Never too late! From a hot summer in 2009 spent in the lab molecularly sexing pied flycatchers to a 2026 paper π¦
Using 2,759 sexed nestlings (1997β2018) tracked through 2023, we show male attractiveness & annual rearing conditions increase the proportion of sons in broods
π doi.org/10.1016/j.an...
A successful annual meeting at the weekend for @piedflynet.bsky.social, with around 60 keen attendees there to hear about last season's results, @cateden91.bsky.social's research on spotted flycatchers, the Two Moors Pine Marten project, and to generally feel geed-up about the season ahead!
π’ Job Alert: Monitoring officer
I am looking for an experienced ornithological fieldworker to join the team this spring to lead on the monitoring of Black tailed godwits at WWT Welney.
Closing date: 6 March 2026
Apply β‘οΈ
vacancies.wwt.org.uk/vacancies/77...
A Cuckoo perches on a post. Wording over the image reads: We're hiring. Science Manager. www.bto.org/jobs. BTO logo top right of the image. Image credit bottom left reads: Cuckoo by Edmund Fellowes / BTO.
New role! π’ We're looking for a dynamic and experienced Science Manager to join us at BTO. Apply now β‘οΈ www.bto.org/jobs #Ornithology
π Full time, Permanent.
π Β£46,344 per annum.
π Hybrid working.
Deadline for applications: Monday 9 March.
Black and white bird perched on a branch, singing, with foliage in foreground.
EARLY VIEW in IBIS
Reproductive consequences of mate retention and divorce in a short-lived migratory passerine | onlinelibrary.wiley....
Daniel R. RodrΓguez-SolΓs, Iraida Redondo, JesΓΊs MartΓnez-Padilla, Carlos Camacho, Jaime Potti, David Canal | #ornithology πͺΆ
Our new guidance note/protocol for using sound recorders to detect Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers gives practical details for using Song Meter Mini & Micro recorders from Wildlife Acoustics in woodland with suitable habitat & has proved a great success www.woodpecker-network.org.uk/index.php/ne...
Iβm excited to share our new paper in Ecology!
Our 9βyear study across an urbanβrural gradient shows native trees, especially oaks, boost blue tit breeding success. More native foliage supports more of the birds preferred prey and improves reproductive success.
π doi.org/10.1002/ecy.... #ornithology
We are seeking to appoint four full-time field assistants to work on the Wytham Tit Project for 4-8 weeks in spring 2026. Two 8-week field assistants will join the nest monitoring team; duties for these posts will include (i) collecting standardised data from nest-box breeding populations of blue and great tits, (ii) catching and ringing parent birds, (iii) ringing nestlings, and (iv) inputting data collected in the field. These positions with run from approximately Tuesday 7th April to Monday 1st June. Successful candidates for these positions must have (or be qualified to obtain) a BTO permit to ring adult great tits and blue tits. A further two field assistants will be hired to support a project collecting behavioural (foraging) data for great tits breeding in the Wytham population. These roles will involve a significant amount of nightwork. Duties will include (i) setting up and calibrating electronic tracking equipment and nest box cameras in the field, (ii) mapping tracking equipment locations using GPS, (iii) helping with catching and ringing parent birds and fitting tracking devices, (iv) assisting with mistnetting to re-trap tagged parents, and (v) inputting data collected in the field. These positions with be approximately 7 and 4 weeks in duration, starting from 13th April and 4th May, respectively. Possession of a BTO ringing permit with misnet endorsement and driving license are highly desirable for these roles. All fieldwork will take place in Wytham Woods, near Oxford. All Successful candidates must be able to demonstrate skill and enthusiasm for biological research as well as experience of fieldwork under arduous conditions, and both lone work and working as part of a team. Due to the short-term nature of these posts, successsful applicants must already have the right to work in the UK. Salary & Accommodation: Field assistants will be paid at grade 5.2 (Β£17.37/hour). Contact eleanor.cole@Biology.ox.ac.uk
We are hiring at the Wytham Woods for the upcoming field season. 4 roles available. Please share with anyone who might be interested. #UKbirds #birdringing
RSPB seasonal positions @rspbscience.bsky.social are live & we are ready for applications!
π±πͺΆπβ°οΈπ£ Huge variety of posts available for 2026: seabirds, veg surveys, visitor questionnaires, upland monitoring, wader chick tracking... all listed on the attachments via the link π
Deadline 11th Jan 2026 π
We're hiring!
Seasonal Research Assistant and Senior Research Assistant positions for 2026 πͺΆ
Deadline: 11th Jan 26
Apply here: app.vacancy-filler.co.uk/salescrm/Car...
π£ New paper out now in @conbiology.bsky.social!
#Headstarting - hatching eggs and/or rearing chicks in captivity & releasing them back to the wild - has been increasingly used for #wader #conservation. But it can be challenging and expensive.
So why do it and whenβ
π·WWT/Bob Ellis #godwit
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A Lesser Spotted Woodpecker on the trunk of a tree. A grey box to the left features the words: New study. Bioacoustics as a tool for the detection and monitoring of a scarce woodland bird β the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. ww.bto.org/LSWBioacoustics. BTO logo is top left of the image. Image credit bottom left reads: Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Β© Denja1 from Getty Images via Canva.com.
