Post-doc opportunity in raptor conservation at The FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology in Cape Town, South Africa - with @megmurg.bsky.social and me.
South African Citizen or have a valid work visa.
science.uct.ac.za/fitzpatrick/...
#Ornithology #RaptorResearch #AfricanOrnithology
Three humpback whales surface in calm ocean water while a large container ship passes close to them, illustrating the whales’ risk of collision and disturbance from the current high vessel traffic. Photo taken by Isabel Avila.
🦤🌐🧪
From traits to threats: Most marine mammals—even those listed as Least Concern—face human-driven risks. By linking ecological traits to 9 major threats across 125 species, we uncover overlooked vulnerabilities and guide smarter conservation.
bit.ly/meps15117
Some natural history eminence at this picture of him with Attenborough, Peter Scott, and - beloved voice of my (early) childhood - Johnny Morris
Desmond Morris has died. He was almost 100 but you still read this obituary and wonder how he fitted it all in. www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
A colour photograph of water, from the sea surface down to the seabed, with a blue sky and clouds above.
📢#JobOpportunity #WeAreSeeking a Marine Support Officer to deal with survey data management, MPA data dissemination, offshore seabed surveys & answering data queries. bit.ly/JNCCjob202613 Closing date: Sun 17 May 2026 #Marine
Example opinion of one of the characters on the rewilding efforts of the estate owner (her older sister): 'A theme park for solvent fifty-somethings. All of it about as wild as a fucking printed tea towel.’
I thought this was a brilliant book. Covers legacies of class, wealth, land ownership, colonialism, slavery, all in the context of rewilding a big private English estate, and with a proper disfunctional (but not entirely unsympathetic) rich family as central protagonists. Great stuff.
The full album's out now and you can throw a bit of Björk and early Goldfrapp into the mix too. Excellent for cooking a roast dinner to. I imagine it would be good in other situations as well.
Amen
Good piece on both that exact transit issue and the wider hot mess from earlier this week: www.theguardian.com/football/202...
For the bird 🧪 people: Viking Cruises is constantly looking for ornithologists to be paid to go on their cruises
I've not sailed with them but know someone who has and enjoyed it
www.vikingcareers.com/us/en/c/expe...
It’s been a Chemical Brothers week on the rowing machine and I think I may have broken several Olympic records as a result.
(I appreciate this might be a long shot)
Anyone happen to have a copy of the slides I used for a talk at some conference or other in, I think, 2003? There's a specific sequence of images I'm after and I no longer have access to a zip drive…
I heard Bob Mortimer talk about something similar in a recent documentary
Just to tie up the loose ends - my (Gemini-approved!) bodge was to convert the gridded data to points, allowing me to use st_join with join = st_nearest_feature. It feels slightly unsatisfactory to have to convert like that, but does the job.
If cancelled meetings are the best meetings, no-shows are the worst. Just had two in a row.
'It's hard work, and coloured post-its won't do it for you' is the kind of inspirational university branding I could get behind
Feeling proud that this important work is being led by a fellow Sheffield academic ('alongside arts project @moderntoss.bsky.social' 😆) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
On it
If you’re into #rspatial and want to give it a go: you have a bunch of points in the sea that you want to match to the nearest value (say, human population density) on a strictly terrestrial grid. So some hybrid of terra::extract and sf::st_nearest_feature. What’s your approach?
Just tried Gemini on an R problem where I felt my solution was bodged and ugly. It recommended exactly the same approach. I assume it must have read all the scripts I hadn't shown it and/or my mind in order to be obsequious? Or am I actually getting quite good at this…?
The camera that is incidentally also a phone continues to impress
Coffee break in the garden. Siskins very rowdy. Blackcaps singing. Nearing peak tulip.
Looking for a post-doc in macroecology or paleobiology? Work with the fabulous Erin Saupe in @oxuniearthsci.bsky.social
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
PDRA in Extinction & Conservation / Paleobiology :
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Weecology is hiring a postdoc to work with my long-term, large-scale Everglades wading bird project. We have data on nest effort at multiple spatial scales over 30+ years for multiple species. We also do fun stuff w/ drones. Sound interesting? See our ad! jabberwocky.weecology.org/2026/04/15/p...
(Perhaps even longer, if like me you've fried your attention span…)
One thing I've not got any quicker at despite years of experience is writing a new lecture from scratch. Still needs a full day, minimum. I think that's just how long it takes.
Great to hear about @morphss.bsky.social in today’s Open Research Advisory Group meeting - check out their resources documenting open research practices in the arts, humanities, and social sciences bsky.app/profile/morp...
Really pleased I was able to dip into the marine eDNA session of the UK DNA Working Group conference this morning. Such interesting work happening in the field, lots of challenges too!