This male Willow Tit is a Superdad! Last year he permanently injured his leg fighting off a GSW when his nestlings were about to fledge. It’s been wonderful to follow him this year all season, now caring for his 7 nestlings almost ready to fledge. Good luck to him and his family!

Lesson in rewilding from an abandoned field in Carmarthenshire - Willow, Oak, Hawthorn, Bramble racing through the grasses. No habitat management plan, no livestock, no fences, no cost. Willow Tit singing at the bottom of the field. #EarthDay

This year @birdsinwales.bsky.social kindly awarded us a grant to purchase trail camera equipment. @naturespy.bsky.social have also generously loaned us trail cameras. These cameras allow us to monitor Willow Tit nests at a landscape scale, gathering important data around the clock.

Managed to spend a few hours this week watching a pair of our Willow Tits bringing a variety of food items to the nest. Mainly caterpillars, but also many spiders, aphids and craneflies. A balanced diet keeping the full brood healthy so far, and should be fledging in the next few days... #UKBirding

Extensive, unmanaged woodland habitats, abundant deadwood and understorey layer, good connectivity at a landscape scale, a paradise for Willow Tits. But there’s trouble in paradise. Another territory checked just a day too late. GSW predation hitting hard in Carmarthenshire.

For 7 days, a pair of Great Spotted Woodpecker kept a close eye on this Willow Tit nest. The male GSW took 3 minutes to destroy it. The clutch of 9 eggs were left by the GSW and abandoned by the Willow Tits. It’s touch and go if the WTs have a last nesting attempt this season…

Sharing, without comment, British newspapers’ depictions of the only Jewish person currently leading a UK political party . Times. Mail. Telegraph. Sun.

Blue Tits are a problem for Willow Tits, often taking over WT nest cavities by aggressive eviction. With 6 WT eggs inside, these BTs spent an entire day removing nesting material! The second day was full on warfare, ending in successful WTs. Now a full clutch of 8 eggs safely under incubation. Phew!

PhD Opportunity! 4-year funded PhD @uniexecec.bsky.social: “From cognition to conservation: using cognitive and behavioural research to enhance animal reintroductions”. Closes: 5 June 2026. Funding: @royalsociety.org (UK/Home students only). More info & to apply: www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin... 1/

UPDATE: Captured some footage of a male (presumably same pair) GSW checking out the cavity in a similar manner to the female in my previous post, then this a few days ago. Still going, just… #UKBirding #Ornithology

A new nest found today at another site already destroyed (likely by woodpecker @richardkbroughton.bsky.social?). Thankfully early enough to re-excavate and build a new nest (3 & 4), although right by a main footpath with lots of dogs off the lead. Fingers crossed… #UKBirding

When excavating a nest cavity, Willow Tits share the work, taking it in shifts. These two birds are particularly inseparable - one will often sit on top of the nest or at the entrance whilst the other is inside digging. It’s wonderful to watch.

Update: so far so good! #UKBirding

Some ominous footage gathered a few days ago from one of the Willow Tit nests we are monitoring. GSW are the most common predator of WT nests in Britain, and having increased by ~400% since the late 60s, it's not a threat that's going away. Let's hope this one has amnesia... #UKBirding #Yikes

Excited to share our new paper in @britishbirds.bsky.social! We present the first confirmed evidence of farmland ground-nesting bird nests on a solar park in the UK. We also conducted focal watches to understand how Corn Buntings were using Westmill Solar Park during the breeding season. 1/4

It’s never too late to continue a 1200+ year dataset. Please share.

New Willow Tit nest found this afternoon at one of our field sites. Two other preliminary excavations found before this final full attempt - adult seen carrying nest material. Four hours of getting scratched to oblivion worth it in the end! #UKBirding

Fascinating how these two female Willow Tits are going to roost in their nest cavities within a minute or so of each other (around 19.45) and also leaving them in the morning at 6.23. The male birds escort them to bed and are often seen waiting for them in the morning too. Amazing birds.

The splendid song of a Willow Tit for your Friday afternoon! ☀️ #UKBirding

Because of the ongoing rapid decline & persistent reports of disturbance we have taken the difficult decision this week to add Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in the UK to the long list of eBird sensitive species support.ebird.org/en/support/s... despite the cost to the science of #Ornithology #UKBirding

In today's episode of Black mirror - “Intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter.” Another tech bro (Sam Altman's turn) telling the world again - their aim is to deliberately make the world worse, so that they can make money.

One of three Willow Tit discovered during playback surveys this morning. Displaying Marsh Harrier and freshly arrived Black-necked Grebe not bad either… #UKBirding

Btw, this info is all down to the @btobirds.bsky.social Atlas projects and the volunteers who collected the data. The new Atlas is starting next year, 2027-2031, and it's well worth taking part to give us updates on the incredible level of information we have in the maps below. #ukbirding

I'm sure you're bored of my local Willow Tits, but I'm not! The last of my recent photos of the best birds on my patch. #ukbirding #birds

Starmer telling Labour MPs today that the Greens are "divisive," "sectarian," and "not the kind environmentalists they pretend" is not going to go down well with the millions who now back Greens. It'll simply tell them Labour doesn't hear us. More tin-eared stupidity.

