Graham Appleton
@wadertales.bsky.social
Writer & life-long birdwatcher.
Formerly Director of Communications for BTO.
#WaderTales blogs about #waders #shorebirds #birds #ornithology
Formerly Director of Communications for BTO.
#WaderTales blogs about #waders #shorebirds #birds #ornithology
The annual post-breeding moult of a shorebird lasts about three months - that's as long as a successful breeding season.
Monitoring moult using digital #photography:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/10/09/m...
Monitoring moult using digital #photography:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/10/09/m...
December 10, 2025 at 6:46 AM
The annual post-breeding moult of a shorebird lasts about three months - that's as long as a successful breeding season.
Monitoring moult using digital #photography:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/10/09/m...
Monitoring moult using digital #photography:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/10/09/m...
Farming can be good for breeding waders.
Blog based on research by Lilja Jóhannesdóttir:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/12/09/d... 🎂7️⃣
#ornithology
Blog based on research by Lilja Jóhannesdóttir:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/12/09/d... 🎂7️⃣
#ornithology
December 9, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Farming can be good for breeding waders.
Blog based on research by Lilja Jóhannesdóttir:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/12/09/d... 🎂7️⃣
#ornithology
Blog based on research by Lilja Jóhannesdóttir:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/12/09/d... 🎂7️⃣
#ornithology
Waders/shorebirds don't necessarily breed every year.
Taking a 'gap year' may be a sensible option:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/12/09/g... 🎂5️⃣
Paper by Eveling Tavera et al.
#ornithology
Taking a 'gap year' may be a sensible option:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/12/09/g... 🎂5️⃣
Paper by Eveling Tavera et al.
#ornithology
December 9, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Waders/shorebirds don't necessarily breed every year.
Taking a 'gap year' may be a sensible option:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/12/09/g... 🎂5️⃣
Paper by Eveling Tavera et al.
#ornithology
Taking a 'gap year' may be a sensible option:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/12/09/g... 🎂5️⃣
Paper by Eveling Tavera et al.
#ornithology
Blog about
* Broad-billed Sandpipers
* The latest Red List for waders/shorebirds and
* Aapa Mires
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/12/08/b... 🎂
#ornithology
* Broad-billed Sandpipers
* The latest Red List for waders/shorebirds and
* Aapa Mires
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/12/08/b... 🎂
#ornithology
December 8, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Blog about
* Broad-billed Sandpipers
* The latest Red List for waders/shorebirds and
* Aapa Mires
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/12/08/b... 🎂
#ornithology
* Broad-billed Sandpipers
* The latest Red List for waders/shorebirds and
* Aapa Mires
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/12/08/b... 🎂
#ornithology
December 6, 2025 at 9:49 AM
3/4
Is inbreeding a problem in small head-started populations?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/04/29/i...
Is inbreeding a problem in small head-started populations?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/04/29/i...
December 6, 2025 at 9:49 AM
3/4
Is inbreeding a problem in small head-started populations?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/04/29/i...
Is inbreeding a problem in small head-started populations?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/04/29/i...
December 6, 2025 at 9:49 AM
1/4
Thread about head-starting (hatching eggs and raising chicks in captivity) starts with link to new paper from WWT & RSPB:
"When and why to give shorebirds a head start"
Then return rates, inbreeding issues and Curlew 👇
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#ornithology
Thread about head-starting (hatching eggs and raising chicks in captivity) starts with link to new paper from WWT & RSPB:
"When and why to give shorebirds a head start"
Then return rates, inbreeding issues and Curlew 👇
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#ornithology
December 6, 2025 at 9:49 AM
1/4
Thread about head-starting (hatching eggs and raising chicks in captivity) starts with link to new paper from WWT & RSPB:
"When and why to give shorebirds a head start"
Then return rates, inbreeding issues and Curlew 👇
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#ornithology
Thread about head-starting (hatching eggs and raising chicks in captivity) starts with link to new paper from WWT & RSPB:
"When and why to give shorebirds a head start"
Then return rates, inbreeding issues and Curlew 👇
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#ornithology
At the end of every new road/track in Iceland is a new summer cottage, a tourist development, a newly planted forest or energy infrastructure.
