Ben Secker

🚨 We’re recruiting!

Spurn Bird Observatory is looking for a Head Little Tern Warden and 2 Assistant Wardens to help protect one of the UK’s most successful Little Tern colonies at Beacon Ponds.

Seasonal roles | NLW | Accommodation available

👉 Apply: spurnbirdobservatory.co.uk/news

A Spotted Flycatcher perches on a piece of wood. White writing over the green background reads: Rivers vital for Spotted Flycatchers according to new research. Image credit bottom left reads: Spotted Flycatcher by Edmund Fellowes/BTO.

1/ Spotted Flycatchers are in trouble, declining by 92% in the UK between 1967 and 2020. New work led by @cateden91.bsky.social & involving BTO has revealed the importance of rivers for the survival of this Red-listed migratory species. ⬇️ #Ornithology

📖 www.bto.org/Spotted-Flyc...

A bird's-eye view of a former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp showing a wide dirt pathway flanked by parallel rows of barbed-wire fences. Groups of visitors walk along the path, surrounded by the remnants of brick structures and barracks, now reduced to foundations. Green grass contrasts with the somber history of the site, as the path leads toward a guard tower in the distance.

Auschwitz was at the end of a process. We must remember that it did not start from gas chambers.

This hatred gradually developed: from ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder.

Auschwitz took time.

Can't hold a World Cup in a country where the dictator's secret police are executing peaceful protesters in the streets.

Yorkshires only Little Tern colony relies on paid wardens to protect them from predators and disturbance, the team have achieved amazing numbers of fledglings in recent years and it would be a great shame if it doesn’t run this year, much appreciated if you can help out with this funding gap 🙏

A Curlew, a wading bird with a long downcurved bill, stands on an estuary shoreline with water in the background. Wording below reads: PhD opportunity with BTO and Liverpool John Moores University. BTO logo is top right of the image.

📢 We're looking for a PhD student to focus on habitat use of wintering Curlew in and around coastal SPAs. Apply now ➡️ bit.ly/CurlewPhD

The student will be based at @ljmuofficial.bsky.social and BTO, starting in October 2026 for four years.

📆 Deadline to apply: Wednesday 18 February #Ornithology

We are seeking to appoint four full-time field assistants to work on the Wytham Tit Project for 4-8 weeks in spring 2026. Two 8-week field assistants will join the nest monitoring team; duties for these posts will include (i) collecting standardised data from nest-box breeding populations of blue and great tits, (ii) catching and ringing parent birds, (iii) ringing nestlings, and (iv) inputting data collected in the field. These positions with run from approximately Tuesday 7th April to Monday 1st June. Successful candidates for these positions must have (or be qualified to obtain) a BTO permit to ring adult great tits and blue tits. A further two field assistants will be hired to support a project collecting behavioural (foraging) data for great tits breeding in the Wytham population. These roles will involve a significant amount of nightwork. Duties will include (i) setting up and calibrating electronic tracking equipment and nest box cameras in the field, (ii) mapping tracking equipment locations using GPS, (iii) helping with catching and ringing parent birds and fitting tracking devices, (iv) assisting with mistnetting to re-trap tagged parents, and (v) inputting data collected in the field. These positions with be approximately 7 and 4 weeks in duration, starting from 13th April and 4th May, respectively. Possession of a BTO ringing permit with misnet endorsement and driving license are highly desirable for these roles. All fieldwork will take place in Wytham Woods, near Oxford. All Successful candidates must be able to demonstrate skill and enthusiasm for biological research as well as experience of fieldwork under arduous conditions, and both lone work and working as part of a team. Due to the short-term nature of these posts, successsful applicants must already have the right to work in the UK. Salary & Accommodation: Field assistants will be paid at grade 5.2 (£17.37/hour). Contact eleanor.cole@Biology.ox.ac.uk

We are hiring at the Wytham Woods for the upcoming field season. 4 roles available. Please share with anyone who might be interested. #UKbirds #birdringing

🦢 The International Swan Census is almost here – this weekend!

