Edward Grey Institute

Where do immigrant great tits come from, and what consequences does immigration and dispersal have for genetic structure at fine scale? Read this thread from @andreaestandia.bsky.social describing new preprint on this topic

02.07.2025 20:13 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Nice video explaining some of the Wytham tit fieldwork from @joewoodman.bsky.social. Anyone who has the good fortune to be taught by Joe will be lucky - he has a great gift for explanation

01.07.2025 12:14 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Global patterns of colouration complexity in the Paridae: Effects of climate and species characteristics across body regions Variation in colour complexity in the Paridae is linked to climate, climate variability and several biotic factors. The strength of the associations is patch specific. Variables related to resource c...

Happy to share our last work just published in @animalecology.bsky.social. With @claire-doutrelant.bsky.social and Peter Pearman. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @cnrs.fr @biology.ox.ac.uk

12.06.2025 17:27 — 👍 42    🔁 19    💬 0    📌 0

After the usual Field Season hiatus, we will be having a few seminars this term, beginning with Dale Clayton from University of Utah talking about Ecology, Evolution and Endocrinology of Grooming in Birds. 4 pm today in the Board Room in Mansfield Road at @biology.ox.ac.uk

05.06.2025 08:14 — 👍 3    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 1

Congratulations Denise on a great DPhil journey!

04.06.2025 13:32 — 👍 5    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

New ARIA award will aim to deliver a revolution in sustainable Researchers in the University of Oxford’s Department of Biology and Wild Bioscience Ltd are to receive backing of a £6.7 million grant from the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) to

Researchers in @biology.ox.ac.uk and Wild Bioscience Ltd are to receive backing of a £6.7 million grant from the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) to pioneer a new synthetic biology approach which promises to improve yields in potato and wheat.

Read more ⬇️ #OxfordClimate

02.06.2025 15:20 — 👍 17    🔁 5    💬 0    📌 0

Histogram of the number of Blue Tit and Great Tit nests started in the standardised nestbox rounds at Wytham Woods from 1960-2025. Graph with blue bars for Blue Tit ranging from 140 to almost 500 pairs and with Great Tits ranging from 120 to 475 pairs.

Getting towards the end of the 2025 field season in Wytham, and will share some quantitative data on reproductive success etc, but one striking pattern is the current dominance of Blue Tits with a ratio of ~2:1, when as recently as 2005 the ratio was ~1:2

02.06.2025 16:11 — 👍 20    🔁 6    💬 1    📌 0

Histogram of the number of Blue Tit and Great Tit nests started in the standardised nestbox rounds at Wytham Woods from 1960-2025. Graph with blue bars for Blue Tit ranging from 140 to almost 500 pairs and with Great Tits ranging from 120 to 475 pairs.

Getting towards the end of the 2025 field season in Wytham, and will share some quantitative data on reproductive success etc, but one striking pattern is the current dominance of Blue Tits with a ratio of ~2:1, when as recently as 2005 the ratio was ~1:2

02.06.2025 16:11 — 👍 20    🔁 6    💬 1    📌 0

As the Wytham tit (and drone, tree and winter moth) field season winds down (the end, like the start, gets earlier each year!) we posed for the traditional field team photo followed by an excellent lunch. A great team again. Some quantitative updates to follow next week... #suspense

29.05.2025 17:48 — 👍 25    🔁 5    💬 0    📌 1

Very useful stats from @davididiaquez.bsky.social, tracking ground covered checking nestboxes during a field season using Strava. If the estimates of 2.14km/box/season and 45.3 m elevation/box/season generalise, suggests that since 1960 fieldworkers have walked ~144,000 km, and climbed >3 million m

26.05.2025 11:34 — 👍 11    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0

I think we've all had days when we've felt like this...

26.05.2025 11:27 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

A selection of great tits captured in Wytham woods today as part of the Wytham tit project. Top left: a male Top right: a female Middle left : a female Middle right: a female Bottom left : a female Bottom right: a male They are all being held safely with a woodland in the background

A rogues gallery of great tits captured today for crimes against research. The offence: breeding without proper ID. They've all been ringed (banded) and tagged (RFID ankle bracelets). They'll now be monitored as part of Wytham tit project. All released under caution. @egioxford.bsky.social #ukbirds

18.05.2025 10:39 — 👍 44    🔁 4    💬 3    📌 0

Congratulations Carys!! 🎉🥳

09.05.2025 20:50 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

We’re pleased to announce the title of the plenary talk by Marta Maziarz @martamaziarz.bsky.social:

“Why do we need studies of hole-nesting birds from a primeval forest?”

We’re looking forward to finding out if the answer involves predation risk, cavity space, or something else! #ornithology

15.04.2025 08:44 — 👍 37    🔁 6    💬 0    📌 1

Proud mum to 936 hungry winter moth caterpillars 🐛 with 500 more on the way! Wish me luck

11.04.2025 15:58 — 👍 22    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

March 4! Very early indeed

09.04.2025 19:59 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Scottish Blue Tits build hairy nests!

09.04.2025 15:42 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Many of us will be there - look forward to seeing you in September

04.04.2025 19:01 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Evening meal in the common room at Portland Bird Observatory

Walking along the West Cliffs on Portland, looking north towards the Dorset mainland

Male Ring Ouzel, Verne Common, Portland March 2025

Firecrest caught for ringing at Portland Bird Observatory, March 2025

We love the occasional field trip - a favourite place is @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social where we spent a few days in March recharging batteries pre field season. Excellent food & company, cliff-top birding walks, a few early migrants like this Ring Ouzel & a bit of ringing training (here a Firecrest!)

04.04.2025 17:54 — 👍 25    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 1

A single Blue Tit egg in a complete nest inside a woodcrete nestbox in Wytham Woods, 3 April 2025

Early developing Oak in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire, April 2025

Newly emerged Oak leaves, Wytham Woods, near Oxford, 3 April 2025

Figures showing the change in the date of the first egg in the Great Tit and Blue Tit populations at Wytham Woods, near Oxford 1960-2025, and the relationship between average March daily maximum temperature and date of the first egg in the population for each species. In each figure the line fitted is for the data for the 65 years from 1960-2024, with the value for 2025 shown as a green (Great Tit) or blue (Blue Tit) star. The two right hand panels compare the change over time and the response to March temperature in the two species; Great Tits show a slightly steeper response to temperature than Blue Tits, and are advancing the population first egg date slightly more quickly.

The first eggs have been laid in this, the 79th year of data collection in the Wytham Tit Project! First Blue Tit egg laid 2 April, first Great Tit 3 April. Looks like an early spring, with first oak leaves out, though the observed first egg dates fit the long-term pattern well
wythamtits.com#intro

03.04.2025 21:11 — 👍 41    🔁 8    💬 0    📌 2

The woods are full of Great Tit song. A very appropriate time to read our recent paper on the demographic drivers of cultural evolution in Great Tit song work led by @nilomr.bsky.social with help from @andreaestandia.bsky.social, Ella Cole & Sara Keen
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

02.04.2025 14:32 — 👍 9    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 1