UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)

Three images showing FDRI roundel, some data and drone image of flooded area with text Feedback Session, Accessing gridded time series data with Python and R notebooks

💧 Working with hydrological data? Help shape the Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure digital platform!

We're running a feedback session on notebook-based access to FDRI's gridded time series data with Python and R.

Sign up now for 21 April, 14:00-16:00:
fdri.org.uk/events/Feedb...

Infographic summarising the 2025 Common Guillemot breeding season on the Isle of May. It shows two key metrics: breeding success of 0.72 chicks per pair (average) and adult survival of 83%, which is below the long-term average. The graphic includes simple icons and highlights that adult survival is an important indicator for long-lived seabirds. Source: UKCEH.

How was the 2025 season for Guillemots on the Isle of May?

📊 Breeding success: 0.72, average
📉 Adult survival: 83%, below average

Adult survival is crucial for long-lived seabirds, so even small changes matter. Long-term monitoring helps us track how they respond to a changing world.

#seabirds

Molecular detection of honeybee pathogens in honey from a UK citizen science program Fruits, legumes, oilseeds and nuts have a high dependency on insect pollination, of which the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) is a critical contributor.…

@buzzingbennett.bsky.social's first PhD paper has just been published, titled "Molecular detection of honeybee pathogens in honey from a UK citizen science program" 🐝🦠

Check it out: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Summary below ⬇️

@ukceh.bsky.social @lindsaynewbold.bsky.social

Map of UK with shaded areas showing principal aquifers and text detailing river flow and groundwater level situation for March and March to May

Latest UK Hydrological Outlook: March to May 💧

What are the likely trajectories of river flows and groundwater levels over the weeks ahead?

Full detail at hydoutuk.net/latest-outlook

#WaterResources #hydrology

Predicting antifungal concentrations that select for resistance: an enhanced approach to establish environmental thresholds Antifungal resistance (AFR) is an emerging threat. Understanding the concentrations at which antifungals select for resistance is critical for guiding…

Our latest paper has just been published in Environment International!

Check it out here ➡️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

@ukceh.bsky.social @ukceh-moleco.bsky.social

Bird nests support a diverse, dynamic and distinctive macroarthropod community on the forest floor Nests built by vertebrates, such as birds and mammals, constitute diverse microhabitats that are inhabited by many arthropod taxa and represent important hubs of local biodiversity. Compared to leaf...

New paper! Bird nests (Wood Warblers) are hubs of invertebrate biodiversity on forest floor, hosting more species/individuals than leaf litter. Probably due to heat & food detritus. Losing Wood Warblers = ecological networks lost. #ornithology
resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Lough Neagh photo by Peter Harper

1/3 Find out about a new research project which will generate scientific evidence to help restore #LoughNeagh - Northern Ireland’s largest & most iconic lake.

Join the next Uk Freshwater Quality Programme webinar
📅Wed 25 March
⌚ 11am

Presented by @susheelbusi.bsky.social @ukceh.bsky.social

Linking Amazon deforestation to reduced rainfall Researchers used process-based models in an exploration of how deforestation is feeding back to change rainfall levels. In particular, we were interested in the impact of Amazon land use change on rai...

🌧️🌳 How does Amazon deforestation reshape rainfall patterns in the region?

New research using process‑based modelling attributes at least 50% of rainfall decline to the loss of rainforest cover within the basin and upstream regions.

See our new blog post: www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-med...

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As environmental science took shape in 1950s–60s Britain, women at our old Merlewood research station had key roles in labs, fieldwork & offices.

UKCEH builds on this legacy and is committed to advancing gender equality as we shape the future of environmental science today.

#InternationalWomensDay

Upcoming webinar series: Exploring the UK’s hydrological data archives and tools | National River Flow Archive The Surface and Groundwater Archives (SAGA) Committee is pleased to announce a two-part webinar series  designed to showcase the UK’s most important hydrological data archives, monitoring programmes, and forecasting tools. Together, these sessions will offer valuable insight into the data systems...

💦 Sign up for the National River Flow Archive's 2-part webinar series: Exploring the UK’s hydrological data archives and tools

Learn about the data systems that underpin research, water resource management & environmental decision‑making across the country

🔗

Some of our web portals and catalogues may be offline for a period this weekend as we carry out routine IT maintenance. Please check back soon!

#BackSoon #PlannedDowntime

Three images showing FDRI roundel, some data and drone image of flooded area with text Feedback Session, Accessing gridded time series data with Python and R notebooks

💧 Working with hydrological data? Help shape the Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure digital platform!

We're running a feedback session on notebook-based access to FDRI's gridded time series data with Python and R.

Sign up now for 21 April, 14:00-16:00:
fdri.org.uk/events/Feedb...

Historical deforestation drives strong rainfall decline across the southern Amazon basin - Nature Communications The authors find that historical deforestation has substantially altered regional observed precipitation over the southern Amazon basin through inter-regional atmospheric moisture transport, which is ...

Improved representation of these processes in climate models will support more reliable projections of Amazon resilience, ultimately informing policies on forest conservation and climate mitigation.

Full paper in @natcomms.nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Linking Amazon deforestation to reduced rainfall Researchers used process-based models in an exploration of how deforestation is feeding back to change rainfall levels. In particular, we were interested in the impact of Amazon land use change on rai...

