In this month’s News & Comment: A new study examines how breeding Little Terns respond behaviourally to different types of human disturbance. Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti... 📸Thomas Willoughby

If you're looking for a practice to take on for Lent this year, check out Climate Stewards Carbon Fast. climatestewards.org/resources/ca...

Macroeconomics affect conservation on the ground. The surge in gold prices drove unregulated mining in Ghana's forest reserves. @mongabay.com report on the fightback led by local NGOs.

Climate warming is generally making trees grow faster, but the greater effect is that tree growth is becoming more unpredictable, creating a threat to the stability of forests. New paper by Li & He (2026). 🧪🌏🌐🌲🌳

Tears of joy! SCOTLAND HAS JUST PASSED SWIFT BRICKS INTO LAW unanimously! 4 years of asking England & Scotland sorts it in a month led by ACE ⁦‪ MARK RUSKELL MSP‬⁩ ♥️The RELIEF is unreal! Tell England to follow 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿by emailing [email protected] now!WOOP!

✂️ Yesterday I finally responded to @agakowalska.bsky.social’s challenge to make a collage from a single piece of packaging. I present to you a green (tea) woodpecker, made from a big Yorkshire Tea box. It was fun and I’ll be rooting through our recycling bin for more materials later on ♻️

This Otter by River Ouse in Over was very confiding today making me suspect it was not entirely healthy. Can anyone comment on its back rubbing behaviour?

Do you know anyone who'd be interested? Pls share! @debrakrienstra.bsky.social @corinanewsome.bsky.social @carlonimbus.bsky.social @samuelytchiu.bsky.social @revfredsmall.bsky.social @dianabutlerbass.bsky.social @climate-brian.bsky.social @robertmcclellan.bsky.social biologos.org/creators-for...

I often get asked about the Miyawaki method of forest restoration, usually by people who have heard extraordinary claims for it. Morales et al. (2025) have reviewed the evidence and found it to be weak or absent. 🌏🧪🌳🌲 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Can anyone help me find a slightly obscure reference from Revue de zoologie et de botanique africaines, Volume 80. It is de Roo-de Ridder, A. & de Roo-de Ridder, F. 1969. The first records of Cinnyris “ogilvie-granti” (Bannerman) from the Congo Republic. Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr. 80: 391–396. #birds

Amazing moth catch on Friday night with 6 nfg including some rare and adventive species in VC29. 7 Ancylosis oblitella, Uncinus obductella, Jersey Tiger, 4 Gypsy Moths, Evergestis limbata, 3 Oak Processsionary, Oncocera semirubella, and Orthotelia sparganella. Incredible catch 877 of 114!

The garden moth list notches up another one with Pammene aurita in the orange. Plus Apotomis lineana, Scorched Carpet and Recurvaria nanella.

Parents in Winnipeg! Do you need something for your kids to do this summer? A Rocha's nature exploration day camps have some spaces left and they're super affordable (we've got a pay what you can model if needed). arocha.ca/mbdaycamps

I'll be in London next week discussing misinformation and the #biodiversity crisis with @amydickman.bsky.social and @clarecarlile.bsky.social at an event organised by the ‪@linneansociety.bsky.social ‬https://members.linnean.org/events/67fd2addd5f1de00084dd431/description 🌍

After a three hour wait in a hide in the forest I admit to a fair level of excitement when this male Palawan Peacock Pheasant stepped out of the gloom. He didn't stay long. Massive appreciation to Birdwing folks who only opened the hide in January #birds 1/2

Love the ocean and want to partner with us at A Rocha to cherish, protect and restore precious ocean places? Here's a chance to have any donation doubled, but folks there's not long left to do so: donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05... 1/3

This Great Reed Warbler at Ouse Fen, Cambs this morning really was as loud as it looks 📣📣📣 #birds #UKBirding

What's the business case for a farmer to take down old hedges (3-5m) around pasture. This is quite wet grassland often inundated for weeks in winter, grazed by cattle from time to time. He might gain a metre wide strip of grass along the field edge. What other rationale might there be?

Ooh isn't it pretty?! Oh, it's roundup. But how thoughtful to leave the big tree! Views around Ouse Fen today. Thankfully one day all this will be nature reserve. But these are the labour pains.

I'm sure this joke's been made before but... seems a big step up from nocmig

This smart White Wagtail was on Porthgwarra beach yesterday. At least that's what I'm calling it. Too much grey on the flanks?? #Cornwall #UKbirding

They knew how to frighten a cow from entering a churchyard in Cornwall.

I thought a spring Wryneck, some Ring Ouzels and other bits and bobs in West Cornwall today were consolation for missing the Alpine Accentor that disappeared yesterday, but a great surprise when it reappeared this evening. All the better for that bit of pain. 😂 #UKbirding

British Summer Time is objectively better than Greenwich Mean Time

Repurposed birding scope worked OK for the eclipse.

