iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Tariq Panja @tariqpanja.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Andy Burnham's comments today expose the situation of selling national football teams to foreign states. He's taking a view, at least in one reading of his comments, that corrupting the national game is not as big an issue as potentially losing foreign investment in Manchester.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I couldn’t find it classified in the Haftorn paper or the book, so went with the more descriptive ‘buzzing’ as I didn’t want to misidentify it.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I hadn’t heard it before until this year - they were mainly using it when approaching or leaving the nest and the female seemed to use it more than the male. Seems to be a ‘I’m coming in/leaving’ call, but obviously most of the time I’ve been around the nest and not heard it in other scenarios!

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I can’t recall hearing any. I have hours of recordings though so might have captured some on that as I go through it, will keep an ear out for it.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Finally getting round to uploading a bunch of Willow Tit recordings to Xeno-canto. Plenty of interesting ones in there, including begging calls (adult female and juvs), flight calls, the well known song and alarm calls and much more! xeno-canto.org/contributor/...

xeno-canto.org

Verifying visitor request...

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Matthew R Francis @bowlerhatscience.org · 17/09/2026

speaking as a science journalist who is also a trained physicist, this is the FUCKING WORST POSSIBLE THING. This is the opposite of trustworthy. You can't trust a damn thing an "AI agent" tells you. An article needs to be unchanged between queries, or any change needs to be documented clearly.

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Glenn Shepard @tweettropiques.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

“Contact with these peoples can lead to their extinction in days.” --Indigenous leader Beto Marubo on the dangers posed by social media influencers who exploit images of isolated Indigenous peoples as click-bait. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

theguardian.com

‘This is colonialism for clicks’: the influencers attempting to meet and film the world’s most isolated tribes

A new breed of adventurer is chasing internet fame by targeting uncontacted peoples. Critics say they are risking the wellbeing of these remote communities – and their own lives

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RSPB Science @rspbscience.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

New job alert🪶 Research assistant to support research on Willow Tit demographics. Must have a BTO ringing licence at C level or above Location: Midlands and North of England Duration: Oct-Nov 2026 Deadline: This Wednesday Sept 9th Apply here: app.vacancy-filler.co.uk/salescrm/Car... 📷Ben Andrew

A Willow Tit perches in a branch, looking directly to camera

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Also nice to have someone outside of my immediate friends and family acknowledge this gruesome attempt at humour... 😉

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

An excellent week in Cambridge @ecbb2026.bsky.social presenting some of the early findings from our research on Blue Tit response to Willow Tit vocalisations! Managed to meet some great people and catch some fascinating talks as well. Thanks to the organisers for all their hard work! #ECBB2026

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Sometimes the study species make it too easy 😎#ECBB2026

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Amy Leedale @amyleedale.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

The 16th meeting of the European Ornithologist's Union is in Brno, Czech Republic! 🪶 📅 | 23 - 27 August 2027 | www.eou27.cz We have a fantastic programme taking shape, with plenary speakers and call for symposia to be announced soon. See you in Brno! #EOU27 #Ornithology #Ecology #Evolution

eou27.cz

THE 16 th EOU Conference 2027! – THE 16 th EOU Conference 2027!

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 14/08/2026

This is the coverage of Arday **just in the Telegraph** in the UK. This is only the first four pages of results, just in one outlet.

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Jason Arday found dead
2 hours ago — Mr Arday was found •unresponsive• at an address in Battersea. south London. on Froy
afternoon. He was uter pronounced dead at the scene. A Read rnore
Jason Arday says he was an illiterate, mute child. His .
6 hours ago — Jason Arday says he was an i&erate. mute child. Cambridge's youngest-ever black
professor in 2023. Arday attended from the age of four to 11
r— mm-WI 3
A PhD is no longer a sign of brilliance — take it from Dr Arday
1 day aeo — Juon Arday resigns from the Unwersity of Cambrdge after The Telegraph reports he had
falseb• claimed to have pubåshed a book
We are all Jason Arday now
S days ago — Jason Arday resons from the University of Cambridge after The Telegraph reports he had
falsew cGimed to have published a book Aug 7.2028. Read more
Cambridge professor claimed he was on Seven Up..
2 Aug 2026 — He was not bom until 1985. Prof Arday is at the centre of a row about academk
plagiarism after The Tekgragh that he had been accused
The Jason Arday 'memoir' that now appears to be more .
7 days ago — Instead of tales of triumph over adversity. the now-fomer Cambridge professors
autob"qraphy is a case study in self-rnythobgising,
Arday failed to mention 'months-long coma' in autobiography
8 days ago — Jason Arday toz publishers he was k•ft a three-month coma fohwhg a car gash. but
never wrote about the ordeal his memoirs_
Jason Arday is living proof that you reap what you sow
6 Aug 2028 — The Cambridge professor feed plagiarism alegations and made fantastical clä'ns about
his life. so what did he expect woUz happen? Read rmre
ÄIO
Arday 'accused student of Miite privilege' after she
4 days ago — Forrner Cambrdge professor alleged* htplied that Roehamptm student was racist after
cornplaint about essay SOOre.
Jason Arday is rnerely a symptom of the Leffs corruption
Aug 2026 — Lab-curs on school standards is on the same toxic assumptions that created his
academic career.
Cambridge hired Arday after 'listening to black stu…

