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Simon Butler

@simon-butler

Professor of Applied Ecology | University of East Anglia | Bird ecology & conservation | Soundscapes | Acoustic ecology

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13.12.2024
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Latest posts by Simon Butler @simon-butler

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Could stress be lowered by listening to #birdsong? What is the role of #soundscapes in our interactions with nature?

I had the pleasure of talking about this and much more at @gardenersworldmag.bsky.social podcast

Listen here: tinyurl.com/5n7udy49

@dice-kent.bsky.social @biouea.bsky.social

08.01.2026 12:22 👍 22 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 0

Can I match and raise with >4 hrs in a car park waiting for the AA, made worse by the fact it is also my wife’s 50th today …😬

24.12.2025 20:44 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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⚠️Please share: Deadline 2 Dec⚠️

Funded PhD in my group:
🧬How does parental ageing shape the next generation?
🐾Find out by studying meerkats!

This PhD combines:
🧪Epigenetic clocks
✨Bioinformatics
📊Ecological data
🌍African fieldwork
💡Big evolutionary questions

⏬APPLY⏬
www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...

27.11.2025 17:46 👍 7 🔁 10 💬 0 📌 0
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Job Opportunity at University of Leeds: Research Fellow in Global Conservation Salary: Grade 7 (£41,064 – £48,822 p.a. depending on experience) This role will be based on the university campus, with scope for it to be undertaken in a hybrid manner. We are also open to discussing...

📣Job vacancy!📣

Research Fellow in Global Conservation at Leeds, working with Dave Williams (and me, a bit) to assess the impact of conservation initiatives on biodiversity, carbon, and people: jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

#ConservationScience 🌍

20.11.2025 15:34 👍 19 🔁 36 💬 0 📌 0
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Vorläufige Ergebnisse des 8. Internationalen Weißstorchzensus 2024 Der 8. Internationale Weißstorchzensus fand 2024 wieder als ein gemeinsames Projekt von NABU (BirdLife Germany) und BirdLife International statt. Der NABU koordiniert die länderübergreifenden Zählunge...

New funded PhD projects with @marius-somveille.bsky.social, myself and collaborators. Examining migratory connectivity for seabirds www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d... and and the dynamics of seasonal migration www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK742/p...
#ornithology
@ueaceec.bsky.social @ueaenv.bsky.social

12.11.2025 11:53 👍 9 🔁 11 💬 0 📌 0
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How a radical experiment to bring a forest into a preschool transformed children’s health In Finland, kindergartens are exposing children to more mud, wild plants and moss - and finding changes to their health that show how crucial biodiversity is to wellbeing

Biodiversity and human health

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

29.10.2025 10:40 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Our latest research shows that people who perceive local nature as rich and varied reported better wellbeing and less psychological distress, regardless of how many trees were actually there. Blog summary and link to full paper: findingnature.org.uk/2025/10/24/g...

24.10.2025 11:00 👍 6 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 1
A collage featuring some laboratory analyses, a schematic of the structure of DNA, a pocket watch in an elderly person's hand, and a family of wild meerkats.

A collage featuring some laboratory analyses, a schematic of the structure of DNA, a pocket watch in an elderly person's hand, and a family of wild meerkats.

🚨Fully-funded PhD opportunity in my group🚨

🧬How does parental ageing shape the next generation?🐾

Find out by studying meerkats!

🧪Epigenetic clocks
✨Bioinformatics
📊Long-term data
🌍Kalahari fieldwork
💡Big evolutionary questions

Get in touch or APPLY NOW
Please share!
www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...

17.10.2025 09:12 👍 45 🔁 54 💬 2 📌 0
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

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!

The annual Wytham Field Team Photo!

Celebrating a successful field season with great food & good company - May 2025

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

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...

20.10.2025 19:43 👍 101 🔁 151 💬 5 📌 2
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Molecular and genomic insights to sexually antagonistic genes (GRIESHOP_U26DTP) | Doctoral Training Partnership Why do harmful genes persist in populations instead of being removed by natural selection? One answer lies in sexual antagonism: when a genetic variant benefits males but harms females, or vice versa.

Please RT!

🚨 4-year PhD position in my lab (Oct 2026 start) 🚨

Molecular and genomic insights to sexually antagonistic genes

Application deadline: Dec 2, 2025

biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/mol...

16.10.2025 13:51 👍 17 🔁 24 💬 1 📌 0
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Genetic load, fitness and conservation in the Seychelles warbler.
A wonderful PhD opportunity - spanning important evolutionary and conservation-relevant concepts. Come work with us
lnkd.in/dtGaEJV2

14.10.2025 10:45 👍 15 🔁 19 💬 2 📌 1

And we’re delighted to have you join us! Here’s to four years exploring sex ratios and synchrony @biouea.bsky.social @ueaceec.bsky.social @jengill.bsky.social @catmorrison.bsky.social @btorobrob.bsky.social

15.10.2025 09:38 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Rejection Does Not Define your worth: lessons from my PhD journey - STEM Untapped Pursuing a PhD is not just an academic endeavour—it is a test of resilience, determination, and self-belief. My journey to securing a fully funded PhD scholarship in the UK was anything but smooth. It...

Excited to have officially started my PhD at UEA! I’ve put together a blog about my PhD application process. I hope it offers some insight for anyone about to start their own journey. Especially for mothers who are juggling it all ✨ Thanks to @stemuntapped

stemuntapped.org/rejection-do...

