Ben Sheldon

Job Alert! I am recruiting for a post doc in my group. The position will focus on establishing how changes in climate cause population change in birds and mammals. @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social

The Chornobyl disaster was 40 years ago this year. A huge amount has happened since. What can we say about the biological consequences of such events? Come along to this week's @egioxford.bsky.social seminar to hear more: details below.

I’m excited to share a PhD opportunity in my group, focussed on ecological forecasting of blue tit population responses to climate change as part of the e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk @edinburghbiology.bsky.social.

Excited to share CASE PhD opportunities supervised by me at @edinburghbiology.bsky.social & @uoe-eid.bsky.social in collaboration with @iaciac.bsky.social , @samellisq.bsky.social and the wonderful team at Woodchester Park. Please share widely and get in touch to find out more! Links to ads below.

We are excited to advertise two phenoweb PhDs through the e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk @edinburghbiology.bsky.social. Both projects focus on better understanding the impacts of climate change on birds and involve fieldwork on nestbox populations of blue tits across Scottish woodlands #phenology #ornithology

🚨Job Alert Research Technician working with us and the Animal Vibration Lab The successful applicant will work across projects on epigenetics and vibration sensing in various arthropods 🪰🕷️🪲 🧪 Based in the Life and Mind Building @biology.ox.ac.uk my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Fuel for the Nutcracker-expectation hype in the UK... The numbers at Falsterbo are still increasing, with the highest count of the autumn (124 headed SW) so far yesterday, but good numbers throughout the preceding week...

Reminder of today’s @egioxford.bsky.social seminar!

Off Fair Isle today after a couple of days' weather delay, and with a bit of time before onward travel tomorrow. Despite grim weather managed really nice views of Grey-cheeked Thrush at Easter Quarff & Hornemann's Redpoll at Sound. Western Bonelli's Warbler at Frakkafield more elusive (heard only!)

The first @egioxford.bsky.social seminar of the year this Friday - really looking forward to this one. This is live streamed: abstract and joining details ⬇️

Any thoughts about how to subspecifically identify Snow Bunting? These two birds together from Fair Isle today seem perhaps to be a brown-mantled insulae (Iceland) & a greyer-mantled nivalis (Greenland, Scandinavia etc). Mixed origin Redpoll groups occur here as well of course. Thoughts welcome!

Shetland Day 9: Flight off Fair Isle cancelled due to high winds. Difficult birding conditions but had a brilliant encounter with a group of 4 Snow Buntings which gradually approached to within 5m of us as we sat on scree on west side. Also Iceland Gull from yesterday & 1 Yellow-browed W remaining

Shetland Day 8: Last day on Fair Isle. A good day that started with a Dusky Warbler trapped, a superb adult Iceland Gull in South Harbour, a new Common Rosefinch, several new Siberian Chiffchaffs in the afternoon, Woodcock, Snow & Lapland Buntings. Thanks to all at @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social!

Shetland Day 7: A quieter day with fewer thrushes (though still 1000+ Redwing, many Blackbird & 1 Ring Ouzel at dusk) & only Olive-backed Pipit remaining of the rarities. Still much to enjoy, including finding a late Pied Flycatcher at the top of Ward Hill, 2 Mealy Redpolls & a couple of Jack Snipe

Shetland day 6: No question about bird of the day on Fair Isle, with rain at dawn sparking a big fall of thrushes, dominated by Redwing. All-island total around 12000 - huge groups of 500+ swirling around, also good numbers of Song T, Fieldfare & Blackb. Two YBWs and hrd only Olive-backed Pipit too.

A wet morning on Fair Isle, so while we wait for the rain to clear through will post this Starling - ever present birds here - riding one of the local sheep...

Shetland Day 5: A weather change with light N'lies & showers, & flat calm by early PM, seemed to have brought little but a few hundred Redwing, till some classic afternoon Fair Isle events, with first Rustic Bunting, then Arctic Warbler at the southern end. Also Barred W, Little Bunt, OBP & STLark

🧵 Matt Goodwin demanded to be fact-checked live on air when he claimed the UK spent "£100 million PER YEAR on family planning and condoms in Pakistan". He then 'corrected' himself to £74.3 million, saying it was based on a "major news story from October 2025" He was, of course, still wrong... 1/30

Shetland day 4 pt 2: Beautiful day on Fair Isle with the wind dropping away. A few new Yellow-browed Warblers arriving this afternoon & also enjoyed more excellent views of Little Bunting, blythi Lesser Whitethroat and finding a Black Redstart down one of the geos

Shetland Day 4 pt 1: A good day on Fair Isle with the highlight exceptional views of this Olive-backed Pipit striding around in the garden at Upper Stonybreck - such long pink legs at times

A couple of close crops of the head of yesterday's Little Bunting - feeding quite unconcernedly within 3m and beautifully lit: couldn't ask for better views!

