Great to get in another field visit to Mweya, likely the last of my PhD – a lot of desk-based work, but where better to do it! Excited to be heading onwards to Botswana in a couple of weeks to investigate mongoose-warthog interactions in another population.
See below for an excellent birding blog (unbiased perspective from a potentially biased individual)
A huge cliff surrounded by woodland, foregrounded by an empty winter vineyard and set against a blue sky with wispy clouds
A trip to the Grotte de l'Hortus in Hérault this morning provided a long awaited lifer in the form of a wallcreeper. It was joined on the crags by a supporting cast of three blue rock thrush, peregrine, and crag martins. With @leelachanner.bsky.social
Been working on a little video looking at IDing Aythya ducks over the past month. Feel free to give it a watch here as a little early Christmas present (if you're a fan of niche ducks): youtu.be/f4aF7_zONIM?...
What a week! So many interesting talks at the 2025 @britishecologicalsociety.org conference and great to talk to lots of people about my own research. Had a lovely time exploring Edinburgh as well, including a cold dip at the beach and a lifer long-tailed duck.
A sandpiper amongst rotting seaweed
A pipit in the grass
A hoopoe poses on a white sandy beach
A very tired mourning dove, perched on a blue pallet
Bonkers day-trip to St Agnes yesterday provided two lifers. The mourning dove didn't move much but the spotted sandpiper, american pipit, and hoopoe all put on a show to make up for it. With @leelachanner.bsky.social @liamlangley1.bsky.social and quite a few others!
A small bird sits in the evening light at the water's edge
Impressive showing from the Arctic Tern that's been about at Argal Res for the past few days @cbwps.org.uk @leelachanner.bsky.social
Bonelli's warbler on St Mary's, Scillies, from a day trip in mid August
Living in the bush often means finding weird solutions to problems faced by animals living near humans.
Huge thanks to aquaphor for a truly multipurpose balm that helped us grease this Nile monitor out of the grate he was trapped in!
@laurarlabarge.bsky.social @leelachanner.bsky.social
Two new sightings for me in Mweya, QENP; glossy ibis and a lovely pair of white-faced whistling ducks.
Out in the field again with all the highs and lows that brings, from having to cook 22 tiny omelettes every other night to elephants sparring with a lion.
#conferencegoals #ASABSpring2025
What an amazing bunch 🦤
Great to have had the opportunity to present my research into individual variation in interspecific cooperative behaviour at #ASAB2025 in Liverpool today. Very lucky to be in the company of so many fantastic talks!
@asab-spring-2025.bsky.social
Day 2 of #ASABSpring2025 has begun! 🦤
Our #ASABSpring2025 conference kicked off with a blast (from the past) today🔥
We had an incredible talk by Dr. Tom Fletcher and Tom Land from Silverback Films 🦍, accompanied by Camilla Affleck from Liverpool Screen School 📽️ and Prof. Peter Falkingham from LJMU 🦖
Woodcock orchid
Orange-tip butterfly
Painted lady butterfly
Baton blue butterfly
Lots of butterflies out despite the overcast skies! Orange-tip, green hairstreak, green-veined white, southern festoon, small heath, grizzled skipper, wall brown, baton blue and >15 painted ladies. Plus yellow and woodcock orchids.
Some nice birds from the train through Occitanie, on my way to visit my family for Easter – egrets and grey herons, black kite and black-winged stilt. Looking forward to seeing what insects are about.
A grass snake resting in the grass
A male adder sunning itself
A male and a female adder making the most of a warming patch of sun in the gorse
A friend and I approaching the adder in image 2
I've recently moved to Bristol and have been trying to explore the surrounding area. A trip to Ubley Warren on Saturday in search of reptiles didn't disappoint with adder, grass snake, and plenty of common lizards seen! @leelachanner.bsky.social
Tregonning Hill, Cornwall
Adder in bracken
Adder in bracken
Super exciting to stumble across 4 early adders basking on Tregonning Hill in the weekend's lovely weather
Back in Cornwall and good to get out birding quickly! Lifer in the form of a ring-billed gull, and nice to see the glaucous gull and goosanders.
A couple of days in Samburu to round off the EBE field trip, with white-rumped shrike, secretary bird, white-headed buffalo weaver, and red-and-yellow barbet. @uniexecec.bsky.social
From Nakuru NP – great white pelicans and grey hooded gulls, ruff, little stint, and augur buzzard.
Continuing with the @uniexecec.bsky.social MSc EBE field course sightings, here are some from Ol Pejeta: crowned hornbill, red-cheeked cordon bleu, golden-breasted bunting, and black-headed oriole. The bunting is my favourite of the trip, one I've wanted to see for ages and which didn't disappoint!
Some of the bird species on the @uniexecec.bsky.social
MSc EBE Kenya field course. White eye, purple grenadier, Eastern grey woodpecker and African paradise flycatcher.
A first for the year! Found this silly hummingbird hawk-moth awake and flying around the house last night. Released it once the temperature had warmed up today, hopefully it finds somewhere more suitable to overwinter.
One at the top would be a roller, maybe lilac-breasted. A hummingbird of some sort underneath it perhaps? Bottom left agreed on kingfisher. Bird on the left maybe a scarlet tanager, though the wings are green rather than black.
Didn't expect to spot a hawfinch from the kitchen window!
Cirl and reed buntings on our Boxing Day walk, on the edge of the garrigue
Science Storytelling for Change audience
Rada Pandeva speaking on panel
Gillian Burke speaking on panel
Anna Roberts speaking on panel
A great turn-out for our Science Storytelling for Change event! Lovely to see so many engaged people in the audience. Thanks so much to everyone at @another-way.bsky.social who helped organise, and to our fantastic panelists, @radapandeva.bsky.social, Anna Roberts and Gillian Burke.
Rainbow over Falmouth harbour
Exbase audience
Some fascinating talks at Exbase yesterday, from termite conflict to dolphin communication via squirrel caching! Nerves aside, I was also happy to present some background to my own research on terrestrial cleaning symbioses.