I knew owls could turn their heads right round but looks like they could turn them right over too 😀 Short-eared Owl at RSPB Ouse Fen this evening watching a crow. #UKbirding

Can any helpful person tell me how to extract a list of folders and their sizes on Microsoft Windows 10. I need a CSV or text or spreadsheet file listing all subfolders (not just files) and their sizes within a particular folder. Thank you.

Underage Hunters Intercepted in Hima Hammana: SPNL’s Anti-Poaching Efforts in Action On Saturday, March 15, 2025, at 6:00 AM, in Hima Hammana, two young individuals under the age of 18 were spotted illegally firing hunting rifles at resident and migratory birds. The Anti-Poaching Unit (APU)…

Richard Porter's obituary of Ian Willis in @britishbirds.bsky.social magazine seems rather sad: "on moving to Scotland in the 1980s, Ian went his own way and... contact between him and his friends and family was subsequently lost...". Ian's illustrations were part of my growing up as a birder.

The bee-eaters of Ghana were a lot of fun: Red-throated, Black, Little, and Northern Carmine.

What's to be done about the plastic problem in Ghana? In Abiriw there are few places for households to dispose of their rubbish so this stream is the dump of choice for many. 5 people came and lobbed their bags in during the 10 minutes I stood there.

Grass in. Charcoal briquettes out. In c 20 minutes of work (+ 3 days drying). Process is less dependent on hard physical labour than conventional charcoal, making it accessible to women. And quicker too. We hope it helps reduce the loss of slow growing trees in the landscape around Mole NP, Ghana.

Not much of a photo but I was very pleased to find this Oriole Warbler in a clump of bamboo in Kibi, Ghana today. The first I've seen in Ghana and not often reported from this part of the country #birds

Beating our ploughshares into swords... BBC News - Keir Starmer cuts aid to fund hike in defence spending - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

There's a flock of at least 150 Corn Buntings in a stubble field near Bluntisham in Cambs which is the largest flock I've ever seen of this red listed species. Here's a few of them #UKbirding

Finally getting round to reading Francis Schaeffer's 1970 book Pollution and the Death of Man and finding myself saying "yes" and "exactly" out loud quite a lot. Bit awkward on a train 🧵

In its first year, the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) scheme has failed to deliver even half the of the Government’s minimum expected habitat creation, finds new @wclnews.bsky.social research. In 2025, BNG must start delivering on its nature boosting potential🌍 www.independent.co.uk/climate-chan...

One of a gang of 10 fabulous Bearded Tits in the evening sun at @rspbengland.bsky.social Ouse Fen reserve this evening #ukbirding

A really great scheme from the BOU - providing financial support for undergraduates to get valuable #ornithology work experience. Please spread the word!

No, the world has not breached the 1.5C global warming target. It’s a climate target - which means it’s an average that must be sustained over at least a decade. We currently sit at 1.2 C. Which is already very bad. The science is clear: every bit of warming matters, every action matters.

New years resolution: try and remember to tag my birdy posts #UKbirding

Never tried spotlighting for Woodcocks before but a friend took me out this evening and we found at least 8 in a local field near the Great Ouse. Several were in small groups. Also a Jack Snipe. All aided by his relatively cheap little thermal imager that plugs into his phone.

Beautiful evening at @rspb.bsky.social Ouse Fen with a decent Starling murmuration and a lovely Short-eared Owl

This tusker was the third species of deer we've seen out the back of our house in Cambs. Chinese Water Deer are booming in the nearby @rspbengland.bsky.social Ouse Fen reserve. Fun to see, even if they are not supposed to be here.

Do you want to carry out fieldwork in Togo, West Africa? Are you a bird ringer who is available from Feb-May 2025? Then check out the (paid) field worker positions available here: cutt.ly/yeM807A9. The deadline for applications is January 13 2025. #ornithology

Eurasian Scops Owl showing well at Anglesey Abbey #Cambs no spot lights or thermals involved #ukbirds

I do love my family and everything but it was still quite painful having to drive past this Yellow Warbler TWICE, on way to and from my sister's for Christmas. So it was extra pleasure to see it today even if it took a 5 hour wait 😀

I'm so sad to read this. I worked with Elva when I was at the RSPB and she was really remarkable. She was so committed to the forest and its people and loved being in the field. She was also enormous fun. Sumatra has lost a great advocate and a beautiful person in Elva.

My Bulletin of the African Bird Club tells me that www.birdsoftheworld.org is free to users on the African continent. This is an incredible resource and great news. Thank you @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social

NEW JOB in #ornithology and #conservation helping to protect #seabirds on a remote island in the Pacific: https://buff.ly/3P1IDhp