All these developments impact breeding waders but the birds' problems start with the road.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
#ConservationScience🌍
All these developments impact breeding waders but the birds' problems start with the road.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
#ConservationScience🌍
December 5, 2025 at 7:11 AM
At the end of every new road/track in Iceland is a new summer cottage, a tourist development, a newly planted forest or energy infrastructure.
All these developments impact breeding waders but the birds' problems start with the road.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
#ConservationScience🌍
All these developments impact breeding waders but the birds' problems start with the road.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
#ConservationScience🌍
Not everyone relies on AI ...
So far this year, over 19,000 people in 139 countries have read at least one WaderTales blog.
wadertales.wordpress.com/about/
The most popular of this year's blogs is "Making full use of tracking data".
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/05/06/m...
#ornithology
So far this year, over 19,000 people in 139 countries have read at least one WaderTales blog.
wadertales.wordpress.com/about/
The most popular of this year's blogs is "Making full use of tracking data".
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/05/06/m...
#ornithology
December 4, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Not everyone relies on AI ...
So far this year, over 19,000 people in 139 countries have read at least one WaderTales blog.
wadertales.wordpress.com/about/
The most popular of this year's blogs is "Making full use of tracking data".
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/05/06/m...
#ornithology
So far this year, over 19,000 people in 139 countries have read at least one WaderTales blog.
wadertales.wordpress.com/about/
The most popular of this year's blogs is "Making full use of tracking data".
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/05/06/m...
#ornithology
How effectively can listening devices 'count' breeding waders?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/12/04/c...
Blog from 4 Dec 2024 based on paper by Jarrett & Willis
#ornithology
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/12/04/c...
Blog from 4 Dec 2024 based on paper by Jarrett & Willis
#ornithology
December 4, 2025 at 8:04 AM
How effectively can listening devices 'count' breeding waders?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/12/04/c...
Blog from 4 Dec 2024 based on paper by Jarrett & Willis
#ornithology
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/12/04/c...
Blog from 4 Dec 2024 based on paper by Jarrett & Willis
#ornithology
4/4
Fast forward 30 years.
Seedlings are growing in (and beyond) the 500 metre buffer.
Will foresters remove them, to maintain the space that waders need?
Planning need to create zones for forestry and waders - they are not going to coexist!
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Fast forward 30 years.
Seedlings are growing in (and beyond) the 500 metre buffer.
Will foresters remove them, to maintain the space that waders need?
Planning need to create zones for forestry and waders - they are not going to coexist!
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
December 3, 2025 at 7:23 AM
4/4
Fast forward 30 years.
Seedlings are growing in (and beyond) the 500 metre buffer.
Will foresters remove them, to maintain the space that waders need?
Planning need to create zones for forestry and waders - they are not going to coexist!
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Fast forward 30 years.
Seedlings are growing in (and beyond) the 500 metre buffer.
Will foresters remove them, to maintain the space that waders need?
Planning need to create zones for forestry and waders - they are not going to coexist!
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
3/4
The Iceland paper suggests that zoning would help.
Focus woodland in bigger blocks and create one big wader-shadow - not lots of smaller ones.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/06/18/i...
The figure shows a 200 metre buffer.
The new Sheard paper suggests a 500 metre buffer.
Buffers aren't fixed ..
The Iceland paper suggests that zoning would help.
Focus woodland in bigger blocks and create one big wader-shadow - not lots of smaller ones.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/06/18/i...
The figure shows a 200 metre buffer.
The new Sheard paper suggests a 500 metre buffer.
Buffers aren't fixed ..
December 3, 2025 at 7:23 AM
3/4
The Iceland paper suggests that zoning would help.
Focus woodland in bigger blocks and create one big wader-shadow - not lots of smaller ones.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/06/18/i...
The figure shows a 200 metre buffer.
The new Sheard paper suggests a 500 metre buffer.
Buffers aren't fixed ..
The Iceland paper suggests that zoning would help.
Focus woodland in bigger blocks and create one big wader-shadow - not lots of smaller ones.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/06/18/i...
The figure shows a 200 metre buffer.
The new Sheard paper suggests a 500 metre buffer.
Buffers aren't fixed ..
2/4
This Scottish review suggests that forests create a 500 metre 'wader-shadow'.
This is consistent with Icelandic field-based work, summarised in this blog:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/06/18/i...
