term tracking data from SEATRACK. We demonstrate the model by simul...

✨New paper!✨
An individual‐based model to quantify the non‐breeding season impact of wind farms on #seabirds

doi.org/10.1002/2688...

@ninanatureresearch.bsky.social
@seatrackscience.bsky.social
@signecd.bsky.social
@masden.bsky.social

147 Hen Harriers confirmed ‘missing’ or illegally killed in UK since 2018, most of them on or close to grouse moors For anyone who still wants to pretend that the grouse shooting industry isn’t responsible for the systematic extermination of Hen Harriers on grouse moors across the UK, here’s the latest catalogue…

147 Hen Harriers confirmed 'missing' or illegally killed in UK since 2018 - most of them on or close to grouse moors.

Data extracted from reports by Natural England, RSPB, HSE, various Police forces, National Wildlife Crime Unit.

#RaptorResearch 🌍

raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/01/21/1...

For those of us who involved in running long-term studies, our work's value can be increased by synthetic studies like this one, which included Wytham Great Tit data, and suggests that plasticity in timing in response to temperatures buffers against population change
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Marine 'forever chemicals' disrupt energy production in seabirds New study finds marine pollutants are disrupting energy production at the cellular level in wild seabirds, potentially affecting fitness

⚠️🌊 'Forever chemicals' & mercury, which can be released into the sea by oil & gas activity, are disrupting energy production in seabirds at a cellular level, potentially affecting reproduction & flight ability - new research finds 🪶

#EndOffshoreDrilling
oceanographicmagazine.com/news/marine-...

New paper with @jonathan-gdon.bsky.social @cmbeale.bsky.social and Chris Thomas looking at species contributions to biotic homogenisation and differentiation.

@anthropocenebio.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1111/geb....

@rspbscience.bsky.social

Demographic responses of North Atlantic seabirds to seasonal ocean warming | PNAS Climate-driven ocean warming is profoundly reshaping marine ecosystems, with cascading effects on biodiversity and trophic interactions. For migrat...

Warming oceans are having widespread and often negative effects on migratory seabirds, new research involving UKCEH shows.

The study compared seasonal sea surface temperatures with seabird numbers to quantify effects on reproduction, survival & population trends. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

🧪1/

Fine-scale behavioural responses to mixing fronts are linked to variation in geographic space use in a medium ranging seabird - Marine Biology Marine predators forage in dynamic, heterogeneous environments, where resources are unevenly distributed. Consequently, predators often concentrate foraging activity in areas where oceanographic proce...

Can GPS tracking reveal how #seabirds make use of tidal mixing fronts when foraging? 🧪

New research shows a bird’s use of ocean fronts may relate to its regular foraging areas

Read on for more

Or read the full paper: doi.org/10.1007/s002...

@ellingbry.bsky.social

🚨 BREAKING: Cod at risk of COLLAPSE as 2026 fishing catch limits are set at levels far exceeding scientific advice!

🐟 Cod populations are in such a dire state, scientists specified a ZERO catch limit for North Sea cod was needed to prevent total collapse of the struggling population 🔽 1/

Hen Harrier found poisoned on a grouse moor in North Yorkshire I’ve blogged recently about a number of illegally-killed Hen Harriers whose deaths have not been publicised by the authorities (Hen Harrier ‘Susie’ who was found dead with gunshot…

Hen Harrier found poisoned on a grouse moor in North Yorkshire.

Once again, details have only come to light through scrutiny of a spreadsheet - where's the publicity from the Police? This is supposed to be a national wildlife crime priority!

#RaptorResearch

raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/12/01/h...