Jamie Dunning
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j-dunning.net
Jamie Dunning
@j-dunning.net
I am an ornithologist, broadly interested in the social behaviour of birds.
📚 Research - https://www.j-dunning.net
Thermal-imaging of two shearwaters in flight over St John's Valley on Lundy last Spring. As well as the bare parts, look at the radiation from the feathered wings!
November 19, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Another yellow-browed warbler and a patch-tick woodcock from a foggy Aust this morning. Only goldcrest in the nets and a slow push of finches and redwing overhead.
November 15, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Obviously travelling by train. Highlights were flocks of stork -migrating or staying?- and great white egret through the Black Forest 🚂
November 11, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Thanks to the CASCB @uni-konstanz.de and @alexhhchan.bsky.social for hosting me today. It was a pleasure to see their exciting work on perception and decision making in person, and to talk about applied models of animal social behaviour.
November 10, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Late to posting an early yellow-browed warbler, briefly through scrub at Aust on Monday morning. Otherwise, Siskin moving and single grey plover over. Despite the autumnal feel, still no redwing.
October 2, 2025 at 8:07 AM
This is the photo that best captures how good Monday was on the Severn. The first sooty shearwater for Bristol, and the first for Avon since 1974 (📸: @aravindramesh19.bsky.social)
September 17, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Monday’s Sabines gull was still on the foreshore, below the sea-watchers bench, at Severn Beach yesterday. Still Manx, terns and phalarope in the channel.
September 17, 2025 at 6:53 AM
The patch living up to our group’s logo today too.
September 15, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Big weather delivered an exceptional push of seabirds up the Severn today, including the first sooty shearwater for 45 years, grey phalaropes, sabines gull and Leach’s petrel.
September 15, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Here’s @matthall95.bsky.social sea-watching in similar conditions yesterday !
September 12, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Rounded off an excellent week with a Sabine’s gull from Severn Beach, pushed up the channel on squally weather. Also, 8+ Manx, comic and black tern, and spoonbill all on the river.
September 12, 2025 at 1:14 PM
A hard few days at Severnside (with a wind direction just cutting us off from the seabird action down the channel).

Highlights have been juv. Yellow-legged Gull, wind-grounded migrants, and Black-headed Gulls from Poland and Netherlands in the same scope view.
September 1, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Book-shopping with my son today, we found a book with an illustration of a micro-discovery I made as a MRes student.

The paper wasn’t breaking any ground, but I am proud of this particular exploration.
August 10, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Lesser Whitethroat seem to always be an early season migrant at Aust - two caught this morning with first tennis ball Willow Warbler of the autumn.

Otherwise, two more crossbill overhead and a site first ring-necked parakeet. 🎾🎾
July 23, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Autumnal passage this morning at Aust, with five groups of eleven crossbill and a yellowhammer over the services. Wood sandpiper still on the wetland below. 🍂🪶
July 17, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Successful trip to steep holm today - part of a larger project monitoring the breeding gulls.
June 28, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Three full grown birds, from two inaccessible sites around Bristol, colour-ringed today at a local rehabilitation centre.
All will now be released back to their nest sites.
June 11, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Here's that first one too, from a wet gritstone crag in West Yorkshire.
June 9, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Ten years after I ringed my first, our young ringing group in Bristol ringed our first peregrine chicks in the gorge.
Two males and female - below the iconic bridge, in a cavity peppered with Carboniferous sea-shells. 🪶🧪
June 9, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Our perspective, The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus is a social network problem, has been accepted at PLOS Pathogens - I'll post more when it's published.
@plos.org 🧪🪶
May 28, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Mammoth effort so far — I am lucky to work with a great team at Severnside RG 🍻
May 16, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I am always impressed by the diversity in size, shape and colour of gulls eggs.
These are all lesser black backed gulls nests, visited under license.
May 16, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Ahead of habitat enhancement for seabirds on steep holm, we have done some baseline surveys for lesser black backed gull.

Among 150 nests recorded yesterday, we also recorded our first (early!) chicks of 2025.
May 16, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Last night there was a moorland fire in the valley where most of England's twite are now nesting. This is terrible news.
(Photo: Tim Walker)
May 2, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Lundy has its own postal service.
This is their new first class stamp commemorating the reestablished bird obs and includes a colour ringed bird !
April 19, 2025 at 7:40 PM