We still have a few priority sites that need coverage. Please check the map & help us assess how well our Whooper & Bewick’s Swan populations are faring. Every count matters! 🙏 bto.org/gsmp-isc

📸 @tangrigg.bsky.social #Ornithology

I'm hoping to make a starter pack of birding and wildlife blogs for people to follow. If you have any recommendations or write your own, please reply and repost this so I don't miss any - no matter how many readers you get, single figures or thousands every week. #birds #ukbirding

Thankfully we were already close by after ringing this morning! Managed to catch some wonderful light.

Mini twitch (of about 10 miles) to Scotman’s flash this afternoon for the Great Northern Diver. #UKBirding

A Willow Tit perched on a dead stem at the side of a footpath, showing the clean white cheek between the long black cap and buff undersides of its body.

Fortunate to still (for now) have Willow Tits on patch. #ukbirding #birds

Back home for a few days over Christmas and managed to catch this Caspian Gull at RSPB Old Moor yesterday. Stayed for a while to attempt to read the ring but unfortunately too distant. #UKbirding

A flock of Bewick's Swans by Ben Cherry/WWT

📉 Our new paper shows Bewick’s Swan numbers in NW/NE Europe have fallen to ~12,900 birds - a 56.7% decline since 1995, with further losses predicted by 2026 unless survival or breeding success improves. Flyway-wide conservation is urgent. 🦢 Download paper > tidsskrift.dk/Wildfowl/art... #Ornithology

What an obsequious, toadying, servile, brown-nosing, corrupt little cunt Gianni Infantino is.

The FIFA 'peace prize' is the most cringe-worthy, pathetic thing I've ever seen in my life.

Football deserves better than this travesty of a ceremony and ruling body.

The details on the branch are unmatched to be fair 😆

Interesting! Very scary that things will only get worse as development of the software continues. Wildlife photographer of the year is going to get a lot more challenging to judge…

Heard from a former colleague who first sent me the record on the website. This is forwarded from a local recorder:

Thankfully I am in the privileged position of taking such bad photos they could never be mistaken for Generative AI… #UKBirding

Same here. Feels quite obvious now I’ve looked in more detail - not seen a ‘z head’ screw before! Not sure what motivates people to do this kind of thing.

Yes, I think you might be right. The feeders look weird in the second and third photos as well. I guess this is the new world of bird recording we are entering…

Any thoughts @richardkbroughton.bsky.social @alexanderlees.bsky.social?

Interesting record of a Willow Tit in Northern Scotland (Loch of Blairs, near south shore of Moray Firth): birdsinmorayandnairn.org/bird-recordi....

Great to see @cateden91.bsky.social's first PhD paper, showing for first time how rivers/freshwater supports Spotted Flycatchers, a declining woodland bird, by subsidising their diet with energy-rich invertebrates. We should be re-wetting the woodlands and re-wooding the rivers! #ornithology

Cross-system transfer of fatty acids from aquatic insects supports terrestrial insectivore condition and reproductive success - Oecologia Cross-system fluxes of aquatic insects rich in omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 LC-PUFAs), specifically eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), may subsidise ins...

Super excited to share the first paper from my PhD! 🎉

We found that rivers don’t just matter for wetland birds - they also help support terrestrial insectivores, thanks to the flow of energy and nutrients from aquatic insects. 🌊🦟

Read more here: 👉 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

We are still interested in any found twite feathers for a study on the relationships and genetic diversity between the British groups - particularly now for birds of Scottish origin in the NE of England or, birds on the Avon.
DM me for me more info.
#birdringing

A Willow Tit on a branch in low light.

My 10 year old daughter took this photo with my (very heavy) camera this morning. Willow Tit isn't a bad species for a first picture of a bird! #ukbirding #birds

Male pied flycatcher

Should I stay or should I go?🐦 Fancy a #PhD studying Pied flycatchers in the Peak District to help better understand what drives individual & population performance? Think #habitat #movement #ecology #genetics 🌍 Make use of this nestbox PIT tag study system and join us! Email me #LJMU #NationalTrust

Golden eagle on the nest in Finland (by O. Karlin)

🦅PhD position 🦅 in my new group at @fbm-unil.bsky.social in Switzerland, studying how the social and resource landscapes shape the learning process for soaring flight. Deadline: Oct 30. Pls repost! career5.successfactors.eu/career?caree...