See! I'm still a birder! Second lifer of 2026 with this Baird's sandpiper in Whitchurch just now. Lovely little bird. #birding #ornithology @birdguides.bsky.social

New paper out where we ask: how vulnerable are higher education assessments to generative AI? Rather than speculate, we put ChatGPT-4 to the test... 💻 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42412628/ #academicintegrity #teaching #university #education #physiology @ljmuofficial.bsky.social @ljmu-ris.bsky.social

ChatGPT and Academic Integrity: A case study of Assessment Vulnerability in Biological & Environmental Sciences - PubMed

The rise of generative AI has accelerated content creation across sectors, including education and academia. While these tools can streamline workflows and support learning, their use by students to complete assignments poses risks to academic integrity. This case study quantitatively evaluated the …

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Immersive learning in #biology & #ecology: a nature lab project showing the value of VR in enhancing fieldwork inclusivity & targeting practical skills desired in wildlife #conservation. Our @ljmuofficial.bsky.social wildlife students valued paid bird survey opportunities 🙌 doi.org/10.47408/jld...

Ivatt 46441 at Lakeside Station yesterday. A pleasure to ride behind this with the family. #steamtrain #trains #trainphotography

Warrington Pretty Muddy 5k for @cancerresearchuk.org lived up to its name. Not my usual style of running race but way more fun & money raised for an excellent cause #fckcancer #cancer #raceforlife

Lovely views of the western reef heron in the last hour at @rspbcymru.bsky.social Conwy @birdguides.bsky.social @zachinch92.bsky.social #birding

Controversial but I don't get the Flying Scotsman hype. It's a nice loco but the crowds it attracts & the mania... a lady stood on my 3-yr old today to get up close! Anyway my boy wanted to see it. So here's a pic I took while breastfeeding... East Lancs Railway #trains #steamtrain #trainphotography

60532 Blue Peter coasting into Warrington Bank Quay station last night #trains #steamtrain #trainphotography

Great to see this excellent study out with my #Wildlife #Conservation MSc student Katie Hopkins. It examines how bee & hoverfly functional groups respond to land cover change across Liverpool & which land cover types best support pollinators #entomology #insects 🐝🌼 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Pollinator functional group responses to urban land cover in Merseyside, UK - Journal of Insect Conservation

Journal of Insect Conservation - Pollinators are declining globally, partly due to habitat loss and fragmentation - which may be exacerbated by urbanisation. Species differ in functional traits...

link.springer.com

67024 and 67006 Warrington crossing the Mersey #trainspotting 🚆

Breaking the maternity leave silence to share my first solo author open access publication in @eco-evol.bsky.social that uses a long-term ringing dataset to explore how birds are responding to climate change. Check it out here ➡️ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #ornithology #ecology 🐦🌍

Fifty Years of Bird Ringing Reveal Opposing Seasonal Responses of Migration Timing to Temperature and Rainfall on Hilbre Island

This study analyses 50 years of bird ringing data from Hilbre Bird Observatory to investigate how local weather affects migratory timing and stopover behaviour. A key novel finding is the interactive....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

89001 Avocet looked wonderful in the sun passing through Warrington Bank Quay this morning. Its first time on the west coast since 1987 and first time in daylight for 25 years! #trains #trainphotography

60007 Sir Nigel Gresley stormed through Warrington Bank Quay station last night. Such a majestic steam loco! #trains #trainphotography #steamtrain #steamrailway

Bird spotting still going strong with a willow tit on the Moore reserve feeders this morning. Other highlights inc. brambling, siskin & my boy once again enjoying using his binocs. This time he managed to focus on some tufted ducks - "Tufties, Mama!" @zachinch92.bsky.social #birding #birdwatching 🐦

Our baby's first @rspb.bsky.social reserve visit today at Burton Mere & the toddler finally grasped how to use binoculars! Egrets, kingfisher, cettis warbler & pink footed geese highlights. @zachinch92.bsky.social

Great-tailed grackle just now on Estuary Blvd, west of Speke Hall. Good to know I can still spot birds without my glasses 😅 Wife points gained! @birdguides.bsky.social @zachinch92.bsky.social #birds #birdwatching

It's a special day when you pass on your first pair of binoculars to your son & take him #birdwatching for the first time. I got them at University so he has definitely got a headstart on me! @opticron.bsky.social @zachinch92.bsky.social @wwtworldwide.bsky.social #ornithology #birds 🐦

Help us make hope normal again. Join the Green Party now.

