Officially Dr McConnell! I can finally say I’m a doctor of tits and poop! 🐦💩 My PhD explored how urbanisation affects the diet of blue tits. Not suprisingly, city birds eat fattier, lower-quality food. What a journey it’s been, so many highs, lows, and moments I wasn’t sure I’d make it.

Just realised that the ancient DNA lab is called 007 😂 Brilliant, perfect for investigating DNA secrets

Hidden Causes of Variation in Offspring Reproductive Value: Negative Effects of Maternal Breeding Age on Offspring Telomere Length Persist Undiminished Across Multiple Generations | doi.org/10.1111/ele.... | Ecology Letters | #ornithology 🪶

Last week in the lab working on eDNA to uncover the pollinators of cocao 🍫 The gel bench: the suspense of knowing whether the PCR was successful 🫣

I'm Rachel, a conservation biologist 🤓 soon to be based in Northern Ireland☘️ Bird nerd here, just completed a PhD on blue tits and urbanisation and starting a job as a conservation officer with the RSPB 🐦 If you're passionate about research, nature, and the great outdoors, let’s connect! 😁