Soay Sheep Project
@soaysheep.bsky.social
Bleats about all things Soay Sheep: field, research, puns 🐑
Home of the long term study of the Soay Sheep of St Kilda, Scotland 🏝️
Also check out our instagram: www.instagram.com/soaysheep/
and website: https://soaysheep.bio.ed.ac.uk/
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Home of the long term study of the Soay Sheep of St Kilda, Scotland 🏝️
Also check out our instagram: www.instagram.com/soaysheep/
and website: https://soaysheep.bio.ed.ac.uk/
🔭🐏
Census 6 completed! The tups are really starting to size each other up now, either guarding males or hanging around in groups like this particularly large one
November 7, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Census 6 completed! The tups are really starting to size each other up now, either guarding males or hanging around in groups like this particularly large one
Safe to say the sheepies are hiding inside a lot of today 🔭🐑
October 31, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Safe to say the sheepies are hiding inside a lot of today 🔭🐑
And to round off the Sheepie presence at @eseb2025.bsky.social we had a full house for Lizy giving a talk on the missing fraction problem! Thanks for having us Barcelona!
August 22, 2025 at 9:31 PM
And to round off the Sheepie presence at @eseb2025.bsky.social we had a full house for Lizy giving a talk on the missing fraction problem! Thanks for having us Barcelona!
🔭🐑 Our summer field team have been busy beavering away and have completed their 10 censuses of the village bay population (picured). Over ten days a team of three will go out and count all the sheep in this area, tagged and untagged, so we know who is where and who they are grouping with.
August 6, 2025 at 8:30 AM
🔭🐑 Our summer field team have been busy beavering away and have completed their 10 censuses of the village bay population (picured). Over ten days a team of three will go out and count all the sheep in this area, tagged and untagged, so we know who is where and who they are grouping with.
💻🐑 Update! Back on the mainland our team at @sheffielduni.bsky.social have been beavering away and have finished extracting DNA and aligning over 1000 whole sheep genomes as part of an exciting new project. Keep an eye out for more as the work progresses.
July 9, 2025 at 8:57 AM
💻🐑 Update! Back on the mainland our team at @sheffielduni.bsky.social have been beavering away and have finished extracting DNA and aligning over 1000 whole sheep genomes as part of an exciting new project. Keep an eye out for more as the work progresses.
🔭🐑 Check it out! With the lambing team back on the mainland have a look at the stats for the arrival of the Echo Orange cohort of 2025!
June 24, 2025 at 8:41 AM
🔭🐑 Check it out! With the lambing team back on the mainland have a look at the stats for the arrival of the Echo Orange cohort of 2025!
🔭🐑 The first lambs have arrived, and spot on time from consort sightings in November! Soon village bay will be full of skipping lambs and frantic field workers....🏃♀️➡️
April 15, 2025 at 1:32 PM
🔭🐑 The first lambs have arrived, and spot on time from consort sightings in November! Soon village bay will be full of skipping lambs and frantic field workers....🏃♀️➡️
📰🐑New Paper! PhD researcher @lizziedrake.bsky.social and collaborators looked at how harsh environments in a Soay's first year can have lasting impacts on reproduction and lifespan, and how they differ for males and females.
Read it here: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Read it here: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
April 15, 2025 at 1:26 PM
📰🐑New Paper! PhD researcher @lizziedrake.bsky.social and collaborators looked at how harsh environments in a Soay's first year can have lasting impacts on reproduction and lifespan, and how they differ for males and females.
Read it here: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Read it here: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
🔭🐑 Saturday saw a big milestone for our field team who completed their 10th and final census of the trip and were rewarded with some glorious weather! Bring on the Lambs...
April 7, 2025 at 11:36 AM
🔭🐑 Saturday saw a big milestone for our field team who completed their 10th and final census of the trip and were rewarded with some glorious weather! Bring on the Lambs...
🔭🐑 Our lambing field season is underway! Last week our lambing team arrived and started out on their first big job of the trip, study area censusing. They will try and spot as many sheep as they can across 10 censuses over the next couple of weeks
March 24, 2025 at 9:43 AM
🔭🐑 Our lambing field season is underway! Last week our lambing team arrived and started out on their first big job of the trip, study area censusing. They will try and spot as many sheep as they can across 10 censuses over the next couple of weeks
Each year’s lambs get a new colour on a six year cycle, prefixed with a letter. Last year’s lambs were Yellow, starting off our “echo” series. Any sheep caught where we don’t know there age are given “unknown purple” tags. 🔭🐑
March 12, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Each year’s lambs get a new colour on a six year cycle, prefixed with a letter. Last year’s lambs were Yellow, starting off our “echo” series. Any sheep caught where we don’t know there age are given “unknown purple” tags. 🔭🐑
The combination of different horn shapes, colour morphs and sometimes white patches make every sheep unique to the keen eye. But when we are out censusing it’s much easier to tell them apart by their unique colour tag and number which can be spotted through the teloscope 🔭🐑
March 12, 2025 at 1:26 PM
The combination of different horn shapes, colour morphs and sometimes white patches make every sheep unique to the keen eye. But when we are out censusing it’s much easier to tell them apart by their unique colour tag and number which can be spotted through the teloscope 🔭🐑
Sheepie News! A perspective piece in @natureaging.bsky.social highlights the importance of long term research and how St Kilda Soay sheep project provides a powerful model for understanding why ageing process varies under complex environmental conditions.
Check it out: doi.org/10.1038/s435...
📰🐑
Check it out: doi.org/10.1038/s435...