For Whimbrel, there is a suggestion that the edge effect starts to weaken at about 600 metres but ..
This Scottish review suggests that forests create a 500 metre 'wader-shadow'.
This is consistent with Icelandic field-based work, summarised in this blog:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/06/18/i...
For Whimbrel, there is a suggestion that the edge effect starts to weaken at about 600 metres but ..
December 3, 2025 at 7:23 AM
2/4
This Scottish review suggests that forests create a 500 metre 'wader-shadow'.
This is consistent with Icelandic field-based work, summarised in this blog:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/06/18/i...
For Whimbrel, there is a suggestion that the edge effect starts to weaken at about 600 metres but ..
This Scottish review suggests that forests create a 500 metre 'wader-shadow'.
This is consistent with Icelandic field-based work, summarised in this blog:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/06/18/i...
For Whimbrel, there is a suggestion that the edge effect starts to weaken at about 600 metres but ..
What impacts do roads have on Iceland's breeding waders?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
Latest paper from Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir has become WaderTales blog #153.
#ConservationEcology🌍
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
Latest paper from Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir has become WaderTales blog #153.
#ConservationEcology🌍
December 2, 2025 at 5:30 PM
What impacts do roads have on Iceland's breeding waders?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
Latest paper from Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir has become WaderTales blog #153.
#ConservationEcology🌍
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
Latest paper from Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir has become WaderTales blog #153.
#ConservationEcology🌍
New WaderTales blog.
How do roads impact breeding waders?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
Based on new paper by Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir et al
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
#ornithology
How do roads impact breeding waders?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
Based on new paper by Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir et al
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
#ornithology
December 2, 2025 at 9:42 AM
New WaderTales blog.
How do roads impact breeding waders?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
Based on new paper by Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir et al
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
#ornithology
How do roads impact breeding waders?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
Based on new paper by Aldís Erna Pálsdóttir et al
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
#ornithology
1.5 million pairs of wader return to #Iceland each spring.
Where do they nest and how vulnerable are they to habitat changes, many of which are linked to 'development' proposals?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/i...
#ConservationScience🌍
Where do they nest and how vulnerable are they to habitat changes, many of which are linked to 'development' proposals?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/i...
#ConservationScience🌍
November 26, 2025 at 4:24 PM
1.5 million pairs of wader return to #Iceland each spring.
Where do they nest and how vulnerable are they to habitat changes, many of which are linked to 'development' proposals?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/i...
#ConservationScience🌍
Where do they nest and how vulnerable are they to habitat changes, many of which are linked to 'development' proposals?
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/i...
#ConservationScience🌍
Good question!
Satellite tracking - and great collaboration - has produced a global story for Whimbrel that's told in here:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/05/06/m...
Map below is a few months old.
Satellite tracking - and great collaboration - has produced a global story for Whimbrel that's told in here:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/05/06/m...
Map below is a few months old.
November 21, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Good question!
Satellite tracking - and great collaboration - has produced a global story for Whimbrel that's told in here:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/05/06/m...
Map below is a few months old.
Satellite tracking - and great collaboration - has produced a global story for Whimbrel that's told in here:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/05/06/m...
Map below is a few months old.
Tagging of Icelandic Whimbrel led to a rethink of the migration map in 'Time to Fly'
Virtually all Icelandic Whimbrel fly directly from Iceland to Africa.
Blog from 21 Nov 2018 🎂
wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/11/21/i...
#ornithology
Virtually all Icelandic Whimbrel fly directly from Iceland to Africa.
Blog from 21 Nov 2018 🎂
wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/11/21/i...
#ornithology
November 21, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Tagging of Icelandic Whimbrel led to a rethink of the migration map in 'Time to Fly'
Virtually all Icelandic Whimbrel fly directly from Iceland to Africa.
Blog from 21 Nov 2018 🎂
wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/11/21/i...
#ornithology
Virtually all Icelandic Whimbrel fly directly from Iceland to Africa.
Blog from 21 Nov 2018 🎂
wadertales.wordpress.com/2018/11/21/i...
#ornithology
Restoring peatland.
Capturing carbon and providing breeding habitat for waders.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/08/16/p...
Paper by Rob Hughes & Chris Bingham
#ConservationScience🌍
Capturing carbon and providing breeding habitat for waders.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/08/16/p...
