Joanna Bagniewska
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joannabagniewska.com
Joanna Bagniewska
@joannabagniewska.com
Lecturer in Environmental Science at Oxford Uni, Oxford Lifelong Learning @oxlifelonglearning.bsky.social
Fellow at @kelloggoxford.bsky.social

Zoologist, science communicator, 🇵🇱 in 🇬🇧.
#AcademicSky 🧪

I write books, buy them!
https://linktr.ee/jbagniewska
How can planners and urban designers best promote biodiversity at the urban scale?

FREE Online Lecture 📅 10.03.26 18:15 GMT

How to best connect up urban nature? Join Oskar Kindvall, Francesca Froy, Thomas Hesselber and myself to find out.

Sign up: lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/about/online...
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February 6, 2026 at 2:49 PM
If the Met Gala happened underwater...

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Imagine wearing a #jellyfish as a helmet!?!
Well, that’s exactly what this juvenile jack is doing! Mostly immune to its sting, the jack has taken the jellyfish prisoner.

Shot using #scuba, out over the deep abyss, drifting at night.
#blackwater #blackwaterdiving #scubadiving #gug
February 4, 2026 at 12:02 PM
Cinnamon and chocolate: a combination to die for.

Brushtail possums, invasive in NZ, can normally be trapped easily. But the most trap-shy animals are a problem: how to target the last few?

Turns out, special edition cinnamon Oreos. More addictive than drugs.

🧪🌍
predatorfreenz.org/research/ore...
Oreos and uppers: inside the research to get the last 1% of predators
To achieve Predator Free 2050, every last individual predator needs to be caught – and the final few are often the hardest.
predatorfreenz.org
January 29, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Today, I found out that the French term for "science communicator" is "vulgarisateur scientifique". Science vulgariser.

There is literally no better descriptor for someone who talks about animal sex and poo.

Joanna Bagniewska: Science vulgariser. Wulgaryzatorka nauki.

#scicomm 🧪
January 27, 2026 at 9:46 PM
Uh oh, Reform UK also got hooked on the penguin visual... 🐧

I think it's time to remind the world about our Bird Biodiversity and Population Monitoring Methods course. 🪶
📆 Apply by Jan 28th
🌍 Study online
🧪 Course run by @oxlifelonglearning.bsky.social
lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/courses/bird...
January 26, 2026 at 2:27 PM
Thanks to the White House about half the internet learnt that there are actually no penguins in Greenland. Yay #scicomm!

BUT there *is* one 🐧living in the northern hemisphere: the Galapagos penguin, the only species found (just) north of the equator. No, the "penguin" on the WH tweet is not it.
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January 24, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Today is the start of @rspb.bsky.social's #BigGardenBirdwatch.

In 2025 the most common British birds were:

🟤 House Sparrow
🔵 Blue Tit
⚪ Wood Pigeon
⚫ Starling
⚫ Blackbird
🔴 Robin

Take part in this years birdwatch to register what you see in your local area www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...
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January 23, 2026 at 2:44 PM
FREE COURSE: Distance sampling: Theory and applications

🌍 Online
🧪 3-6 hours study during the week of 02 February 2026
🦊 Useful for ecologists and conservationists

#AcademicSky

verdantlearn.com/learn/distan...
January 22, 2026 at 3:52 PM
Sex matters: European urban birds flee approaching women sooner than approaching men.

Pretty much what it says in the title... Study conducted across 5 European countries, with standardised pairing of ♂️and♀️ observers.
Perhaps it's the smell?

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besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
January 21, 2026 at 1:28 PM
❗ The news we all needed: cow uses a broom to scratch herself.

Great report of tool use in cattle by @katewong.bsky.social.
🧪
🐄

www.scientificamerican.com/article/firs...
January 19, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Happy 25th birthday, @wikipedia.org! 🎂

The first edit in Wikipedia's database, to HomePage, was made on January 15, 2001, at 19:27 (UTC), and stated in its entirety "This is the new WikiPedia!"