Shetland Day 3: arrived Fair Isle mid morning. Good day round island with highlights of superbly confiding Little Bunting, funky 'North-western' Redpoll, Short-toed Lark, 3 Yellow-browed Warblers, Hen Harrier and plenty of migrating geese and Whooper Swans

Very good to arrive back at @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social today - smooth flight from Shetland & spectacular skies

Shetland day 2: howling westerly gale made day difficult, though a few migrants still to be found including brief Yellow-browed W in Quendale, Pied Fly at Hoswick, scattering of thrushes & another look at Buff-breasted Sand. Joined many failing to see elusive Arctic W in wind-tossed plantation.

Arrived on Shetland this afternoon for a week's birding (Fair Isle on Tues if weather permits). Difficult conditions, with wind & rain, but happy to see 3 Buff-breasted Sandpipers, King Eider & after some searching, the Siberian Stonechat at Levenwick at dusk & a lone Pale-bellied Brent at Virkie.

A Queen in hiding... Watching the female King Eider in Lerwick harbour today when a Bonxie came in for a close pass, causing the Eider flock to bunch together tightly in defence

Little bit of video of the juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper at the Oxfordshire Golf Course this morning, foraging among lost golf balls... The same small lake hosted the juv Red-necked Phalarope only a month ago, an excellent double

Our new paper on bird vocal amplitude is out in @sse-evolution.bsky.social ! Across 123 species, we found two new contenders for world’s loudest bird: bare-throated bellbird and seriema Along with the white bellbird, both can reach jackhammer-level amplitudes! doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpag153

Tiny parasites, big questions. What can the UK's flat flies tell us about bird health? Join Dr @denisewawman.bsky.social on 21 Oct to explore UK species, how their ranges have changed since the 1960s, and their potential role in disease transmission 🌎 🧪 🎟️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1981718540...

Finally managed to catch up with an Oxfordshire Wryneck with this bird at Day's Lock found by @geoffbirdy.bsky.social. At times incredibly cryptic, sitting motionless in the base of a hedge, only given away by occasional neck-stretches to lick ants from nearby branches

I remember seeing Margaret Attwood at the IOC in Vancouver in 2018 - the closest thing to Canadian royalty?! Excellent to see a chair in Ornithology being endowed - see quoted tweet for direct details & more background in this @theguardian.com article www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

Oh for goodness sake. What are we doing?

Delighted to see this mammoth effort led by @sevans.bsky.social, together with @mevisser.bsky.social, Arie van Noordwijk and Henri Bouwmeester out in @plosbiology.org.

We use the covariance reaction norm method (by @jsmartin.bsky.social) on 40 years of great tit data from Wytham Woods. The natal-to-adult body mass correlation in this population is high on average (r ≈ 0.7) but appears to vary with temperature, rainfall, and density, particularly during breeding.

Latest work from @devisatarkar.bsky.social DPhil thesis exploring the ecological effects that modulate the link between offspring and adult body mass in great tits. The correlation is really quite plastic! Fun collaboration with @lbliard.bsky.social @iremsepil.bsky.social @davididiaquez.bsky.social

Simulate extensive range of selective [dis]appearance & ageing scenarios, life histories; explore published datasets; or analyze + diagnose your own data with sophisticated & comprehensive features, approaches, & models, which explain the mechanism & biology! Check out our shiny app, disappR!

Just published in Ibis. A 15.5 year study of avian pox in Dunnocks (Prunella modularis). Quick summary: Dull brown bird doesn't die of disease & haematophagous Hippoboscidae from healthy heterotrophs help hypothesis. (Can anyone think of a better word than heterotrophs?) More details below. 1/n

The good birds keep coming in Oxfordshire in 2026: Today's highlight was a county first Baird's Sandpiper - this superb juvenile found on the lagoon at Ardley this morning by Gareth Casburn

Oxfordshire's excellent run of good birds in 2026 continuing with a 1st winter Grey Phalarope found by Steve Sansom along the north shore of Dix Pit this morning. Mostly rather distant while I was there - watched it walking around on floating weed picking insects

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Such an impressive compilation of data from tracked birds across (most of) the global range and diversity of Whimbrel in this new collaborative paper in Ibis: look at the map - so many major transoceanic movements onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Almost 40 years old - the brochure for the 1988 trip to Marojejy in Madagascar which we (5 students - later joined by Frank Hawkins & Joanna Durbin) put together to send to various charitable trusts hoping for funds. I think we mailed ~1000 out: we received many generous donations in cash & kind

A group of 25 Fields Medalists, including myself, have made a joint declaration on Math and AI: mathandai.org . We welcome additional signatories. See also this article in the Economist announcing the declaration: www.economist.com/science-and-...

A trip to catch Mute Swans at Abbotsbury was a bit of a personal failure as car broke down & was confined to garage. I did get to spend extra time at @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social though. Bird-wise fairly quiet, though hard to beat crisp autumn Wheatears, but a Death's Head Hawkmoth was superb!