Paper by Rob Hughes & Chris Bingham
#ConservationScience🌍
November 17, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Restoring peatland.
Capturing carbon and providing breeding habitat for waders.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/08/16/p...
Paper by Rob Hughes & Chris Bingham
#ConservationScience🌍
Capturing carbon and providing breeding habitat for waders.
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/08/16/p...
Paper by Rob Hughes & Chris Bingham
#ConservationScience🌍
You make a fair point about the disappearance of breeding Lapwing, Andrew. The thinning out of the breeding distribution has meant that they have ceased to be a 'local' bird for many.
This was a sad blog to write:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2017/11/30/2...
#ornithology
This was a sad blog to write:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2017/11/30/2...
#ornithology
November 16, 2025 at 11:29 AM
You make a fair point about the disappearance of breeding Lapwing, Andrew. The thinning out of the breeding distribution has meant that they have ceased to be a 'local' bird for many.
This was a sad blog to write:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2017/11/30/2...
#ornithology
This was a sad blog to write:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2017/11/30/2...
#ornithology
Spring migration is getting earlier, because new generations are on earlier schedules than their elders.
Black-tailed Godwit blog from 16 Nov 2015 🎂
wadertales.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/w...
More about 'generational change':
wadertales.wordpress.com/2019/07/29/g...
#ornithology
Black-tailed Godwit blog from 16 Nov 2015 🎂
wadertales.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/w...
More about 'generational change':
wadertales.wordpress.com/2019/07/29/g...
#ornithology
November 16, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Spring migration is getting earlier, because new generations are on earlier schedules than their elders.
Black-tailed Godwit blog from 16 Nov 2015 🎂
wadertales.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/w...
More about 'generational change':
wadertales.wordpress.com/2019/07/29/g...
#ornithology
Black-tailed Godwit blog from 16 Nov 2015 🎂
wadertales.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/w...
More about 'generational change':
wadertales.wordpress.com/2019/07/29/g...
#ornithology
We saw a colour-ringed Oystercatcher on West Sands, St Andrews, yesterday. @jengill.bsky.social
She nests on the 9th green at Selfoss Golf Club (Iceland).
St Andrews seems an appropriate winter home!
A blog abou c.r. project:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2021/02/02/o...
#BirdingScotland
She nests on the 9th green at Selfoss Golf Club (Iceland).
St Andrews seems an appropriate winter home!
A blog abou c.r. project:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2021/02/02/o...
#BirdingScotland
November 13, 2025 at 11:50 AM
We saw a colour-ringed Oystercatcher on West Sands, St Andrews, yesterday. @jengill.bsky.social
She nests on the 9th green at Selfoss Golf Club (Iceland).
St Andrews seems an appropriate winter home!
A blog abou c.r. project:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2021/02/02/o...
#BirdingScotland
She nests on the 9th green at Selfoss Golf Club (Iceland).
St Andrews seems an appropriate winter home!
A blog abou c.r. project:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2021/02/02/o...
#BirdingScotland
f you have ever reported a colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit, you have helped to establish connections that cross national and continental boundaries.
Here's how the Wash links to other sites.
Draw your local map using a ShinyApp:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/h...
#UKbirding
Here's how the Wash links to other sites.
Draw your local map using a ShinyApp:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/h...
#UKbirding
November 12, 2025 at 5:33 PM
f you have ever reported a colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit, you have helped to establish connections that cross national and continental boundaries.
Here's how the Wash links to other sites.
Draw your local map using a ShinyApp:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/h...
#UKbirding
Here's how the Wash links to other sites.
Draw your local map using a ShinyApp:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/h...
#UKbirding
If you have ever reported a colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit, you have helped to establish connections that cross country and continental boundaries.
Here's how the Dee Estuary links to other sites.
Draw your local map using a ShinyApp:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/h...
#ornithology
Here's how the Dee Estuary links to other sites.
Draw your local map using a ShinyApp:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/h...
#ornithology
November 12, 2025 at 6:40 AM
If you have ever reported a colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit, you have helped to establish connections that cross country and continental boundaries.
Here's how the Dee Estuary links to other sites.
Draw your local map using a ShinyApp:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/h...
#ornithology
Here's how the Dee Estuary links to other sites.
Draw your local map using a ShinyApp:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/01/09/h...
#ornithology