Bats face a dizzying array of threats, ranging from climate change to being entombed by housing insulation. Spent a busy few days in Bonn with the Eurobats Advisory Committee highlighting issues and identifying solutions. 🦇🌍🦤

Don't buy 'curiosities' made of dead bats! Online stores including Amazon and Google shop are still openly selling these items, a year after we highlighted the problem. Trade in Endangered species needs to stop. #wildlife #bats #nature 🌍 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

RIP the Christmas Island Shrew. Now declared extinct. news.mongabay.com/2025/10/in-m... @mammalbiology.bsky.social @mammalconeurope.bsky.social @mammalsociety.bsky.social

Proposal for Rights of Nature to be protected in UK www.theguardian.com/environment/...

My best work is interdisciplinary. Utter nonesense from politicians about rip-off degrees neatly summarised here: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Shame on us! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Ecuador revokes environmental license for Canada’s DPM to develop gold project https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/189815/ By Alexandra Valencia QUITO (Reuters) -Ecuador’s government has revoked the environmental license granted to Canadian mining company DPM…

The Waorani people of Ecuador won a historic court case blocking oil companies from entering 180,000 hectares of their ancestral land in Pastaza. The ruling, upheld on appeal, set a precedent for indigenous free, prior, and informed consent. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waorani...

A few more mushrooms. Autumn is here! 🍂🍄#mushroom #fungi

Mega-mushroom. That's supper sorted! #mushrooms

LISTEN: At the upcoming #IUCNcongress, we are supporting a motion to address the international pet trade in terrestrial wildlife. The scale of the trade is huge, says WCS’s Dr. Elizabeth Bennett. 🌍 On #WCSWildAudio, how this action could help address it: apple.co/46qZa82

Beaver bombing. Good or bad? And what about those pesky wild boar? What do you think? www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Ops-Be...

Was very happy ro catch this lovely barbastelle bat last night. The species is rare across Europe and is usually found in ancient woodland. This one's roost is in a tiny remnant patch that clings on next to a conifer plantation. She was nice and fat ready for winter!

It keeps getting worse! We have already shown that agricultural fields treated with sewage sludge have high rates of microplastic contamination. Now it seems that potentially toxic liquid from landfill is added to the mix. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Fantastic news for British wildlife and the climate 🌎🦤: a ban on burning deep peatlands (>30cm). This terrible practice is used to manage moors for grouse shooting. Comes into force on 30th Sept, a day ahead of new burning season. 👏 @defra.gov.uk www.gov.uk/government/n...

Can giant otters be indicators of ecosystem health? This new Report in #EnvironmentalConservation evaluates mercury concentrations in these apex predators, suggesting the impact of contamination in the Pantanal wetland, Brazil www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #conservationscience🌍 #otters 🦦

Sewage isn't the only problem for water pollution! Farming practice is a huge contributor. Who thinks it's a good plan to spray slurry here (an old canal draining straight into a wetland) during heavy rain? I keep my mouth shut when I swim! @eea.europa.eu @theriverstrust.bsky.social #waterpollution

A very cool project that could help tackle a global problem for amphibians.

"The more precisely we understand giraffe taxonomy, the better equipped we are to assess their status and implement effective conservation strategies," said co-author of the report Michael Brown of the IUCN. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Over a third of marine mammals, like dugongs, are threatened according to the @ipbes.net #GlobalAssessment.🌏🧪 Dugongs, known for their vital role in maintaining seagrass ecosystems, are at risk due to habitat loss, fishing & climate impacts. Conservation is essential for healthy marine ecosystems.

The rubber was just for size 🤣

What a difference a week makes! This bat came in covered in glue, dust and cobwebs. The fluffball has just been released back to her colony. 🦇🦇 @batcon.org #bats #wildlife #nature

Hey everybody! @drjuliawester.bsky.social and I have a new paper! We surveyed over 800 scientists, science communicators, and science educators who use social media. Conclusion: Scientists no longer find Twitter useful or pleasant, and many have switched to Bluesky! 🧪🌎🦑 doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

Coffee farmers could be utilising land better through recognising standing trees rather than incentivised to plant new trees for carbon capture, whilst agroforestry goes complete monoculture and releases carbon 🌍 #CarbonCredits #CarbonSequestration #Bioeconomies nationalzoo.si.edu/news/study-r...