15.10.2025 06:33 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
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Genetic load, fitness and conservation in the Seychelles warbler. A wonderful PhD opportunity - spanning important evolutionary and conservation-relevant concepts. Come work with us. david… | david r... Genetic load, fitness and conservation in the Seychelles warbler. A wonderful PhD opportunity - spanning important evolutionary and conservation-relevant concepts. Come work with us. david richardson...

www.linkedin.com/posts/david-...

14.10.2025 10:40 👍 1 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 1

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...

08.10.2025 16:36 👍 12 🔁 31 💬 0 📌 2
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Wild about nature: Four health benefits of the outdoors Spending just 20 minutes in nature can lower blood pressure, heart rate and stress levels.

“If you've ever felt calmer after a walk in the park or a stroll through the woods, it's not your imagination - it's biology.”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

10.10.2025 05:52 👍 14 🔁 10 💬 0 📌 1
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The Crown Princess Victoria Professorship in Biodiversity - Academic Positions Seeking an internationally recognized scientist for a prestigious professorship in biodiversity. Lead groundbreaking research, interdisciplinary collaboratio...

University of Gothenburg announces a strategic professorship in biodiversity with an interdisciplinary profile
academicpositions.com/ad/universit...

01.10.2025 17:33 👍 18 🔁 36 💬 0 📌 1
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📢🚨Please share! We’re hiring! 📢🚨Have a strong interests in wildlife ecology and gut microbiome bioinformatics? 3 year Senior Research Associate for NERC Pushing the Frontiers grant. Apply here: vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/18.... Informal enquiries welcome! drgldavidson.github.io/ACMEresearch

30.09.2025 10:20 👍 39 🔁 40 💬 1 📌 3
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We are seeking an ornithologist/modeller for a 2-year POST-DOC in Turin. Using archaeological remains, we will reconstruct past avian communities to understand the impacts of climate change and human pressure on birds through time. For details see cutt.ly/irN76QDZ PLEASE RT. #ornithology #AviArch

29.09.2025 07:20 👍 56 🔁 57 💬 0 📌 2
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Wild bird numbers continue to fall in UK with some species in ‘dramatic freefall’ Species index fell by 4% between 2019 and 2024 – although government data shows woodland populations beginning to stabilise Wild bird species face an accelerating decline in the UK, new figures show, with some species heading for local extinction. Bird numbers have plummeted since the 1970s, and new government data shows that trend continuing; between 2019 and 2024 the species index declined in the UK by 4% and England by 7%. Continue reading...

Wild bird numbers continue to fall in UK with some species in ‘dramatic freefall’

23.09.2025 12:35 👍 83 🔁 60 💬 2 📌 3
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Wild bird populations in the UK and England, 1970 to 2024

Latest government stats show a continued decline in many bird species across the UK 🪶🧪

www.gov.uk/government/s...

These data are made possible by the dedication of expert volunteers, allowing us to track common bird populations for >50 years

23.09.2025 15:58 👍 45 🔁 36 💬 3 📌 2
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North American bird declines are driven by reductions in common species | www.science.org/doi/... | Science Advances | #ornithology 🪶

22.09.2025 16:30 👍 15 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0

🎤Excited to be presenting at the britishecologicalsociety.org Annual Meeting #BES2025! My talk: Birdsong as a Cultural Ecosystem Service: Understanding the pathways linking acoustic indices to human well-being 🐦🌿

#EnvironmentaPsychology @konraduebel.bsky.social @simon-butler.bsky.social

19.09.2025 15:16 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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The Essay - Symphony of the Wild - 4. Wild Soundscapes - BBC Sounds Evolutionary biologist Ben Garrod uncovers melodies and rhythms across the natural world.

Great to chat #shiftingsoundscapes with @bengarrod.bsky.social as part of his “Symphonies of the Wild” series for BBC Radio 3’s The Essay.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

19.09.2025 06:18 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 2
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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...

18.09.2025 12:52 👍 32 🔁 32 💬 0 📌 2
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Come work with us… PDRA position to work on a host of exciting things! jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
Get in touch if you want to know more

15.09.2025 18:26 👍 7 🔁 16 💬 0 📌 0

🌿🔊 New research find natural soundscapes—especially those rich in bird song—boost mental well-being.

But how? 🧠✨

We found that these soundscapes work first through perceptions of bird diversity, and then building (awe) & restoring (stress reduction, restorativeness) capacity pathways.

01.09.2025 11:13 👍 10 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
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Finding Rory the Roller A European Roller’s extraordinary journey from South Africa to China demonstrates the power of birds and migration to connect us, along with teaching us about their needs along the world’s Global Flyw...

Nice story of a 'European' Roller - equipped with a satellite tag over winter in South Africa, tracked up the east coast of Africa and across the Gulfs of Adan and Oman, to breed in north-west China - where it was eventually found by local ornithologists www.birdlife.org/news/2025/08...

28.08.2025 20:35 👍 13 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0

#AfricanOrnithology

06.08.2025 09:43 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

This is a huge mistake. My experience on NERC panels is that resubmissions score higher and are more likely to be funded: the review process improves good proposals that should not be lost (along with the time spent on them).

18.07.2025 08:23 👍 34 🔁 15 💬 1 📌 1