🌧️🌳 How does Amazon deforestation reshape rainfall patterns in the region?

New research using process‑based modelling attributes at least 50% of rainfall decline to the loss of rainforest cover within the basin and upstream regions.

See our new blog post: www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-med...

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Wind shear enhances soil moisture influence on rapid thunderstorm growth - Nature Analysis of millions of events over sub-Saharan Africa shows that wind shear amplifies the impact of soil moisture in triggering rapidly developing thunderstorms.

The UKCEH-led study in Nature found interactions between soil moisture patterns and wind in the lowest few kilometres of the atmosphere influence where storms develop – so monitoring these patterns would provide earlier warnings.

Full paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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NEW: A key finding about how intense thunderstorms develop could help improve the certainty about the location of upcoming storms on hot days 🌩️

#EarlyWarnings

See our news: www.ceh.ac.uk/press/thunde...

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Help shape the future #C3S Water Service! Take part in our survey to help us understand your hydrological information needs & design the future of a global, user‑oriented platform with historical data, seasonal forecasts & climate projections.

📋 Survey: wur.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Online summer school — data-driven hydrological science. Applications open. Raindrops and data background.

Online summer school - applications now OPEN for this free course on Data-driven approaches to hydrological science (13-16 July 2026).

Limited spaces! Apply here: https://f.mtr.cool/cjpuzeitfc 🧪

🧐 Did you know, there's an easy way to tell the difference between grasshoppers and crickets?

Entomologist Robin Hutchinson explains 📽️

#WorldWildlifeDay 🦗

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Home screen of iRecord Grasshoppers app with illustrations of six species

Adult grasshoppers and crickets emerge in late spring/early summer. They're good at camouflaging, so you're more likely to hear them before you see them.

📲 If you spot them, submit sightings via iRecord Grasshoppers or the general iRecord app.

All records help science! www.brc.ac.uk/apps

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Two page spread from a book featuring illustrations, photos and information related to the Great Green Bush-cricket

We were delighted to offer support via the Biological Records Centre.

The book itself is beautifully illustrated by artist Richard Lewington and features a wealth of species accounts, ID guides, distribution maps and even links to sound recordings, resulting in a definitive reference guide.

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Illustrations of grasshopper, cricket and earwig on the front cover of a book called Field Guide to the Grasshoppers and Allies of Great Britain and Ireland

🦗 This #WorldWildlifeDay, discover Britain's grasshoppers, crickets & allied species in a brilliant new field guide!

It's co-written by our former colleague Björn Beckmann with recording scheme coordinator Peter Sutton.

Allied species are earwigs, stick insects, mantids and cockroaches 🪳

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Farming Today - 02/03/26: Officially enough rain, Mrs Wilmot's Pippin, land use pressure - BBC Sounds A silver lining to 2026's wet start: scientists say we're leaving 2025's drought behind.

🌧️ Has there been enough rain to replenish rivers and groundwater levels after last year's drought? Steve Turner spoke to Radio 4's Farming Today about how water resources in different regions have responded to winter rainfall.

📻 Listen again from ~8m 45s

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

Shags have had a tough few years on the Isle of May following a large mortality event in winter 2023/24 and a smaller event earlier this year.

Thankfully both 2024 and 2025 saw above average productivity, so hopefully the population can recover in time. 🐣

#IsleOfMay #seabirds #ornithology

Prefer to get it straight to your inbox every month?

Sign up here to never miss an issue www.ceh.ac.uk/ukceh-newsle...

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Four images clockwise from top left: algal bloom on Lough Neagh, an Asian Tiger mosquito, podcast presenters Sue Nelson and Alice Hope, a small fenced structure across saltmarsh

Out now! Our February newsletter rounds up our latest news, with top stories including

🦟 Tropical virus risk maps
💧 New Lough Neagh project
🦆 Insights for saltmarsh restoration
🌧️ Whiplash weather

and much more!

Catch up here: mailings.ceh.ac.uk/ukceh-feb202... 🧪

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Two people in conversation in a workshop

Three people in conversation in a corridor

Pointing to a caterpillar

Two people in conversation

And we were also pleased to welcome Dr Emma Gordon, director of Administrative Data Research UK.

Along with a tour of facilities, discussions focused on UKCEH’s data assets: what we hold, how they are accessed and how they are used to address complex environmental challenges 🌍.

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Two people in conversation

Person wearing a lab coat

Several people in conversation beside a poster board

Sir Andrew Mackenzie, chair of @ukri.org, took a trip to East Hendred farm before touring the GroDome, Honey Lab and eDNA facilities at Wallingford.

His visit included round‑table discussions on data, innovation and commercialisation, and thoughts on the challenges facing UK science

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Several people wearing lab coats in conversation in a laboratory with lots of honey samples in view

Five people standing, one of whom holds a framed image

Lots of people around boardroom style tables looking at someone giving a presentation

Lots of visitors to our Wallingford site this week!

We welcomed senior representatives from Ghana and Nigeria’s research and development institutions, including Ghana’s Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology and Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology.

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Hands working at a small electronic device

Person screwing together a small electronic device

Small electronic device tied around beam over a river

It's one of many innovations that FDRI, a UKCEH-led collaboration, is enabling.

Want to join a future workshop and keep up to date on other FDRI opportunities? Sign up to the newsletter here: tinyurl.com/bdnbx4pc