📰🐑
February 28, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Sheepie News! A perspective piece in @natureaging.bsky.social highlights the importance of long term research and how St Kilda Soay sheep project provides a powerful model for understanding why ageing process varies under complex environmental conditions.
Check it out: doi.org/10.1038/s435...
📰🐑
Check it out: doi.org/10.1038/s435...
📰🐑
There are also different horns, with the rams, or as we call them Tups, sporting wonderful curls. Ewe horns are thinner and some don't have any at all, called polled. The third horn type is scurred where horns are misshapen, taking on a variety of trajectories and sizes.
February 27, 2025 at 10:43 AM
There are also different horns, with the rams, or as we call them Tups, sporting wonderful curls. Ewe horns are thinner and some don't have any at all, called polled. The third horn type is scurred where horns are misshapen, taking on a variety of trajectories and sizes.
With the lambing season fast approaching, it's time to meet the sheep! Soay sheep come in four colour morphs or "flavours" indicating their body and belly colours: dark-wild, dark-self, light-wild, and light-self. The most common is the dark wild morph with a brown body and white belly.
February 27, 2025 at 10:43 AM
With the lambing season fast approaching, it's time to meet the sheep! Soay sheep come in four colour morphs or "flavours" indicating their body and belly colours: dark-wild, dark-self, light-wild, and light-self. The most common is the dark wild morph with a brown body and white belly.
We've arrived! The Soay Sheep project now has Bluesky 🦋 Follow along for "bleats" about all things sheep related, from field work to research output and everything in between
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January 29, 2025 at 9:43 AM
We've arrived! The Soay Sheep project now has Bluesky 🦋 Follow along for "bleats" about all things sheep related, from field work to research output and everything in between
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Sheepies on the move! Tomorrow is our annual sheep meeting in Edinburgh bringing together researchers from across the country for all things Soay Sheep 💻🐑
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#SoaySheepProject #research #ecology
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#SoaySheepProject #research #ecology
March 24, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Sheepies on the move! Tomorrow is our annual sheep meeting in Edinburgh bringing together researchers from across the country for all things Soay Sheep 💻🐑
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#SoaySheepProject #research #ecology
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#SoaySheepProject #research #ecology
Rut Team 2024! Xavier, Rebecca, and Lucy have (just about) finished a four week trip to do our autumn data collection: censusing, behaviour, and vegetation sampling, as well as setting up some extra wind loggers for the winter 🔭🐏
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#fieldwork #stkilda #soaysheep #ecology
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#fieldwork #stkilda #soaysheep #ecology
March 24, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Rut Team 2024! Xavier, Rebecca, and Lucy have (just about) finished a four week trip to do our autumn data collection: censusing, behaviour, and vegetation sampling, as well as setting up some extra wind loggers for the winter 🔭🐏
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#fieldwork #stkilda #soaysheep #ecology
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#fieldwork #stkilda #soaysheep #ecology
Every cloud has its sliver lining! Today the Rut team were supposed to be heading home but weather conditions have meant we get an extra day on St Kilda and some bonus data collection 🔭🐏
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#fieldwork #research #stkilda #soaysheep #ecology
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#fieldwork #research #stkilda #soaysheep #ecology
March 24, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Every cloud has its sliver lining! Today the Rut team were supposed to be heading home but weather conditions have meant we get an extra day on St Kilda and some bonus data collection 🔭🐏
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#fieldwork #research #stkilda #soaysheep #ecology
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#fieldwork #research #stkilda #soaysheep #ecology
What I see vs what the scope sees.
The unsung hero of our field work, our telescopes help us spot all of our study animals and read their tags while not having to get too close to disturb them. This chap is DO004 🔭🐏
#stkilda #soaysheep #ecology #fieldwork #seenature
The unsung hero of our field work, our telescopes help us spot all of our study animals and read their tags while not having to get too close to disturb them. This chap is DO004 🔭🐏
#stkilda #soaysheep #ecology #fieldwork #seenature
March 24, 2025 at 11:10 AM
What I see vs what the scope sees.
The unsung hero of our field work, our telescopes help us spot all of our study animals and read their tags while not having to get too close to disturb them. This chap is DO004 🔭🐏
#stkilda #soaysheep #ecology #fieldwork #seenature
The unsung hero of our field work, our telescopes help us spot all of our study animals and read their tags while not having to get too close to disturb them. This chap is DO004 🔭🐏
#stkilda #soaysheep #ecology #fieldwork #seenature
What a difference a couple of days can make! The rut team this trip have really had it all from sun to snow
March 24, 2025 at 11:10 AM
What a difference a couple of days can make! The rut team this trip have really had it all from sun to snow
So, in the final hour of my final day in my 4th decade of running the field side of the Soay sheep Project, I say thank you to the 100s of people I have worked with and thank you to all followers of this Twitter feed, I have thoroughly enjoyed welcoming you into this sheep fold.
March 24, 2025 at 11:10 AM
So, in the final hour of my final day in my 4th decade of running the field side of the Soay sheep Project, I say thank you to the 100s of people I have worked with and thank you to all followers of this Twitter feed, I have thoroughly enjoyed welcoming you into this sheep fold.
Lamb races are just beginning as they discover the joy of life.
March 24, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Lamb races are just beginning as they discover the joy of life.
"Lambing Team 2024" plus ewe supervising her lamb being weighed.
March 24, 2025 at 11:11 AM
"Lambing Team 2024" plus ewe supervising her lamb being weighed.
Moon light on the bay last night.
March 24, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Moon light on the bay last night.