Over 65 million articles across 300+ languages. Here's to many more 🎉
#Wikipedia25 🧪
January 15, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Paid summer research internships in Oxford! Work with me on biodiversity in school grounds (or with someone else on another project).

🧪 #UNIQplus is open to UK undergraduates from under-represented and disadvantaged backgrounds.
📆 Applications due 18 Feb:
www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/g...
🌍 #AcademicSky
January 14, 2026 at 10:19 AM
🐻💙🐻‍❄️

Polar bear ♂️+ grizzly ♀️= PIZZLY
Grizzly ♂️+ polar bear ♀️= GROLAR

Number of hybrid bears is likely to increase as climate change and ice decline push polar bears south, while grizzlies move north. These hybrids aren't sterile, but also lack the specific adaptations of their parents.
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January 13, 2026 at 2:45 PM
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#academicsky
December 30, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Excellent advice collated by @billsutherland.bsky.social at #BES2025 - how to approach scientific conferences (especially ones as big as those from @britishecologicalsociety.org).

Don't be afraid to chat people up, attend talks you fancy, and enjoy yourself!

What would you add?

#academicsky 🧪
December 18, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Great talk from @clairebranston.bsky.social at #BES2025, with a Glasgow urban gradient setup similar to that of @mszulkin.bsky.social in Warsaw.

Earlier egg laying with greater oak availability.

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December 17, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Are you at #BES2025 @britishecologicalsociety.org Annual Meeting?

Come and say hi to the ecology team from @oxlifelonglearning.bsky.social!

#biodiversity #academicSky 🧪🌏🦊
December 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Come to our workshop at @britishecologicalsociety.org Annual Meeting #bes2025 tomorrow lunchtime. We will discuss fieldwork teaching for AI-proofing assessments and improving AI skills - bring your case studies!
🧪 #academicsky 🌍
@drnickworsfold.bsky.social
December 15, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Animal cafes - hot or not?

Exotic animal cafes provide
-limited space
-poor animal interaction oversight and controls
-inadequate feeding
-restricted behavioral opportunities
resulting in poor welfare. Even cat cafes have low welfare scores.

Don't go there.

🧪🐈☕🐾

Research: doi.org/10.1292/jvms...
December 12, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Can fungi build better homes for cavity-nesting birds?

We combine expertise in architecture (@unimelb.bsky.social) and ecology (@ox.ac.uk) to see if nests made out of mycelium (insulating, carbon-neutral and biodegradable fungi roots) attract birds.

🧪🪶🍄

www.birdsonthebrink.co.uk/blog/botb-gr...
December 5, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Do striped hyenas have a sweet tooth?

Yes, yes they do.

Here's the first record of honey consumption by a hyena, caught on a camera trap in Kenya:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

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December 4, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Some fantastic pedagogical points made here - eloquent and compact. And yes, there needs to be more talk about how explanations are not the same as learning.

#AcademicSky
Can LLMs be personal tutors?

In theory yes; in practice there are some big challenges to overcome. I list four here.

In particular we have to get away from the idea that explanations = learning.

substack.nomoremarking.com/p/llm-tutors...
Can LLMs be personal tutors?
Four big challenges
substack.nomoremarking.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:39 PM
🔊What does the herp say?

The first ever record of vocalisation in viviparous lizards is described in The Herpetological Bulletin: www.thebhs.org/publications... - and by my student Johnnie Johnson, no less!

FYI, the sound is a "brief chirp".

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December 3, 2025 at 2:24 PM
The Communicating Scientist strikes again!

Before engaging in any sort of communication - speaking, writing, visuals - ask yourself:

🎯What is your purpose?
👤Who is your audience?
⚠️What are your constraints?

This is the foundation for tailoring your messages and approaches.
#AcademicSky #Scicomm 🧪
December 1, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Early career ornithologists, this one's for you.
🧪🌍🪶
🎉 Abstract submission is open for the EOU Fledglings Meeting 2026 in Gdańsk, Poland (27–29 March 2026)!

📝 Submit your oral/poster abstract:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

📅 Deadline: 16 Jan 2026
More info: eounion.org/fledglings

#EOU26 #Ornithology
November 28, 2025 at 11:03 AM