Where do immigrant great tits come from, and what consequences does immigration and dispersal have for genetic structure at fine scale? Read this thread from @andreaestandia.bsky.social describing new preprint on this topic

Nice video explaining some of the Wytham tit fieldwork from @joewoodman.bsky.social. Anyone who has the good fortune to be taught by Joe will be lucky - he has a great gift for explanation

Happy to share our last work just published in @animalecology.bsky.social. With @claire-doutrelant.bsky.social and Peter Pearman. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @cnrs.fr @biology.ox.ac.uk

After the usual Field Season hiatus, we will be having a few seminars this term, beginning with Dale Clayton from University of Utah talking about Ecology, Evolution and Endocrinology of Grooming in Birds. 4 pm today in the Board Room in Mansfield Road at @biology.ox.ac.uk

Congratulations Denise on a great DPhil journey!

Researchers in @biology.ox.ac.uk and Wild Bioscience Ltd are to receive backing of a £6.7 million grant from the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) to pioneer a new synthetic biology approach which promises to improve yields in potato and wheat. Read more ⬇️ #OxfordClimate

Getting towards the end of the 2025 field season in Wytham, and will share some quantitative data on reproductive success etc, but one striking pattern is the current dominance of Blue Tits with a ratio of ~2:1, when as recently as 2005 the ratio was ~1:2

Getting towards the end of the 2025 field season in Wytham, and will share some quantitative data on reproductive success etc, but one striking pattern is the current dominance of Blue Tits with a ratio of ~2:1, when as recently as 2005 the ratio was ~1:2

As the Wytham tit (and drone, tree and winter moth) field season winds down (the end, like the start, gets earlier each year!) we posed for the traditional field team photo followed by an excellent lunch. A great team again. Some quantitative updates to follow next week... #suspense

Very useful stats from @davididiaquez.bsky.social, tracking ground covered checking nestboxes during a field season using Strava. If the estimates of 2.14km/box/season and 45.3 m elevation/box/season generalise, suggests that since 1960 fieldworkers have walked ~144,000 km, and climbed >3 million m

I think we've all had days when we've felt like this...

A rogues gallery of great tits captured today for crimes against research. The offence: breeding without proper ID. They've all been ringed (banded) and tagged (RFID ankle bracelets). They'll now be monitored as part of Wytham tit project. All released under caution. @egioxford.bsky.social #ukbirds

Congratulations Carys!! 🎉🥳

We’re pleased to announce the title of the plenary talk by Marta Maziarz @martamaziarz.bsky.social: “Why do we need studies of hole-nesting birds from a primeval forest?” We’re looking forward to finding out if the answer involves predation risk, cavity space, or something else! #ornithology

Proud mum to 936 hungry winter moth caterpillars 🐛 with 500 more on the way! Wish me luck

Many of us will be there - look forward to seeing you in September

We love the occasional field trip - a favourite place is @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social where we spent a few days in March recharging batteries pre field season. Excellent food & company, cliff-top birding walks, a few early migrants like this Ring Ouzel & a bit of ringing training (here a Firecrest!)

The first eggs have been laid in this, the 79th year of data collection in the Wytham Tit Project! First Blue Tit egg laid 2 April, first Great Tit 3 April. Looks like an early spring, with first oak leaves out, though the observed first egg dates fit the long-term pattern well wythamtits.com#intro

The woods are full of Great Tit song. A very appropriate time to read our recent paper on the demographic drivers of cultural evolution in Great Tit song work led by @nilomr.bsky.social with help from @andreaestandia.bsky.social, Ella Cole & Sara Keen www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...