Nat Duffus

A lush green woodland with moss-covered boulders, low ferns and a scatter of bluebells beneath twisting old trees. Sunlight filters softly through the canopy. Landscapes like this should be central to nature’s recovery but without proper support and clear targets, protected sites can’t deliver what they’re supposed to.

England’s most important nature sites are being failed.❌

Protected sites can and should be driving nature’s recovery.

But today’s OEP report exposes the real problem: years of weak delivery, underfunding and political drift have left them unable to do the job the law intended.

We are super excited about Ross Brooks’ seminar on Tuesday! Details and sign up information below ⬇️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Five steps towards being a trans ally - BES Five steps towards being a trans ally - BES is the largest scientific society for ecologists in Europe. We're working towards a world in which nature and people thrive.

Last year I wrote this for Transgender Awareness Week because of the challenges I've faced in my institution. Sharing it again as this week we celebrate trans identities and remember those who have been targeted for being themselves
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/five-steps-t...

LGBTQ+ Journal Club is turning 1! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈To celebrate, here's a bit about what we've been up to over the past year: a thread of interesting papers in queer biology (1/n) ⬇️🧵

In our session this week, we will be joined by the amazing @penguinacho.bsky.social for a discussion on penguin sexuality and the documentary Animal Pride: Nature's Coming Out Story! 🐧💬 #QueerStem #QueerAcademia #GayPenguins

A cartoon of 2 rhinocerous beetles clashing. One beetle is saying "I'm just trying to kiss you!" and the other beetle is saying "I'm just trying to kiss you too!". Above them is text reading LGBTQ+ Journal Club in the colours of the progress pride flag.

Hello bluesky! We are an LGBTQ+ Biology Journal Club at Uni of Oxford 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️. We are interested in topics relevant to queer ecology and amplifying queer voices in academia 🪲🌱.

For those in Oxford, we meet every 2 weeks - get in touch for more details! 🥳

this post tells such a story...

Wish I could say I was shocked, but here's the Labour government constraining the right to peaceful protest again...

'You can protest but only according to our rules. The rules are: you're not allowed to use any of the tactics that make protest effective.'

Characterising a species-rich and understudied tropical insect fauna using DNA barcoding Background: West Africa has high biodiversity that is relatively understudied, especially for insects. Studies of West African arthropod diversity can therefore help address important questions regard...

New preprint alert! We DNA barcoded 95 thousand Ghanaian arthropods, more than doubling the number of BINs (a species proxy) available online from West Africa. In doing so we’ve released a huge amount of new data to scientists studying the region 🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Big Doughnutty News.
Just out in Nature: the all-new 2025 Doughnut. Transformed from a single-year snapshot to an annual global monitor of 21st century social & ecological thriving. Available to all in an open-access paper by @andrewlfanning.bsky.social and me. 🧵 1/
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🚨Women are central to tropical wild meat systems, yet too often overlooked🚨

A new paper led by @jasminwillis.bsky.social, Dr Lauren Coad, @orchiddelirium.bsky.social & @ejmilnergulland.bsky.social reviewed 334 studies across 54 countries, finding women occupy 36 roles, from harvesting to trade.

Congrats! Sticker time! :') 🪲

Meat is a leading emissions source – but few outlets report on it, analysis finds Sentient Media reveals less than 4% of climate news stories mention animal agriculture as source of carbon emissions

"Today, we clear a soccer field’s worth of tropical forest every six seconds, a loss dramatically worsened by humanity’s growing hunger for meat"

Wean ourselves off meat now, or the switch to a Pliocene climate that's locked in will do it for us

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Police continue to mass arrest protestors for opposing genocide and the Palestine Action ban.

The day after the ban came into force, 29 were arrested. Last month, it was 500.

Today, over a thousand people are defying the unjust proscription of a domestic direct action group.

Cool new research by @e-ellis1.bsky.social Moths & hoverflies are more sensitive to urbanisation than bees, but urban trees boost moth species richness in UK cities. #teammoth 🌍 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Queer Ecology Evening at the Linnean Society A special guided tour exploring the diversity of nature and its interpretation by scientists throughout history.

