Looking for a furnished room/flat near Kingussie, or Aviemore for 3 months (May-July). I'm starting a work placement at the Highland Wildlife Park, helping with their invertebrate reintroduction programme!

Happy to discuss details. Please drop me a message if you know anything, or share this post 🙏

DucklingWatch poster. The information displayed on the poster can be found at citsci.org/projects/ducklingwatch

DucklingWatch

The DucklingWatch citizen science project, led by Hannah Coburn at the University of Essex, returns for its second year. Submitting your records of Mallard ducklings will help improve understanding of duckling survival rates and drivers of population trends.

Ross @ecologybarnett.bsky.social gave a fantastic seminar last week about his #research into dawn chorus #soundscapes in #woodlands with different canopy structures and noise pollution levels 🌳🐦‍⬛ His use of audience members' pets to explain AI models was such a fun way to increase engagement!

An infographic summarizing the key findings of the new paper "Acoustic differences persist in urban Parus major (Great Tit) over two decades of declining anthropogenic noise in Paris, France" by Dan Mennill and Hans Slabbekoorn. A cartoon image shows a sound recordist recording a Great Tit on a street in Paris. One inset graph shows that noise levels in Paris have declined from 2008 to 2023. A second inset graph shows that Great Tits sing at higher song frequencies when the ambient environment is louder. A third inset graph shows that Great Tits continue to sing higher-freuqency songs in 2023 versus 2003; even though Paris is growing quieter, Great Tits in Paris sing higher frequency songs than quiet forests outside of Paris.

Our new paper is out: "Acoustic differences persist in urban Parus major (Great Tit) over two decades of declining anthropogenic noise in Paris, France."
A study of noise and bird song, by me and Hans Slabbekoorn, in Ornithological Applications @amornith.bsky.social:
doi.org/10.1093/orni...

Thank you to everyone who brought and presented posters at #SNSC2026 - we were lucky to have such a wide range of fascinating topics and great engagement in great conversations about ongoing research!

I want to break tree! Sitka spruce colonisation of treeline environments in Scotland by Rory Abernethy 🌲
#SNSC2026

@naturescot.bsky.social
@stir.ac.uk

We are getting ready for #SNSC2026 Scotland's Nature Student Conference - welcome and arrival tomorrow at the Pathfoot Building, University of Stirling, from 10am!

View the programme on our website:
scotnsconference.wixsite.com/2026

We look forward to welcoming you to our event!

Scotland Outdoors - Tawny Owls, Pearl Mussels and Jelly Ears - BBC Sounds Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart with stories from the great outdoors

Our research on Tawny Owls at @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk was featured on this episode of BBC Radio Scotland - listen at: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

We discuss how we track Tawnies' movements and the way they are adapting to noisy and light-polluted areas

@dmdominoni.bsky.social
@iapetusdtp.bsky.social

Congratulations to BES members Thiago Silva, Kirsty Park, Kevin Watts and Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor and colleagues for a new article in #Forest Ecology and Management on the use of #LiDAR to measure #woodland complexity! 🌳

📣 Calling fish biologists & conservation scientists!

We’re convening a session at #ICBF2026 (UBC, Vancouver):
Bridging experimental biology & conservation

If your research connects mechanism to real-world application- from lab to field- we want your abstract!

Apply by March 3rd! 🐟🌎
icbf2026.com

Further integrating social context into comparative and environmental physiology Summary: Social environments affect all aspects of animal physiology. We highlight how overlooking social effects might lead to inaccurate physiology-based predictions of species’ responses to environ...

🚨New paper out now! Excited to see this commentary, led by @shaunkillen.bsky.social, showing that social context is key in comparative physiology and must be integrated! Read more here: doi.org/10.1242/jeb.... #ComparativePhysiology #Behaviour #Ecophysiology @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk @jexpbiol.bsky.social

Scotland's Natural Environment Bill has passed!🎉

The bill will contribute to achieving Scotland's ambitious commitment to becoming a nature-positive country by 2030, and have substantially restored nature by 2045.

The lynx effect: how the smell of predators could help forest restoration - BES The lynx effect: how the smell of predators could help forest restoration - BES is the largest scientific society for ecologists in Europe. We're working towards a world in which nature and people thrive.

Just the smell of predators, like lynx, is enough to limit sapling damage from deer overbrowsing, according to new research in @jappliedecology.bsky.social 

In our new paper, we show that native trees, particularly oaks, are crucial to support blue tits reproduction, likely via increasing preferred insect prey. Very relevant for urban planning. Leveraging 9 years of data from our Glasgow Urban Gradient study system. Led by @clairebranston.bsky.social!

