Kirsty Franklin

I’m fascinated by Black-winged petrels. On Phillip Is, off Norfolk, they over-fly all day with concentrations near sunset. 1,000s of birds into the distance, calling and chasing. In 1967, the 1st nests were discovered. 60 years of unimpeded population growth. Over 20,000 pairs. Just inspiring.

Would love a copy of this once published! 😁

Puffins from the Shiant Isles are having a tough winter of it with an almost unprecedented 'wreck' on European coasts.

Post-breeding season behaviour of a threatened population of subtropical brown skuas - Marine Biology Marine Biology - There is a wide variability in seabirds migratory strategies, not only across species, but also among populations of the same species, within populations, and even within...

Bonnet-Lebrun et al. Post-breeding season behaviour of a threatened population of subtropical brown skuas link.springer.com/article/10.1... #ornithology #seabirds #teamskua

Snow bunting. Photo: Mael Perroud.

Fig. 4 from the article: Change in duration of the active and inactive phase of the snow bunting's diel activity rhythm across the annual cycle.

Fig. 5 from the article: Proportion of snow bunting flights initiated during the different activity phases. (a) The proportion of all longest (≥ 7.72 h, squares) and shorter (< 7.72 h, triangles) flights initiated during phases of the diel activity rhythm. (b) The proportion of longest flights initiated during phases of the diel activity rhythm. (c) The proportion of shorter flights initiated during phases of the diel activity rhythm.

New paper: Most birds use day–night cycles to time activity - but how do Arctic birds cope with nonstop summer light? Male snow buntings keep a daily rhythm year-round, though it weakens during spring migration as flights are scheduled more flexibly

➡️ vist.ly/4rfdw

#ornithology #birds 🪶

Big Bird: A global dataset of birds in drone imagery annotated to species level Drones are a valuable tool for surveying birds, but manually detecting and identifying birds in drone images is costly. We assembled a diverse dataset of 23 865 images of birds captured with 21 diffe...

In this work led by Josh Wilson, we labelled 4824 drone-based images containing 49990 birds from 101 species and trained a bird detection and ID model. The model achieved precision = 0.91 for detection & 0.65 for species/age/sex classification.
zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

A lovely article about our research on Gannets featuring interviews with #seabirders @heyjooode.bsky.social and @sue-lewis.bsky.social

#ornithology

Replication studies: a win-win for early-career training and behavioral ecology Replicating previous research builds confidence that results are real and meaningful. But close replications are rare due to limitations in resources and d

How do we know our research results are REAL? We replicate them! Most folks agree but lament on how hard it is to publish these replications.

My dearest gentle reader, lament no more! Delighted to unveil: Replication Studies, a new section of Behavioral Ecology 1/

academic.oup.com/beheco/artic...

Honoured to appear among these amazing women scientists for #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience
Check out the variety of work we get up to 👇

And the best thing? There are many more women scientists working for @rspbscience.bsky.social who are also doing incredible things! 👏

#WomenInScience

Kirsty stands on the cliffs above a large Gannet colony.

Kirsty Franklin – Seabird ecologist

Last summer I led an all-female field team on Mousa, Shetland. We had been up all night waiting for our tagged bird to return, and at the end of a successful night, we were rewarded with a spectacular Aurora Borealis!

What’s it really like to work in science at the RSPB? To mark International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we speak to six of our Conservation Scientists.

This #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience meet just six of the inspiring women in our Conservation Science department and hear about some of their most memorable moments at the RSPB 🧪

Read the full story here: www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...

Using data from the International Swan Census, the Goose and Swan Monitoring Programme, and recent GPS-tracking, this paper examines the subset of the Iceland/UK & Ireland population that winters at the Ouse Washes

britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...

We're looking for volunteers to join us on Mousa, Shetland this July! 🌊⛺🔊

Feel free to get in touch if you'd like to know more. And perhaps worth looking into @theseabirdgroup.bsky.social's 2026 Training Grants if you need financial support: www.seabirdgroup.org.uk/grants 🔗

Thrilled to share my first PhD publication - gannets put more effort into diving when they are in groups 🐟🐟🐟

Out now in @meps-ir.bsky.social www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...

+Thanks to my coauthors who put a lot of effort into collecting the videos!

#seabirds #ornithology #animalbehaviour

This image shows the cover of issue 37 of SEABIRD journal by The Seabird Group. It is of a ringed guillemot with two small chicks, standing on a rocky wall. There are other parent birds with chicks in the background.

#Seabird Journal issue #37 is complete and has been sent out to those who requested a physical copy 😊
Remember to check your mailboxes!

It is also available to read online here ➡️ www.seabirdgroup.org.uk/seabird-37

#science #seabirds

An individual‐based model to quantify the non‐breeding season impact of wind farms on seabirds A novel individual-based model to predict the impacts of offshore wind farms on seabirds during the non-breeding season, using long-term tracking data from SEATRACK. We demonstrate the model by simul...

✨New paper!✨
An individual‐based model to quantify the non‐breeding season impact of wind farms on #seabirds

doi.org/10.1002/2688...

