That's a wrap on the 2026 Wytham breeding season - the earliest on record! Here are some summary stats from my fieldwork this year 📈🪺🐛🐣 @egioxford.bsky.social

Yesterday, I organised my first workshop with @egioxford.bsky.social ! ✍🏻🖥️ Huge thank you to Dr Alexandra Cones (LMU Munich) for a fantastic introduction to multivariate models in STAN. A really useful, fun session and a great jumping off point for exploring STAN's uses in ecological research!

First sight of a new generation... The first Great Tit eggs have hatched in Wytham Woods this morning.

Looks like my first field season at Wytham woods will be an early one! 🪺🐦

Edward Grey Institute@egioxford.bsky.social · 4mo ago

🚨🚨 Breaking news from Wytham Woods: The 80th year of data collection of the long-term tit study officially started today with this nest with 3 Blue Tit eggs (pic: @mcmahok.bsky.social). First egg inferred 23 March which is our earliest EVER nest - beating the previous record of 26 March by 3 days!🚨🚨

This week's EGI seminar will be given by Prof Hanna Kokko @kokkonut.bsky.social from Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz @unimainz.bsky.social on the role of time in avian trade-offs. All welcome in person in LT1 in LaMB @biology.ox.ac.uk 3.30pm on 6 March. Also live-streamed: details available ⬇️

This week's seminar will be given by Dr Paul Acker from NTNU, Norway on "Processes of life-history adaptation to spatio-seasonal environmental changes" - seminar at 3.30 on Friday in Life & Mind Building @biology.ox.ac.uk All welcome & will also be streamed - see details below

This week's EGI seminar in @biology.ox.ac.uk will be given by Dr Kirsty MacPhie from @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social on the contrasting insights to be drawn from studies of phenology in @phenoweb.bsky.social and @rumdeerresearch.bsky.social. Usual time and place - details below with streaming info ⬇️

Delighted to begin this term's seminars with Malcolm Burgess @piedflynet.bsky.social from @rspb.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social on Migration behaviour, demography & phenology of declining migratory birds. Seminar at 3.30 on 16 Jan in LT1 in the LaMB @biology.ox.ac.uk: all welcome - see details ⬇️

This week's seminar - last of this term - is our annual Christmas Seminar. We're welcoming Prof Tim Birkhead back to where he studied as a DPhil student ~50 years ago (can you can spot him in this 1978 photo?) Tim will be talking about "Sperm to Egg: Making a Biologist" - 3pm LT1 in the LaMB

Kicking off my PhD training with the Open, Reproducible, and Transparent Science course in Norway! *Strong evidence suggests that regular dog cuddles between sessions make students more likely to pay attention in stats lectures (Adelmant et al. 2025 - under review!)

A wonderful first conference to kick off the start of my PhD!

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Excellent talks from @davididiaquez.bsky.social @jorgensoraker.bsky.social @celestineadelmant.bsky.social and Daisy Abraham

Calving Team 2025 1st instalment @celestineadelmant.bsky.social Eve Morris @seanofrum.bsky.social @sarah-dobson.bsky.social Prof Josephine Pemberton and Ali Morris @isleofrum.bsky.social

Ringed this beautiful partially leucistic great tit last month in Warwickshire - talk about #embracethegrey!

This frosty English weather is really making me miss my summer of #ecology #fieldwork 🌱 There's nothing quite like the community you build during fieldwork season -likeminded young #ecologists coming together to work on fun research projects and discuss varied topics from science to policy!

So pleased to share our new paper on object transport decisions in @natureportfolio.bsky.social Scientific reports! We found that Goffins' cockatoos choose to carry light objects over heavy objects over short distances, but ignore weight balance cues. Check it out!

Oxford Biology@biology.ox.ac.uk · 2y ago

Goffin’s cockatoos choose lighter objects over identical heavier ones ⚖️ New research showed they often switched back and forth between objects, a sign of their decision-making process 👇 bit.ly/4fOCiAY