Over the last week there has been positive progress as firefighting efforts continue in the Cairngorms National Park. However, there are still hotspots. It may be some time before the fire is fully extinguished and, as we have already seen with this fire, the situation can change quickly.

Big funding news for global species conservation. Well done to everyone at @rewildorg.bsky.social for making this happen.

Phoenix Species Project@phoenixspecies.bsky.social · 2d ago

🌍 Meet the Phoenix Species Project, a new global effort to help recover 100 of the world's most threatened species. Launched by @bezosearthfund.org & @rewildorg.bsky.social, support from Leonardo Dicaprio, Age of Union & the Todd Graves Family Foundation. Follow along: phoenixspeciesproject.org

My editor asked me to write about what happened to summer:

We launched a war on nature. Now we are in a climate warzone | Rebecca Solnit

Summer is not what it once was. We have been robbed of one of life’s great joys

theguardian.com

Why is Britain a tinderbox? Because: 1) The climate crisis, obvs; but also - 2) *6.4 million hectares* of farmland in England & Wales is riddled with field drains - draining water from the land where it could be retaining it. Make Britain Wet Again! ahdb.org.uk/drainage

The first juvenile waders are arriving from their breeding grounds. How quickly do they learn to feed efficiently on shellfish and polychaetes? wadertales.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/l... #ukbirding

The sad sight of Gannet chick in a nest at Noss NNR, Shetland containing masses of discarded fishing net. Gannets already face enough threats so the news today that NatureScot REFUSED the licence for the annual Guga hunt on Sula Sgeir is very welcome. #BirdingScotland #UKbirding #UKWildlife

This Redshank was colour ringed on the Isle of Sheppey in September 2025 and shot Baie de Somme 2 days ago. A sad end for Amber listed species. Shame still hunted in France @wadertales.bsky.social @waderstudy.bsky.social @waderquest.bsky.social

Did you miss the deadline for submitting a poster or Bluesky abstract for #BOU2027? You still have a chance...we've extended the poster and Bluesky abstract submission deadline to 17 August Get that abstract in now! Avian disease ecology | 6-8 April 2027 bou.org.uk/event/avi... #ornithology 🪶

Job opportunity: Irish Bird Atlas Project Manager BirdWatch Ireland is seeking an enthusiastic and self-motivated individual to lead organisation of the upcoming Bird Atlas 2027-31 across the Republic of Ireland. Closing date 11th Sept. Find out more: birdwatchireland.ie/get-involved...

Come and join our wonderful IBIS Associate Editor team! Great opportunity for professional development and community contribution:

British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU)@bou.org.uk · 3d ago

📢 ASSOCIATE EDITORS WANTED Join us! IBIS is looking for Associate Editors to join our editorial team and support the peer review process Read more and complete the application form: bou.org.uk/ibis/vaca... #ornithology 🪶

1/4 A short thread about ground-nesting waders, prompted by new review paper by Klaussen et al in @bou.org.uk journal, IBIS: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1... #ornithology

A systematic review and meta‐analysis of variation in nest predation of ground‐nesting birds

Predation and communities of predators of ground-nesting bird nests and fledglings have been studied across multiple groups of ground-nesting birds, such as waders, waterbirds, gamebirds and passerin...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Great sighting! Every colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit can tell a story. Here's one: wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/j... Combining everyone's sightings: wadertales.wordpress.com/2019/07/29/g... And add in tracking for powerful conservation science: wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/h...

Just one Black-tailed Godwit

When you receive a list of sightings of a colour-ringed bird that you have reported to a scheme organiser, it can hide a wealth of information. Here’s one such bird. Blue Red – Yellow Green-flag BR…

wadertales.wordpress.com

Stephen Welch@lothianrecorder.bsky.social · 4d ago

14 ad Blackwits dropped in at Seton Burn dusk on Friday, tricky at 300m range but grateful to @jengill.bsky.social for matching and history of RR-W/W, a bird which winters on the Stour with 126 resightings - though relatively early return date might suggest it is a failed breeder... #BirdingScotland

14 ad Blackwits dropped in at Seton Burn dusk on Friday, tricky at 300m range but grateful to @jengill.bsky.social for matching and history of RR-W/W, a bird which winters on the Stour with 126 resightings - though relatively early return date might suggest it is a failed breeder... #BirdingScotland

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

"Drawing on an analysis of over 100000 articles in ecology-related disciplines [...], we show that the shift to pay-to-publish OA has already reduced participation by researchers from many middle-income countries." nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Payment‐based open access is biasing scientific participation from the Global South in ecology

Opening access to the products of scientific research is widely considered a key step toward both fairness and better science worldwide. Since the 1990s, different forms of open access (OA) to journa...

nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

With fewer than 500 remaining adult Spoon-billed Sandpipers (see update at bottom of this blog wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/10/22/s...) this is very welcome news! #ornithology

RareBirdAlert@rarebirder.bsky.social · 6d ago

Major boost for migratory shorebirds as UNESCO expands Korean tidal flats site www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/M...