Our upcoming Queer Ecology evening will be a real treat, with a special guided tour exploring the diversity of nature and its interpretation by scientists throughout history.

📍 Linnean Society
📆 6pm 25 September
🎟️ £15 (discounts for Members and concessions)

Wasp Spiders, Argiope bruennichi. A big stripy female in her web, with visiting male spider (near her head).

Wasp Spiders, Argiope bruennichi. A big stripy female in her web, with visiting male spider (near her back leg).

A romantic meeting of Wasp Spiders, Argiope bruennichi, at Thompson Common yesterday.

The male is much smaller than the big, stripy female.

They ended up going out to lunch afterwards, when he became the main course.

srs.britishspiders.org.uk/portal.php/p...

#Spiders #UKWildlife

Natalie Duffus commended in MPLS Impact Awards 2025

Congratulations to @natduffus.bsky.social, who has been commended in the @mplsoxford.bsky.social Impact Awards!

Nat has been recognised in the Early Career Policy Impact category for raising awareness of the ecological outcomes of Biodiversity Net Gain 👇
bit.ly/4eSmRZe

If you're an ecologist (or just care about nature), then I'd strongly urge you to respond to this consultation with your views! I think the proposed changes to the SSM coupled with the proposed increased scope of the SSM could lead to some terrible ecological outcomes. 9/9

But I really question the assumptions behind fixing habitat condition at poor at baseline? Small sites are not inherently of low ecological quality, so surely a more precautionary approach to fixing habitat condition would be appropriate? 8/

... and "moderate" for the target condition of enhanced habitats. Given the challenges facing the delivery of small, non-secured, non-significant, on-site habitat enhancements, I'm broadly supportive of fixing the enhancement condition at moderate or indeed poor. 7/

But if development must occur there, then it should *not* be using a metric which uses the above proposed habitat 'classification' system.

The SSM also does not require an on-the-ground condition assessment and this consultation proposes fixing the condition at "poor" for baseline habitats 6/

Furthermore, the consultation asks whether the SSM should be used on sites with protected habitats or species. I'd point to the mitigation hierarchy and suggest that development does not happen on these sites to begin with. 5/

I seriously question what system could be devised where non-ecologists can easily identify the habitats. What is left? Grassland, woodland, wetland, or scrub? Surely the solution here is upskilling and more guidance, not stripping out any ecology from a metric intended to measure biodiversity? 4/

I worry that this would result in all habitats being replaced with what is cheap to deliver and affords the most units - e.g. the already ubiquitous other neutral grassland. There is also a review proposed, to "ensure that all habitats within the SSM can be easily identified by non-ecologists". 3/

There are proposed changes to the trading rules which would either remove them entirely, or allow the loss of any medium distinctiveness habitat to be compensated with any other medium distinctiveness habitat (the SSM only covers low and medium dis. habitats). 2/

Having had time to digest the new BNG consultation, I am *astounded* at the proposed changes to the small sites metric (SSM). If the changes are implemented, the SSM could apply to developments up to 49 dwellings/1ha - affecting a lot of developments! 1/ consult.defra.gov.uk/defra-biodiv...

‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects A new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides

When warnings of Insectageddon were issued a few years ago, there was widespread denial. Less so now. It's devastating. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Government digs grave for wildlife | The Wildlife Trusts New proposals on Biodiversity Net Gain from UK Government will harm whole communities so that a few can profit more.

Very disappointing to see the govt not only cut funding for nature-friendly farming schemes but ALSO lay out a consultation on changes to BNG which would reduce the requirement for the majority of developments to compensate for their impacts on nature.

www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/governm...

Fund for nature-friendly farming to be slashed in UK spending review Exclusive: Defra sources say scheme, which pays farmers to protect nature, will be targeted at ‘small farms’

What part of nature emergency does the government not understand? These attacks on nature keep on coming.

In a biodiversity crisis, the Govt should be expanding the nature friendly farming programme, not cutting it.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...