The current planning system is indeed clunky. But you need to be out of your mind to choose the paper-shufflers at Defra deliver a swift outcomes-based approach for environmental protection. www.gov.uk/government/n.... @craigbennett3.bsky.social @cieem.bsky.social @batconservation.bsky.social

So many juvenile swallows today! Hope they aren't thinking of leaving Devon just yet. #birds

Dog in a vintage motorbike side-car today. Love it! #dogs #devon

IBRC delegates protest visa denials of 8 researchers from Africa and Asia. #ibrc2025 #batresearch www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Delighted to be welcoming an Erasmus+ student from Spain later this month to work with my research group for a year (paid for by the EU). The fee he has to pay as the new 'NHS levy' is outrageous though. Private health insurance would be cheaper.

I did wonder if it could be made into a song 🎶 (the lyrics probably wouldn't be repeatable if we could translate)

It didn't try to bite. Just expressed its fury by shouting! I love that they are so fiesty despite being only 5g or so.

Volume on! (Sound is straight from bat, no detector or amp!). This little Whiskered bat was found roosting on Holland & Barrett's door, Honiton. The species is always full of rage! (Maybe he wanted a calming herbal tea?). Safely released. #bats #wildlife #nature @batconservation.bsky.social

Just had a call from guy who's lost the bat he was trying to rescue! 😢. Golden rules👇 🦇 1. Use gloves or thick cloth to get it in a box (even if you think it's a baby). 2. Ensure no gaps in box except tiny air holes. If your little finger fits through, #bat does too! @batconservation.bsky.social

Golden girl! Serotine bats usually have dark fur, but just occasionally, I find one like this beauty from last night's survey. 😍 🦇 #bats #wildlife #nature

Gorgeous @parkrunuk.bsky.social at Seaton. Thanks to all the lovely volunteers!

Just a few of our very many Ahlberg books. From our first baby book, through to starting school and growing up, Alhberg has been part of our family for such a long time. Beautiful, funny, and clever. RIP.

This feels like the perfect post to reply to and announce this - but my book, Endemic: Exploring the wildlife unique to Britain, which includes a chapter on the No Parking Whitebeam, comes out a week today. share.google/Rgyzzyr777Hi...

Happy #RewildingRoundup 🐛💚 🌊 Research by @lewis-winks.bsky.social has shown that Devon's river Dart has a staggering 108 owners, many of whom are aristocracy, demonstrating the vital link between conserving nature and addressing the country's need for more public access & ownership.

Good evening all. A treat to see and spend time with this lovely common Lizard today... I rarely get a chance to take a photo of a Lizard but she stayed with me for a while! 🤎 #Photography #Nature #UKWildlife #Herps #Reptiles #EastCoastKin

So important that this process doesn't drown in red tape. #wildlife @craigbennett3.bsky.social 🦫 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Survey finds that 60 firms are responsible for half of world’s plastic pollution Study confirms Altria, Philip Morris International, Danone, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are worst offenders www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The life of microplastic: how fragments move through plants, insects, animals – and you. Interesting article featuring my team's research @sussex.ac.uk #microplastics #nature #pollution www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

Hippo statue. 2,000BC. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. One of its legs has recently been repaired. Snapping off the legs before putting hippo statues in tombs was common in ancient Egypt, potentially to stop the hippo (signifying chaos) from escaping or from eating the soul of the dead.

Something lovely for the weekend! A 1,800 year-old Roman glass flask shaped like a little mouse 🐭 💙 The Met 📷 by me www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti... #Archaeology

Nom nom! Baby long-eared bat has lost her mother, but is taking well to eating mealworms. #bats @batconservation.bsky.social @azbatrescue.bsky.social @wiltsbatgroup.bsky.social #wildlife #nature

Love finding glow-worms!

Where would you go to spot a Critically Endangered species? Possibly not to a city cemetery? But here in Vienna, European Hamsters Critecus critecus are thriving. @mammalconeurope.bsky.social @mammalsociety.bsky.social @habitatfoundation.bsky.social 🐹📸 #wildlife #photography #nature #conservation

But unfortunately it has also flooded areas where very rare endemic sandy blind-mole rats and thick tailed jerboas lived.

In case you are wondering, this is actually a true story. Back room deals in return for piping down. Is that the way the government should be interacting with charities? Also notable that the big land-owning charities are the ones targeted. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...