As the UN Secretary General says, every new fossil fuel project approved today makes tomorrow’s heatwaves more dangerous & our world less secure. I hope Andy Burnham is listening. Caving in to the fossil fuel lobby as the planet burns would be unforgivable

Burnham risks first revolt as PM over apparent support for North Sea drilling

Labour MPs fear No 10 team lack up-to-date energy insight and don’t fully recognise voters’ climate concerns

theguardian.com

Govt planning c. 100 new data centres by early 2030s, mostly in already water stressed areas. They have no legal obligation to disclose how much water they use. Meanwhile Govt launches £75m publicity campaign to urge us to reduce water use & privatised water companies waste 19% thro leaks. Madness

Today is the last day to submit your abstract for this!

Alice Risely@alice-risely.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Abstracts are open for the BOU Avian Disease Ecology conference (6-8th April 2027, Nottingham, UK). Submit here (deadline July 31st): tinyurl.com/hf2hzf4p Reg fees to be released soon - but you can get an idea of rough costs from the BOU 2026 conference: tinyurl.com/3udbz3c5 Fab line up! 🦠🦜🦠🐦‍⬛🦠

📢 JOB ALERT 📢 Exciting opportunity to join us as a Lecturer in Ecology. 3 year post @ 0.5FTE. Application deadline 18/09/26 - see below for details. @biouea.bsky.social @ueaceec.bsky.social vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/23...

Lecturer in Ecology (ATS1374) in University of East Anglia | UEA

View details and apply for this Lecturer in Ecology (ATS1374) vacancy in University of East Anglia. Faculty of Science School of Biological Sciences Lecturer in Ecology (0.5 FTE) Ref: ATS1374...

vacancies.uea.ac.uk

At the end of July, I check whether French authorities have reauthorised the temporary ban on shooting Curlew. They did! Curlews are still shot, but it is illegal. More here: wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/07/30/b... Birds tagged in France breeding in UK ⬇️ #ornithology

Of 19 putative Holocene White Stork archaeological remains discussed here, 13 lack a primary source reference or any detail. And it still includes the zoo specimen from Winchester! But interesting to see how sparse evidence is for other large waterbirds petemrcooper.substack.com/p/to-stork-o...

To Stork or Not to Stork? (Part 1)

White Storks are being released into Britain, but the government recently said they aren't native. Is this really the case, and can further releases be justified?

petemrcooper.substack.com

Is “pragmatic” the new, “grown up” word? Andy, there’s nothing “pragmatic” about drilling for more oil & gas - to even consider it with the planet literally on fire is total madness. How many times must we say it will do nothing for energy bills or security? It would be an act of utter recklessness

Burnham promises ‘pragmatic’ approach to North Sea oil and gas

PM tells reporters the government cannot ignore the energy resource ‘when people are struggling’

theguardian.com

Whilst the cost of living crisis continues to spiral, with food and fuel prices soaring, so do global oil and gas companies profits. Shell has today announced it's profits have more than doubled. This is obscene. www.reuters.com/business/ene...

Shell profit more than doubles to $9.8 billion, second-highest on record, as Iran war lifts prices

Shell's ​net profit more than doubled from last year to $9.84 billion in the second quarter, beating expectations, helped by ‌higher energy prices and increased market volatility during the Middle Eas...

reuters.com

++BREAKING++ The UK and Spanish governments have issued a joint statement overnight: "[We] agreed that this summer’s wildfires demonstrated that climate change was now a national security emergency facing Europe and threatening our way of life." www.gov.uk/government/n...

Mark your calendars! 🐦 Our 2027 Annual Conference will take place in Sheffield, from Friday 5 to Saturday 6 March. Join us for the whole event or just Friday or Saturday only! #Ornithology Find out more and book your place today ➡️ www.bto.org/landing-...

Avocados come in 2 varieties - A-types start each day female and switch to male midday. B-types do the reverse. In work just published from the last chapter of my PhD, we show this system evolved 40+million yrs ago and is regulated by alleles of 1 transcription factor www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies the ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado | PNAS

In avocado and certain wild relatives in Lauraceae, a highly synchronized daily rhythm of floral sex timing promotes cross-pollination between two ...

pnas.org

Naturally colonised Night Heron, Little Egret, Great Egret and Crane alongside resident Grey Heron are not enough, apparently, and cultural connections mean we should introduce another generalist predator into the last fragile refuges for Amphibians & reptiles. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘They’re part of folklore’: storks return to Derbyshire after 600-year absence

Conservationists are thrilled at the arrival of three juvenile birds at Willington Wetlands, hoping more will follow

theguardian.com

You may hear that 'species x is moving north', particulalrly in discussions about climate change. A range may be 'moving north' but individuals rarely change where they breed or spend winter. Juveniles drive change, as discussed here: wadertales.wordpress.com/2019/07/29/g... 🎂7️⃣ #ornithology

Steep decline in numbers of occupied House Martin nests in whole-town count of North Berwick, East Lothian since 2020 @birdinglothian.bsky.social