Interested in a PhD in ornithology? Funding available for projects at the interface of ecology, behaviour & evolution from Oct '26 working on long-term population studies of tits at Wytham, based in @biology.ox.ac.uk in the new Life & Mind Building in Oxford
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

The first of our blue tits successfully fledged last week! And, many more nestlings are ready to go — won’t be long now!

#ukbirding #phenology #ornithology #birds

Freeze frame. Record scratch. You might but wondering how I got here.

The eagled eyed among you might notice that there are 2 blue tits in amongst this brood of great tits.
Mini 🧵

✨ New study ✨

📍 Phenoweb, United Kingdom
👷 Ally Phillimore (@phenoweb.bsky.social)
🏦 University of Edinburgh
🐦 Blue tit
🔗 nioo.knaw.nl/en/projects/...
📑 metadata only

Although we're still collecting this year's data, 2025 is shaping up to be a record-early year for first leaf emergence among many of our studied tree species — including oaks! 🌳

#phenology 🍃

Happy Easter weekend to all who celebrate!

While you're out hunting for chocolate eggs, our team is busy monitoring the breeding progress of our blue tits. 🪺

As of today, we have eggs in 73 nests, with several females already incubating. In contrast, on this day last year, only 2 nests had eggs!

Last year I posted too early and had to retract my post 🫣, but now that all @niooknaw.bsky.social @animalecol-nioo.bsky.social nest boxes on #Vlieland have been checked, we know for sure that it is - yet again - a very early start of the breeding season! @uniexecec.bsky.social @sevans.bsky.social

They're back! The first three terns arrived yesterday morning. The very first one was 18-year old Calimero. He was followed by 7-year old Severina and 13-year old Fabrice. All arived between 10:29 and 10:54. ♥️ #phenology #seabirds

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

First Blue tit egg at East Dartmoor was April 4 2025. There are 3 earlier lay dates since mid-1950s, all in 2019. Probably about 1 in 8 pairs have started laying - much the same pattern as in 2019. Suggests we can expect first Pied Flycatcher eggs 2 weeks from now. #phenology

It's an incredible honour to be awarded the John C. Marsden medal from the @linneansociety.bsky.social for my PhD research on phenology, moths... and some very hungry caterpillars 🌳🐛

Thanks to all my friends and mentors at @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social, but especially @allyphillimore.bsky.social!

And we're off! Our first blue tit egg was laid on 3 April 2025 - making this, by some margin, the earliest start to a season in the 12 years of our project! 🪺

#phenology #ukbirding #ornithology 🪶

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

Looks like being a very early spring for us. We already have over 60 blue tit nests and didn’t reach similar numbers ‘til around April 10th last year. This sycamore is already in leaf, and last year it didn’t reach a similar stage for another three weeks. When will we get our first eggs?