Now and the next 4 weeks are the very best time of year to find Willow Tits, which are paired and defending territories. They're at their most vocal and obvious until the leaves come out. Report all certain sightings to county recorder and @birdtrack.bsky.social to help monitor remaining populations

🚨 We’re recruiting! Spurn Bird Observatory is looking for a Head Little Tern Warden and 2 Assistant Wardens to help protect one of the UK’s most successful Little Tern colonies at Beacon Ponds. Seasonal roles | NLW | Accommodation available 👉 Apply: spurnbirdobservatory.co.uk/news

1/ Spotted Flycatchers are in trouble, declining by 92% in the UK between 1967 and 2020. New work led by @cateden91.bsky.social & involving BTO has revealed the importance of rivers for the survival of this Red-listed migratory species. ⬇️ #Ornithology 📖 www.bto.org/Spotted-Flyc...

Auschwitz was at the end of a process. We must remember that it did not start from gas chambers. This hatred gradually developed: from ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder. Auschwitz took time.

Can't hold a World Cup in a country where the dictator's secret police are executing peaceful protesters in the streets.

Yorkshires only Little Tern colony relies on paid wardens to protect them from predators and disturbance, the team have achieved amazing numbers of fledglings in recent years and it would be a great shame if it doesn’t run this year, much appreciated if you can help out with this funding gap 🙏

📢 We're looking for a PhD student to focus on habitat use of wintering Curlew in and around coastal SPAs. Apply now ➡️ bit.ly/CurlewPhD The student will be based at @ljmuofficial.bsky.social and BTO, starting in October 2026 for four years. 📆 Deadline to apply: Wednesday 18 February #Ornithology

We are hiring at the Wytham Woods for the upcoming field season. 4 roles available. Please share with anyone who might be interested. #UKbirds #birdringing

🦢 The International Swan Census is almost here – this weekend! We still have a few priority sites that need coverage. Please check the map & help us assess how well our Whooper & Bewick’s Swan populations are faring. Every count matters! 🙏 bto.org/gsmp-isc 📸 @tangrigg.bsky.social #Ornithology

I'm hoping to make a starter pack of birding and wildlife blogs for people to follow. If you have any recommendations or write your own, please reply and repost this so I don't miss any - no matter how many readers you get, single figures or thousands every week. #birds #ukbirding

Mini twitch (of about 10 miles) to Scotman’s flash this afternoon for the Great Northern Diver. #UKBirding

Fortunate to still (for now) have Willow Tits on patch. #ukbirding #birds

Back home for a few days over Christmas and managed to catch this Caspian Gull at RSPB Old Moor yesterday. Stayed for a while to attempt to read the ring but unfortunately too distant. #UKbirding

📉 Our new paper shows Bewick’s Swan numbers in NW/NE Europe have fallen to ~12,900 birds - a 56.7% decline since 1995, with further losses predicted by 2026 unless survival or breeding success improves. Flyway-wide conservation is urgent. 🦢 Download paper > tidsskrift.dk/Wildfowl/art... #Ornithology

What an obsequious, toadying, servile, brown-nosing, corrupt little cunt Gianni Infantino is. The FIFA 'peace prize' is the most cringe-worthy, pathetic thing I've ever seen in my life. Football deserves better than this travesty of a ceremony and ruling body.

Thankfully I am in the privileged position of taking such bad photos they could never be mistaken for Generative AI… #UKBirding

Interesting record of a Willow Tit in Northern Scotland (Loch of Blairs, near south shore of Moray Firth): birdsinmorayandnairn.org/bird-recordi....

Great to see @cateden91.bsky.social's first PhD paper, showing for first time how rivers/freshwater supports Spotted Flycatchers, a declining woodland bird, by subsidising their diet with energy-rich invertebrates. We should be re-wetting the woodlands and re-wooding the rivers! #ornithology

Super excited to share the first paper from my PhD! 🎉 We found that rivers don’t just matter for wetland birds - they also help support terrestrial insectivores, thanks to the flow of energy and nutrients from aquatic insects. 🌊🦟 Read more here: 👉 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

We are still interested in any found twite feathers for a study on the relationships and genetic diversity between the British groups - particularly now for birds of Scottish origin in the NE of England or, birds on the Avon. DM me for me more info. #birdringing

My 10 year old daughter took this photo with my (very heavy) camera this morning. Willow Tit isn't a bad species for a first picture of a bird! #ukbirding #birds

Should I stay or should I go?🐦 Fancy a #PhD studying Pied flycatchers in the Peak District to help better understand what drives individual & population performance? Think #habitat #movement #ecology #genetics 🌍 Make use of this nestbox PIT tag study system and join us! Email me #LJMU #NationalTrust

🦅PhD position 🦅 in my new group at @fbm-unil.bsky.social in Switzerland, studying how the social and resource landscapes shape the learning process for soaring flight. Deadline: Oct 30. Pls repost! career5.successfactors.eu/career?caree...