Stephen Mulvey

Lynx could return to Scotland – but can rewilders win over wary Highlanders? With most Scots supportive of reintroducing the wild cat, charities are focusing on those whose jobs could be affected

“A six-year effort by the Lynx to Scotland coalition of charities does not aim simply to create a supportive majority – 61% of Scots are already in favour, according to a 2025 poll – but to build acceptance among… farmers, gamekeepers and deer stalkers.”
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

I recommend James Shapiro’s book, 1599, which points out that the first draft of Hamlet (later published in the Second Quarto) was finished by year’s end - though, at 4 hours long, it had to be revised, in early 1600, in order to be performed. Thank you, though, for a very interesting point.

Meet three scientists who said no to Epstein The warning signs included a web search, a mother’s doubts, and inklings of a “sexist attitude”

‘Instead of Googling Epstein, Aaronson, then 29, turned to what he considered an even more reliable source: his mother. She did some checking. “Be careful not to get sucked up in the slime-machine going on here,” she wrote back.’ www.science.org/content/arti...

🦇

🦇 (quote-posting with emoji to ensure it goes on the feed)

https://www.fischereiverein-gaildorf.de/naturlehrpfad/ufervegetation/

🦇 #BatsInArt #PreciousBats #BatIllustration #German #19thCentury
Eduard Oscar Schmidt (1823 - 1886)
DAUBENTON'S BAT
Engraving; BREHMS TIERLEBEN, small edition, 1927

The glory of Early Star of Bethlehem, in flower this year.

If you want to know what Reform would be like in power, look at how it threatened Bangor University | Gaby Hinsliff A debating society didn’t want to invite two figures connected to the party to speak. Cue an authoritarian response, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff

“What the Bangor affair underlines… is that the right to free speech isn’t the same as the right to a free audience whenever you happen to be campaigning in the neighbourhood.”
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

‘When asked by The Hill if Gallup had received any feedback from the White House or anyone in the current administration before making the decision, the spokesperson said, “this is a strategic shift solely based on Gallup’s research goals and priorities.” ‘

thehill.com/homenews/med...

Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.

Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Approx a year ago!

🦇 Government quietly released a report today. Just 3% of the most important habitat for wildlife is in good condition.

This must change or wildlife will be lost forever.

Don’t let this report slip under the radar: www.wcl.org.uk/sickening-st...

A large display with thousands of insects, most of them tiny

A section of the display of bugs

Another section

Another section with some of the larger bugs

This is really cool, it's a display of all the bugs found on a single tree.

#Invertebrate

Trump: "I haven't been able to find any windfarms in China."

Reality: China has far more windfarms than any other country on Earth

"There are windmills all over Europe. There are windmills all over the place."

Trump slipping into spoken-word poetry.

Hey, we're getting to Greenland.

"I was going to leave it out of the speech..."

Apparently Greenland is going to be American because they defended it from the Nazis in World War II, which is bad news for Paris I guess.

MBS was also said to have been signed up. Why is he dragging his feet?

Colorado is working on a plan to reintroduce wolverines next. Here’s what it would look like. Following a rocky rollout of wolves, state officials are taking a cautious approach to the reintroduction of wolverines

“Wolverines naturally exist at very low densities wherever they are found” said Inman. “Fifty to 100 wolverines may not sound like a lot, but that is likely in the same ballpark as the historical capacity here in Colorado.”

coloradosun.com/2026/01/14/c...

Buy Greenland? Take It? Why? An Old Pact Already Gives Trump a Free Hand.

“The U.S. has such a free hand in Greenland that it can pretty much do what it wants,” said Mikkel Runge Olesen… “I have a very hard time seeing that the U.S. couldn’t get pretty much everything it wanted,” he said, adding, “if it just asked nicely.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/w...

It's New Year, so time to look back and forward. These are 10 things I think we need to recognise in 2026. It’s a response to what I think are profoundly damaging mistaken assumptions I’ve heard and read from practitioners, journalists, and analysts in 2025. Warning: very long🧵

Increasing tolerance of wolves in Montana, United States (2012–2023) There is little reliable human dimensions data on people's attitudes toward wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains despite global interest in wolf management in the area, and limited information glob...

🚨 New Lab paper! 🚨

Contrary to assumptions & media narratives, most people have positive attitudes toward wolves & are tolerant of them. This is true around the world & even here in MT where 74% of Montanans are tolerant or very tolerant of wolves. 1/ conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

A Hoopoe perches on fallen tree trunk showing its orange crest, down-curved bill, and black, white and sandy brown plumage. Image credit bottom right reads Hoopoe by Edmund Fellowes / BTO.

1/🧵 Two bird species bred in the UK in 2023 for the first time since the 1990s!

The latest report by @ukrbbp.bsky.social published in @britishbirds.bsky.social confirmed a pair of Hoopoes raised three young from a nest in Leicestershire and Rutland. #Ornithology

Professor Tim Lenton of @exeter.ac.uk with an incredibly important warning about the dire consequences for the UK if we continue burning fossil fuels and cause the #AMOC ocean current to cross a tipping point—which could happen at 2°C.

Full talk: link below.
#NEB2025 #FoodShortages

Tiny forests, huge claims: The evidence gap behind the Miyawaki method for forest restoration To scale up restoration effectively, practitioners and policymakers should prioritize methods supported by robust empirical evidence rather than relying on untested claims. Our findings highlight the....

“Reported outcomes offered weak to null evidence for most claimed benefits, including rapid growth, accelerated succession, self-sustainability, cost efficiency, enhanced biodiversity, higher carbon sequestration and increased tree density.”
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Anurans follow Bergmann's rule, urodeles its converse.

i asked chat gpt to fact check an article for me

Over a third of animals impacted in deep sea mining test - scientists The findings contribute to a controversial debate that pits green technology against the environment.

"The machine removes about the top 5cm of sediment. That's where most of the animals live. So obviously, if you're removing the sediment, you're removing the animals in it too," said lead author Eva Stewart. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

WOW! This was as surreal and spectacular to see in person as I'd hoped 😍
Aseroe rubra (Anenome/Starfish Stinkhorn).

Over a pint in Oxford, we may have stumbled upon the holy grail of agriculture | George Monbiot I knew that a revolution in our understanding of soil could change the world. Then came a eureka moment – and the birth of the Earth Rover Program, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

1. Some good news at last. This week’s column is about the amazing thing a couple of us stumbled into three years ago, which we’ve now developed into a global research programme. It doesn’t change everything, of course, but it could help change quite a lot. + 🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...