@ninanatureresearch.bsky.social
@seatrackscience.bsky.social
@signecd.bsky.social
@masden.bsky.social

I am very happy to announce that my first PhD paper has been published today at the Journal of Animal Ecology!!!

It is on how three penguin species have been shifting their breeding times in Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic in response to climate change. They are the fastest birds in doing so!

Travel to a remote Scottish island to see how tagging seabirds can help protect them YouTube video by RSPB

Join our Marine Team on an expedition to track the Leach's Petrel 🪶

These birds can travel over 2000km during a single foraging trip, but are only the size of a starling!

Watch the full film here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrXB...

All birds were caught and handled under licence by RSPB staff

Happy to share our new paper published in @cp-iscience.bsky.social We deployed 300+ multi-sensor loggers across 17 species to investigate how different species adapt their flight strategies when crossing deserts and marine areas during migration. tinyurl.com/2c8y8xvf #ornithology #birds

A puffin stands on a rock in the rain. Photo: Jacqui Glencross.

Seabird Group Training Grants are open 🐧⛺🌃

We offer up to £250 to help with travel, accommodation or food during #seabird fieldwork or training!

We are encouraging applicants from BAME backgrounds, but all are welcome to apply 📋

For all the info ➡️ www.seabirdgroup.org.uk/grant
Deadline: 28 Feb

Person lying on a forest floor grubbing for Storm petrels. Image: Ingrid Pollet.

2026 Training Grants are now open! 📢🕊️

Are you:
📏 Hoping to gain experience with #seabirds via unpaid work?
🧑 From a BAME background? (though others may apply too)

💸 A grant of up to £250 could help! (to cover travel, accommodation or food)

Info: www.seabirdgroup.org.uk/grant
Apply by 28 Feb 💌

Last years field assistant holding a Manx Shearwater on the isle of Rum (under a towel), retrieving a GPS device after a bird has returned from a foraging trip!

We are looking to hire a Seabird Field Assistant for 2026 for our Manx Shearwater research project.

Please share this to anyone who'd like to get out in the field this summer and learn about biotelemetry, bird handling and research into animal behaviour.

drive.google.com/file/d/1SGZt...

New Year, new job. Come and join the @ukceh.bsky.social team on the Isle of May
ceh.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/CEH_Ca...

Keynote nominations are now open for the BOU 2027 Spring Conference on Avian Disease Ecology!

Submit via the conference webpage: bou.org.uk/event/avian-...

Also thrilled to announce that Prof. Dana Hawley (@danahawley.bsky.social) will deliver the Alfred Newton Lecture.

Please share!

How does chick-rearing affect fledging success in Yelkouan shearwaters? Proxies for diet varied between colonies, while fledglings grounded on first flight were more likely to have been poorly fed. Published in Marine Biology: doi.org/10.1007/s002... Funding by @dornitholges.bsky.social and EU LIFE

Research Assistant and Senior Research Assistant - Seasonal Recruitment 2026 | RSPB We are delighted to bring the details of our seasonal Research Assistants and Senior Research Assistants vacancies on a variety of projects within Great Britain in 2026.Full details of the roles curre...

Seasonal field staff needed for @rspbscience.bsky.social projects in 2026 - advert live, closing date 11 Jan. Lots of #seabird (& non-seabird) opportunities!

Get in touch if you’d like to know more about any of the #seabird roles 🌊🐦

app.vacancy-filler.co.uk/salescrm/Car... #seabirds #ornithology

Conference attendees photographed outside the venue.

Last month our Conservation Science dept. conference returned!
-131 attendees
-32 talks
-18 posters
-9 workshops
-1 winning quiz team

We heard about biosecurity, breeding waders, biodiversity monitoring, seabird tracking and more. Look out for some exciting papers in 2026...

Fine-scale behavioural responses to mixing fronts are linked to variation in geographic space use in a medium ranging seabird - Marine Biology Marine predators forage in dynamic, heterogeneous environments, where resources are unevenly distributed. Consequently, predators often concentrate foraging activity in areas where oceanographic proce...

Can GPS tracking reveal how #seabirds make use of tidal mixing fronts when foraging? 🧪

New research shows a bird’s use of ocean fronts may relate to its regular foraging areas

Read on for more

Or read the full paper: doi.org/10.1007/s002...

@ellingbry.bsky.social

A great opportunity for anyone in a marine or conservation MSc!

Work with some wonderful birds, (and wonderful folks) I got to call colleagues this year 🐧

(The project timeline would fit wonderfully with a taught MSc)

@exetermarine.bsky.social @exetergses.bsky.social @cornwall.exeter.ac.uk

Feral cats to be added to Predator Free 2050 The Government is delivering on its campaign promise to add feral cats to the Predator Free 2050 target species list to protect our precious native wildlife, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says.

GREAT NEWS in #conservation: the government of New Zealand has announced that they will include feral cats in their PredatorFree 2050 strategy, aiming to benefit #seabirds and landbirds across NZ by removing feral cats: