Leo Fordham

Scarce Swallowtail, Iphiclides podalrius

Field margin full of wildflowers

Crucial new meta-analysis of pollinator requirements in agricultural landscapes shows that butterflies need a min of 37% of semi-natural habitat, whereas bees need 16-18% and hoverflies 6%. Where this is not possible greatly increasing habitat quality can help. natuurkennis.nl/wp-content/u...

Now officially out in the first JAE issue of 2026, read and share if you haven't already! 🧪

Me standing by my poster detailing research from my first chapter, titled 'Bees sir, can I have some more? Post-spring resource supplementation increases farmland bumblebee colony survival'

Group photo of postgrads from UCL East at the BES2025 poster session

Had an absolutely fantastic time at #BES2025 and a massive well done to all speakers and presenters. Really enjoyed displaying my poster and research, representing two great unis, and meeting so many great people and potential collaborators. Glad my title brought as much joy to others as it did me!!

Thanks Alexis!!

it will be unsustainable for both farmers and the environment.
7/7

sustaining resource continuity and pollinator populations. These interventions include planting a greater diversity and abundance of #wildflowers as well as staggering mowing and grazing practices, and while they sound like simple solutions, they must be supported by governmental subsidies or 6/7

Our results suggest that agricultural B. terrestris colonies face food limitation throughout the season but particularly towards the end of their colony cycle. Interventions that increase floral resources in early summer, particularly in heavily arable areas, may therefore be critical to 5/7

cereal-dominated areas failed sooner regardless of feeding treatment, worker production was also reduced in these landscapes, and reproductive output was minimal across all treatments. 4/7

A graph showing 3 survival curves for bumblebee colonies split by feeding treatment (early, late, and control), with experimental time in weeks on the x-axis and proportion of colonies surviving on the y-axis, with vertical red lines at weeks 0, 3, and 6 displaying the boundaries of the feeding treatments. For the first 3 weeks- during the early feeding treatment- survival for all three treatments is roughly similar, but over the next 3 weeks during the later feeding treatment, the late fed colonies perform similarly but the early and control colony survival drops significantly. After the later feeding period ends, the late fed colony survival drops significantly to match the performance of the other treatment.

colonies by placing 60 colonies on 20 farms and supplementing their food at different times. We quantified local land-use and tracked colony survival, worker number, and reproductive success, finding that May-June supplementation significantly improved colony survival. Colonies in more 3/7

Agricultural expansion has diminished much foraging habitat for bees, but the impacts of nutritional stress caused by temporal gaps in food availability can be hard to isolate from other agricultural stressors. We assessed whether food availability constrains #bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) 2/7

Resource supplementation later in the colony cycle improves real‐world bumblebee colony survival Our findings suggest that B. terrestris colonies became food-limited towards the end of their colony cycle in early summer. We suggest ecological intensification through planting native wildflower sp....

I am absolutely thrilled to share my first chapter, published today in @jappliedecology.bsky.social! Results are summarised in the thread below, or you can read it OA here doi.org/10.1111/1365... @ellileadbeater.bsky.social @rhulbiology.bsky.social @uclcber.bsky.social @ucl-pnl.bsky.social 1/7 🧪

@dipteristsforum.bsky.social @rhulbiology.bsky.social @uclcber.bsky.social

(PDF) A second British record of Paragus quadrifasciatus Meigen (Diptera, Syrphidae) PDF | In short note format, we report the second UK record and the first specimen for Paragus quadrifasciatus (Meigen, 1822), found in Stratford,... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ...

Delighted to share this note on only the second British record of the #hoverfly Paragus quadrifasciatus, which @amaeda16.bsky.social, @ellileadbeater.bsky.social, and I found during a #pollinator survey of the @ucl-pnl.bsky.social garden lab. Read and share! 🧪
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Great, thanks! I'll have a look

A side-on view of an orange large skipper butterfly (Ochlodes sylvanus) perching on a verdant blade of grass with its wings closed

Can anyone recommend any good online ecological #bioinformatics courses? Would appreciate guidance, I don't have buckets of time so the more direct and relevant the better. Thanks in advance!
Picture for attention, copyright me

Ham or jam? Help scientists by recording wasp food preferences The next time a wasp visits your picnic, if you make a note of whether it goes for protein or sugar, you can help UCL scientists better understand the wasp life cycle.

Wasp scientists are calling for your help in a very simple survey: the next time a wasp visits your picnic, if you mark down whether it goes for protein or sugar, you can help Prof Seirian Sumner @waspwoman.bsky.social and her @uclcber.bsky.social colleagues better understand the wasp life cycle

Wow! Hell of a photo, awesome insects

It cracked the code for low-emission travel!!

Very strong effort

A welcome distraction

Whilst doing a pollinator survey, I have fortuitously discovered that taking 0.6x selfies with a marbled white (Melanargia galathea) on one's nose is a great joy of life- can wholeheartedly recommend
#butterfly #ecology #biodiversity #nature 🧪

Picture taken during fieldwork, with calcareous grassland under a cloudless sky in the background and the book Count Belisarius in the foreground

Fieldworking hard or hardly fieldworking?

Hive mind- never in doubt.
The symposium was the perfect celebration of such a strong postgrad research department- well done to everyone, a privilege to be involved! 🐝🧪

Title slide of a presentation I gave at the 2025 Bumblebee Working Group in Cambridge: Summer but not spring resource supplementation increases bumblebee colony survival

Had a wonderful time yesterday at the Bumblebee Working Group meeting in Cambridge and really enjoyed presenting the debut of my first chapter results! Thanks to all who came and listened, and to @sofiadartnell.bsky.social, Lynn Dicks, and @camzoology.bsky.social for hosting- great job

There is hope! Easier said than done though I'm sure...

A captured buff-tailed bumblebee queen in the foreground with researchers diligently capturing more in the background

A captured buff-tailed bumblebee queen in the foreground with researchers diligently capturing more in the background

A sea of flowering heather (Calluna sp) in Windsor Great Park

A bad close up of a buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) queen foraging on heather

Glorious day and location to teach @alexisggk.bsky.social and @cminnaar.bsky.social the art of catching (bumblebee) queens- what a ridiculous and brilliant job this is
(Caught with permission from Windsor Great Park)

What a great year it was to run a large scale bumblebee colony survival experiment! Hoping to publish the results very soon, but spoiler- it's not looking pretty

Great and really interesting evening, massive thanks to all involved!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARWIN!!
Celebrating today with CEE Darwin's Birthday Debate at @nhm-london.bsky.social. Looking at 'How would Darwin do fieldwork today? Sharing science benefits equitably in ecology and evolution' #CEEDarwin2025

If seabirds ever got into a war, herring gulls would continue to tend their gardens despite the bombs and bullets whilst grumbling about the mild inconvenience of it all