Last week, a group of BES #PhD students attended a @iapetusdtp.bsky.social doctoral training residential at The Sill in #Northumberland 👩‍🏫

The University of #Stirling is excited to be hosting #SNSC2026 😀 The registration deadline for attendance, posters and talks is Wednesday 11th February - can't wait to see you all there!
🏞️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🦫🐜🦌🌿

Great to attend #BES2025 this week, and meet colleagues. Exciting to share the first findings from my PhD, and the Restoring Resilient Ecosystems project!

@britishecologicalsociety.org

Tawny owls are turning to street lighting to help them hunt - BES Tawny owls are turning to street lighting to help them hunt - BES is the largest scientific society for ecologists in Europe. We're working towards a world in which nature and people thrive.

Tawny owls normally rely on sound to hunt, but new research being presented today at #BES2025 finds that owls in Glasgow are adapting to noisy roads by using street lights to hunt.

www.britishecologicalsociety.org/tawny-owls-a...

Looking forward to #BES2025 this week! If you're interested in restoration, complexity and ecoacoustics you should definitely check out my talk on Thursday 🌳🌲🌳🐦🐦‍⬛

The world is upside down.

The Natural Environment Bill could be a turning point for Scotland’s nature. But Part 2 of the Bill threatens our most important wildlife protections. A Bill meant to help nature should not put it at risk!

Email your MSPs 👉 action.rspb.org.uk/page/181323/...

A book cover featuring artwork of winding roots and soil animals, entitled 'THE WORLD BENEATH OUR FEET', with roots winding around the text.

The cover art is finished for my new book and I LOVE IT!

This safari tour of the life in soil and what is means to us, is now available for pre-order as ebook, soft and hardcover in the UK and Commonwealth. Published in August next year (US date soon), I hope it'll entice everyone to love soil! 🧪🪱

Beavers provide a boost for declining pollinators, study reveals Beaver-created wetlands increase pollinator numbers, boosting biodiversity, according to new research by the University of Stirling.

Check out the summary of our new research in @jappliedecology.bsky.social led by Patrick Cook with @nigelwillby.bsky.social @dralanlaw.bsky.social @stir.ac.uk

phys.org/news/2025-11...

Experimental Exposure to Noise Affects Hunting Behavior Already From a Young Age in a Nocturnal Acoustic Predator This study experimentally investigates the effect of traffic noise on the hunting behavior of young and subadult Tawny Owls (Strix aluco). We show that noise lowers the rate of prey detection and inc....

Our new paper in @ecol-evol.bsky.social shows that noise reduces owl prey detectability and it generates adverse effects already at an early life stage, with potential carry-over effects on adulthood. Paper: doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
@dmdominoni.bsky.social
#owls #RaptorResearch #ecology #noise

Fisheries can drive selection, but what about small-scale ornamental fisheries? Our new study shows Amazonian fishes interact w/ traps in species- & environment-specific ways, hinting at overlooked selective potential. Led by @marpineda.bsky.social Read here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

Flyer for special issue on passive acoustic monitoring

📣 CALL FOR PAPERS 📣

Special issue:
FROM CHIRPS TO INSIGHTS: PASSIVE ACOUSTIC MONITORING FOR APPLIED ORNITHOLOGY

More info: vist.ly/43vfp

Guest editors: Jan O. Engler, Jenn Foote, @silvereyedom.bsky.social Simon Thorn

#ornithology #birds 🪶🧪

🔉🐸🐟🦐🪲
Got freshwater sounds? Consider contributing to the Freshwater Sounds Archive! We're accepting submissions until the end of this year, and all contributors can co-author the resulting data paper. Learn more at fishsounds.net/freshwater.js and www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...!

My first paper!! If you wanna know about woodland creation 🌳, beetles 🪲, and the effects of agriculture 🚜 - go here!

doi.org/10.1016/j.fo...

#BeetleEcology #WoodlandCreation #Conservation #Research #FirstAuthor #Ecology

🎧 What if tracking biodiversity was like mixing music?

In #RESTOREID, we use sound to study restored landscapes. Check out our latest blog by
@kirstyjpark.bsky.social (@stir.ac.uk) on #SoundscapeEcology 👉 bit.ly/4jGaAZz

#Nature #Biodiversity #Ecology

Peak Rail Fare Scrapped For Good. Scottish Greens.

🚨 BREAKING: From September 1st peak rail fares will be scrapped for good in Scotland!

🟢2023: Greens scrap peak rail fares.
🟡2024: SNP bring them back
🟡2024: thousands join Green and trade union calls for the SNP to reverse their decision
🟢2025: SNP reverse their decision