#AI is transforming #ecology — but at what cost? A new #Nature piece warns that as models, drones & remote sensing boom, many scientists are spending less time outdoors (“I rarely get outside”). Are we losing essential natural-history insight? 🌿🤖 🧪🌍🌐 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🦋🌿Hiring 12 x Botanists or Entomologists for 2026 field surveys in England! 4-month, full-time roles from late April to early September. Field sites in Yorkshire, Devon, Warwickshire, Kent/Sussex, Lincolnshire/Cambridge, Essex/Suffolk. Apply now: ceh.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/CEH_Ca... 🧪

It's becoming a Xmas tradition for @zachinch92.bsky.social & I to sneak off to Bury Bolton St on Xmas Eve day @eastlancsrailway.bsky.social for a #steamtrain fix & tasty 🍺 at the Trackside. Gotta make the most of nursery fees! Ivatt 46441 & 80097 were the festive locos this year 🚂 #trainphotography

I mean, he's on 97 but at least he will have the right attire for #100 next month! Whereas I'm on 105 so will give my Xmas pressie a whirl tomorrow 🎉 Big thanks to #parkrun for another great year #running & I've enjoyed #volunteering the last 9 months at wonderful #widnes 🏃‍♀️ @zachinch92.bsky.social

You should be able to respond to reviewer comments with memes to liven up the peer review process.

No paper from me or my lab will ever be submitted to an MDPI journal - including any of their superfluous "special issues". I will very rarely (if ever) cite MDPI papers. And I will never review for them. deevybee.blogspot.com/2024/08/gues... The same goes for FrontiersIn journals, among others.

My experience as a reviewer for MDPI

Guest post by  René Aquarius, PhD Department of Neurosurgery Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Ne...

deevybee.blogspot.com

Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️@oceanfilly.bsky.social · 10mo ago

POV: You receive an email from a predatory journal inviting you to submit

Gutted I cannot attend this in person but hoping to receive the materials & be able to contribute remotely to this really important topic. If you're at #BES2025 & work with long-term population monitoring data, I'd consider this workshop 👍

Francesca Mancini@francescamancini.bsky.social · 10mo ago

If you are attending #BES2025 and are interested in #biodiversity monitoring in the UK, come to our lunchtime workshop on creating a UK Biodiversity Observation Network.

"Let's replace our carbon footprints with the tracks of animals" powerful final slide from Joe Roman - conservation biologist, marine ecologist 🐋 & award winning book writer (+ fellow 💩 researcher!). A great choice for the day 2 BES Lecture of the @britishecologicalsociety.org conference! #BES2025

Excited to launch the new improved Reproducible Code guide from @britishecologicalsociety.org @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social FREE online here! www.britishecologicalsociety.org//wp-content/... Amazing work by some very talented ECRs. We hope it’s useful!

Workshop currently underway! It is centred on the paper below, as we discuss potential barriers and solutions to help address them ➡️ besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Grey matters: Ensuring management information is a part of the permanent evidence base by creating open grey literature principles

Sharing project outcomes for practitioners comes with a number of hurdles and barriers, but the benefits far outway these. We argue for a shift to open sharing of grey literature.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Marc Cadotte@urban-sci.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Attending #BES2025 in Edinburgh & interested in incorporating grey literature into evidence base? @dochpjones.bsky.social & I are giving a workshop on 16 Dec at 13:15. Learn about what @aer-ese-bes.bsky.social are doing to include grey literature in management & policy. Help guide its development!

Great morning (virtually) attending the @britishecologicalsociety.org conference #BES2025 with internationally recognised functional diversity ecologist Prof Sandra Díaz presenting the Georgina Mace lecture. Big fan of giving plants the spotlight 🙌 #ecology #botany 🌿🌼🌱 #biodiversity #climatechange 🌍