1/ A new study from @lesserspotnet.bsky.social & BTO in @britishbirds.bsky.social looks at how passive acoustic monitoring is an effective way of surveying Lesser Spotted Woodpecker β‘οΈ www.bto.org/LSWBioacoust...
#bioacoustics #ornithology @simongillings.bsky.social @hosbirding.bsky.social
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at its nest in New Forest, photo by Steve Laycock
Six Lesser Spot young in a Quantocks nest, photo Gus Robin
Something to celebrate - our 2025 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker report - successful breeding season, the most nests monitored & highest number of chicks fledged per nest since we started in 2015. Acoustic monitoring giving amazing results too, download here www.woodpecker-network.org.uk/images/L_S_W...
Are you an MSc student based at a UK university? Or do you know one?
RSPB @rspbscience.bsky.social have just released their list of research projects for 2026:
www.rspb.org.uk/helping-natu...
#ornithology #conservationscience π
Super excited to share the first paper from my PhD! π
We found that rivers donβt just matter for wetland birds - they also help support terrestrial insectivores, thanks to the flow of energy and nutrients from aquatic insects. ππ¦
Read more here: π link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Colour-ringed long-tailed tit
π¨ Come join the fantastic long-tailed tit team π¨
π¦We are recruiting a field technician to collect behavioural data on a long-term studied population of wild long-tailed tits (passerine birds).
πͺΆ20 months contract in Sheffield, UK.
π²Deadline: 23/11/2025.
jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk/job/Technici...
I am recruting a #postdoc for a project investigating the evolution of avian heat tolerance in @erc.europa.eu project #HotLife. Fieldwork over broad latitudinal gradients, common-garden experiments, and more. Read more and applyπ
shorturl.at/WA1Qa
Would appreciate a re-post!
@evoldir.bsky.social
a couple of individually marked godwits. Photo by J. Seenstra
Want your modelling to save birds? PhD with me at UvA (Amsterdam): build spatial integrated population model for black-tailed godwits with world-class dataset and strong team here & @birdeyes-gfn.bsky.social/RUG). werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies... Apply by 1 Dec 2025: #Ecology #Bayesian #Conservation
Spotted Flycatchers declined by 88% between 1970-2018, could low reproductive productivity be the cause?
Read on for a summary of new RSPB research
Full paper:
doi.org/10.1111/ibi....
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Very excited about this work now out in
@molecology! We test whetherπ¦with β¬οΈdispersal propensity differ in the nΒΊ CpGs across the genome, with the hypothesis thatβ¬οΈCpGs allow forβ¬οΈepigenetically-driven plasticity facilitating environmental coping
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Male pied flycatcher
Should I stay or should I go?π¦ Fancy a #PhD studying Pied flycatchers in the Peak District to help better understand what drives individual & population performance? Think #habitat #movement #ecology #genetics π Make use of this nestbox PIT tag study system and join us! Email me #LJMU #NationalTrust
Examples of some recent papers from graduate students in my group - a full list of recent papers and preprints can be found here (https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=pTdxVdIAAAAJ) and profile of the group here: https://egioxford.web.ox.ac.uk/members
The annual Wytham Field Team Photo!
Celebrating a successful field season with great food & good company - May 2025
Front view of the Life & Mind Building, which opened in Oct 2025: The new home of Biology at Oxford
Interested in a PhD in ornithology? Funding available for projects at the interface of ecology, behaviour & evolution from Oct '26 working on long-term population studies of tits at Wytham, based in @biology.ox.ac.uk in the new Life & Mind Building in Oxford
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
A Chough sits on a rocky cliff edge at South Stack Nature Reserve, North Wales.
Job vacancy π§ͺ
Principal Conservation Scientist, RSPB Cymru
Can you provide the evidence needed to save and restore the iconic species and landscapes of Wales?
Deadline: 3rd Nov
Location: Flexible within Wales
Duration: Permanent
Apply here: app.vacancy-filler.co.uk/salescrm/Car...
π·Jake Stephen
JOB ALERT: We have an exciting Senior Research Assistant post available for a project tracking predators and prey simultaneously starting early 2026. We need someone with experience tagging adult raptors or wader chicks. This you? app.vacancy-filler.co.uk/salescrm/Car...
EARLY VIEW in IBIS
Inadequate reproductive success is a potential cause of Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) population decline in England | onlinelibrary.wiley....
Malcolm D. Burgess et al | #ornithology πͺΆ
Closing date tomorrow, an exciting PhD linking insects with demography of aerial foraging birds such as House martin based @uniexecec.bsky.social in Cornwall.
Only a few days to go⦠please share!!!
Fully funded PhD with me, @uniexecec.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social @btobirds.bsky.social working on insectivorous bird declines - hopefully esp. House martin www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
The Gola Rainforest
New job alert: An amazing opportunity - our International science team are hiring for a 2yr position (initially) for an experienced scientist to work on tropical forest conservation ππ§ͺ
Full details here: app.vacancy-filler.co.uk/salescrm/Car...
π·Nick Williams/RSPB
Back from Olomouc β such a well-organised conference in a brilliant location. This community through these HNB conferences has sparked so many collaborations for PiedFly.Net, putting UK data on the map, and led to @spibirds.bsky.social making working together even easier. Thanks you organisers!
