Our Guillemates 2026/27 mentoring is now open for sign-up! 🐧 Join a colony of peers at a similar career stage 🤝 Be matched with a mentor (or become one!) 🎤 Take part in population-wide talks 🔹 Mentee sign-up: forms.gle/HyxYdjYz6Lgt... 🔹 Mentor sign-up: forms.gle/AQUHoa5NKa5h...

📢 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 🪶

Still time to sign up to our seabird pride talk! Sign up here: forms.gle/WYMaUgLnnq5A...

The Seabird Group@theseabirdgroup.bsky.social · 2w ago

Join us for our next panel discussion 'Being queer in Seabird Science'! 🏳️‍🌈 🗓️ Friday 7th August ⏲️ 09:30 - 11:00 (BST) 📍 Online Sign-up here to receive the joining link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... 📷 @scottishseabird.bsky.social

Good entertainment for a wet and windy weekend 😄 with @rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social

Are you interested in #gulls, diet metabarcoding, or both? Of course you are! Check out our new preprint where we use molecular methods to decode the (animal-based) diet of lesser black-backed gulls - arguably a species with one of the most diverse diets out there. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

bioRxiv Ecology@biorxiv-ecology.bsky.social · 2w ago

Evaluating DNA metabarcoding to characterise diet diversity and foraging strategies in a generalist mesopredator, the lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.17.738687v1

Due to room availability at the end of the season, we are running a special price of £99 per person per night for stays of 7 nights or more between 15th-30th October, available on both single and twin rooms.

🎨🐦 Calling all creative seabird enthusiasts! 🐦🎨 We’re launching 'Creative Seabird Pursuits', a newsletter feature celebrating seabird-inspired art, photography, writing, sculpture, cooking & more! Send your work to newsletter@seabirdgroup.org.uk (subject line 'Creative Seabirds') to be featured!

Listen to ‘A is for Auk’ on the BTO podcast, Beyond The Bird Table! Join us as we delve into the world of seabirds with ornithologist, writer & broadcaster, Prof Tim Birkhead & Senior Research Ecologist with BTO Scotland, Dr Nina O’Hanlon #Birds #UKBirding

Join us for our next panel discussion 'Being queer in Seabird Science'! 🏳️‍🌈 🗓️ Friday 7th August ⏲️ 09:30 - 11:00 (BST) 📍 Online Sign-up here to receive the joining link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... 📷 @scottishseabird.bsky.social

Another new Seabird #38 paper? Yes, indeed! ✨ Anker-Nilssen et al. report their first experiences of the kittiwake hotel in Røst. #seabirds www.seabirdgroup.org.uk/seabird-38

Mixed feelings that one of Mandy Barker's amazing photos from our collaboration in 2019 is featured in the Guardian's "Emergencies on Planet Earth" photo essay. Mandy and her photos are amazing. Very sad story that is only getting worse. @adriftlab.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

📖 Published📖 Between-species contagion drives HPAI transmission and mass mortality in seabirds 🦠 'This study demonstrates that carcass data can provide epidemiological insights but also act as an early warning system for continent-wide patterns of spread'🕊️ 👇️ buff.ly/Zo6d8WH

A great day for surveying Large Heath butterflies at Forsinard Flows! Fantastic to see so many in this restoration area with @rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social #ForestToBog @savebutterflies.bsky.social

New paper! We simulated foraging trips of Northern gannets at Bass Rock to decipher what information individuals use to keep returning to the same foraging patches. Memory was the strongest driver, but it wasn't the whole story. 🧵👇 doi.org/10.1186/s404... 1/5

Two weeks left to submit your abstract to the BOU Avian Disease Ecology conference. Attendance grants are available (see BOU funding opportunities). We have an amazing keynote lineup for you! Please share 😁

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! 🦠🦜🦠🐦‍⬛🦠

The influx of Quail has continued strongly over the last month. The latest weekly reporting rate of 2% is the highest recorded since BirdTrack began in 2004! #ukbirding

