Holly English

"Further, little is known about divorce amongst gulls" is my favourite sentence I've read today.

So far.

Congratulations/commiserations as required to those hearing the outcome of #MSCA postdoc fellowship applications today.

It does not feel like a great time to be a postdoc on the job market...

this in a country where the government is deprioritising climate action

"Still, irrational as the electorate can be, the mention of a magic wand only ever seems to come from those who do actually control the non-magical resources by which non-magical problems such as flooding might be addressed, either preemptively or after the fact."

Here's hoping 🤞

Paper accepted! 🥳

It's so rewarding to watch your hard-earned data become a piece of a broader analysis and story.

I can

Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.

"Despite her groundbreaking work, West was long left out of histories that discussed the development of GPS."

What a remarkable woman. RIP Gladys Mae West.

Black and white photograph of a small cow next to a man holding her by a length of rope in a field, with hills in the background ##SpéirGorm #SpéirGhorm #Ireland

Photograph/close-up of a side-on view of the head of a black and white speckled cow with foliage in the background

Black and white photograph of the same cow resting her head on the bar of a busy pub next to a pint of stout as people drink in the background

Black and white photograph of the cow in a busy pub

Thinking about Big Bertha, the world's oldest cow from County Kerry, who died just before her 49th birthday after calving 39 times over her life (another record) - she also raised thousands for charity, lead the St. Patrick's parade in Sneem, and had her birthday and wake in a local pub

Refining Capture and Collaring Protocols for Red Foxes Animal capture is an important aspect of ecological studies, required for fitting tags and collecting biological samples. Capture success can be increased while ensuring high welfare standards throug...

2026. Refining Capture and Collaring Protocols for Red Foxes. "Though routine practice, wildlife captures have important welfare implications which should be carefully considered prior to each study." #AnimalEthics #AnimalWelfare onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Absolutely love this!

Blackadder gets it! I need to rewatch this

Thanks so much, I really appreciate that! 😁

Thanks for sharing Alan!

Refining Capture and Collaring Protocols for Red Foxes Animal capture is an important aspect of ecological studies, required for fitting tags and collecting biological samples. Capture success can be increased while ensuring high welfare standards throug...

2026. Refining Capture and Collaring Protocols for Red Foxes. #AnimalWelfare #AnimalBehaviour onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

It's not easy getting the rest of your PhD papers published when you've moved on to a postdoc on another project. I still have a lot of fox work to get out into the world! But I am really grateful to work with such supportive people - including the co-authors on this paper and my current PIs. (5/5)

We tested suture-based collar drop-offs. We hope others will try this too so we can get a better idea of average durations for different types of suture. And actually last week someone told me they will be trying this out for their fox captures too (hurray for preprinting!). (4/5)

So this paper was born! We document how we changed our field protocols while keeping fox welfare as a top priority. We changed our traps and swapped in-person checks for remote monitoring systems. We used camera traps to inform prebaiting schedules. (3/5)

I spoke to other researchers at conferences and discovered this was a common problem. We made some changes and started to catch and collar foxes. And I started getting emails and requests for online meetings asking how we did it. (2/5)

Refining Capture and Collaring Protocols for Red Foxes Animal capture is an important aspect of ecological studies, required for fitting tags and collecting biological samples. Capture success can be increased while ensuring high welfare standards throug...

🚨NEW PAPER🚨🦊
The main thing I learned during my PhD is that foxes are smarter than me.
We had gotten funding, we were collaborating with management authorities, we had the fancy collars... We were ready to investigate fox movement ecology. But we weren't catching any foxes. (1/5)
🧪🌍

Just finished Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke and I don't know what to do with myself.

Please give me recommendations on what book to read next! I loved it and I don't know how to follow it

#BookSky 📚👀

Book cover for Reproducible Code guide. The cover has a red background with a large yellow-bodied black-headed stag beetle.

Excited to launch the new improved Reproducible Code guide from @britishecologicalsociety.org @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social FREE online here! www.britishecologicalsociety.org//wp-content/... Amazing work by some very talented ECRs. We hope it’s useful!

All the more reason to sign the petition!

Ban the hunting of foxes with packs of dogs on horseback in Ireland Can you support this campaign to bring in legislation banning the hunting of foxes using packs of dogs and horses?

This petition to ban fox hunting on horseback with packs of dogs is almost at 30,000 signatures ahead of tomorrow's Dáil debate

Thank you! It was definitely one to remember!

Oh yep, I have done this too!

Sailing the Drake Passage, drinking copious amounts of tea while spotting petrels and albatrosses... this is my best birthday yet!

a couple of individually marked godwits. Photo by J. Seenstra

Want your modelling to save birds? PhD with me at UvA (Amsterdam): build spatial integrated population model for black-tailed godwits with world-class dataset and strong team here & @birdeyes-gfn.bsky.social/RUG). werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies... Apply by 1 Dec 2025: #Ecology #Bayesian #Conservation

Welfare and biologging - this one is going straight to the top of my reading list