BirdTrack@birdtrack.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Could it be a Quail year? We've seen a big increase in reports of this elusive migrant gamebird in the last two weeks. Reports don't usually peak until late June, so it will be interesting to see whether the influx continues into the summer #ukbirding

Worrying results from the 2025 national Dotterel survey, with a decline of 73% since the last survey in 2011, and 89% since the late 80s www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen... #ornithology #birds

NEW PAPER: Sable Shearwaters are long-lived migratory #seabirds that spend much of their lives at sea. Across their life cycle, they experience very different physiological demands. Read the paper (free) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Life‐stage variation in Sable Shearwater (<fi>Ardenna carneipes</fi>) physiology assessed using proteomics

Life-stage transitions in seabirds involve substantial shifts in physiological demands, yet the molecular mechanisms underpinning these changes remain poorly resolved. Here we applied untargeted data....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

BB 2000 Ltd is seeking two voluntary board members: a Treasurer and an HR specialist. ~1–2 hrs/week. Interest in birding desirable. For more information and contact details, see: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti... 📸 David Tipling

Can you monitor Black Guillemot breeding success?! Only two breeding success records were submitted to SMP in the past two years. If you can monitor their productivity, or need a hand submitting your data, email us at smp@bto.org! #Seabirds @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social

Rarity finders: Trumpeter Finch on Fair Isle Luke Marriner recounts the unforgettable discovery of Shetland's first-ever Trumpeter Finch, found during an afternoon family walk at the height of the island's seabird season:

Rarity finders: Trumpeter Finch on Fair Isle

Luke Marriner recounts the unforgettable discovery of Shetland's first-ever Trumpeter Finch, found during an afternoon family walk at the height of the island's seabird season.

bit.ly

We’ll be at @globalbirdfair.bsky.social next weekend, Swallow Marquee, stand 14. Come and find us for our new merchandise and a special offer on the new Birds of Fair Isle book!

Two of the world’s largest Gannet colonies may not recover from the impact of bird flu until 2041 at the earliest, study finds Read a summary: www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen... Full paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2026.111887 #seabirds #hpai 🪶 🧪

🔈 APPLICATIONS OPEN... ...for BOU Small Research Grants & Career Development Bursaries Application deadline: 30 Oct 2026 Full details via links ⬇️ Grants: bou.org.uk/funding/s... Bursaries: bou.org.uk/funding/c... #ornithology 🪶

This study was made possible by long-term monitoring. These long-term datasets are vital for understanding how events like an HPAI outbreak affect seabird populations - not just immediately, but over decades. 🐦📈📉 #avianflu #seabirds

RSPB Science@rspbscience.bsky.social · last mo.

Two of the world’s largest Gannet colonies may not recover from the impact of bird flu until 2041 at the earliest, study finds Read a summary: www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen... Full paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2026.111887 #seabirds #hpai 🪶 🧪

How do fulmars respond to drones: #seabirds 🌍🧪

Dr Sjúrður Hammer@sjurdur.bsky.social · last mo.

Drones, AI, thermal imaging and 3D modelling is proving a real game changer for monitoring cliff nesting seabirds Circumventing Blind Angles and Disturbance: Evaluating UAS for Monitoring Cliff-Nesting Seabirds www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/10... @seabirdmortenf.bsky.social

A new report shows climate change is already impacting UK bird populations. Upland birds & seabirds face steep declines in their numbers underlining the need for action, while some southern species are expanding their ranges. Find out more: www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen... @btobirds.bsky.social 🪶

Climate change is already impacting UK bird populations

A new RSPB and British Trust for Ornithology report looks at the impacts on UK birds and the actions we can take to protect them.

rspb.org.uk

The June Ranger Blog is available to read now over at www.fairislebirdobs.co.uk/ranger_blog.... to catch up on what Ranger Carla has been up to this past month!

Hummingbird Hawk-moth at Nybster this morning. Just the second I’ve seen in Caithness.