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Alice Risely @alice-risely.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Oh no. This whole story (and death) was rooted in just awful racism. There are unfortunately plenty of white academics who do shoddy work and aren’t hounded to death. It was such a non-story and the right-wing media turned it into a racist manhunt.

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MMU - Centre for Biodiversity and Environmental Resilience @sbac-manmetuni.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

MMU PhD student @bensecker.bsky.social is working to understand drivers of Willow tit decline in the UK:

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

…chicks successfully on her own. The male (left) is a juvenile, fledging from another nest we were monitoring in another area of the site this year. Fingers crossed they both survive until next spring to breed, and hopefully they aren’t related… (2/2) @sbac-manmetuni.bsky.social

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Two retrapped Willow Tits at one of our sites this morning, in all likelihood a newly formed pair. The female (right) is an adult from one of the nests we were monitoring last year on the site. She lost her partner midway though egg-laying, presumably predated, but managed to fledge all four… (1/2)

Two Willow Tits in the hand after ringing processing.

Two Willow Tits in the hand showing the colour ring combinations: R: Blue over metal, L: Orange over Black, and R: Green over metal, L: Green over White.

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MMU - Centre for Biodiversity and Environmental Resilience @sbac-manmetuni.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

How do endocrine-disrupting chemicals in our waterways impact the fitness of animals, like these young Sand Martins, that rely on prey from these sources? @sbac-manmetuni.bsky.social PhD student Jenny Darby is tackling this question, in a project funded by @songbirdsurvival.bsky.social

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

If only it was that easy! Appears there's no shortage of deadwood for them to nest in, the problem is predators and competitors are pretty much ubiquitous across all wooded habitats - GSW have increased nearly 400% in the same period as WT decline, so pressure is just increasing year on year.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

They have by far the highest nest failure rates of any tit species in Britain (~50% compared to ~20% for other tits), and much higher than other WT populations in Europe. Likely to be a major cause of decline, GSW and Blue Tit the main culprits, but we are gathering data to try to understand more!

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Indeed! This is the male of the last remaining pair at Sale Water Park, and both attempts failed this year due to predation by GSW. We think there are a couple of pairs over the other side of the Mersey at Chorlton Ees, but population clearly very small within the ring road now.

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Timlagor @timlagor.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

This ground-breaking new policy is still far too slow. Even the most aggressive public policy fails to grasp the situation and refuses to treat this as the emergency it is.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Sky News appears to be suffering from a strong irony deficiency… #climatecrisis

Sky news discuss the first successful 19hr test flight of a long haul flight whilst other headlines outline the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people in southern France.

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Alice Risely @alice-risely.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Abstracts are open for the BOU Avian Disease Ecology conference (6-8th April 2027, Nottingham, UK). Submit here (deadline July 31st): tinyurl.com/hf2hzf4p Reg fees to be released soon - but you can get an idea of rough costs from the BOU 2026 conference: tinyurl.com/3udbz3c5 Fab line up! 🦠🦜🦠🐦‍⬛🦠

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Alexander Lees @alexanderlees.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Our new paper led by Jenny Darby is the first to test the acoustic niche hypothesis in human-modified tropical forests - logged and recently burned forests had significantly higher rates of avian vocalisation overlap... nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #Ornithology

nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Forest degradation reduces acoustic partitioning in tropical avian communities

The acoustic niche hypothesis posits that species partition acoustic space by frequency and time to avoid signal masking, and that any local loss of species leaves detectable gaps in co-evolved sound...

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Animal Behaviour Live @animalbehaviour.live · 16/07/2026

What’s the trouble with noisy neighbours? Come check it out at Animal Behavior Live 2026! We are delighted to announce Dr. Sue Anne Zollinger (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) as our second plenary speaker at Animal Behaviour Live 2026!🤩 Free registration here: ablaoc.sciencesconf.org

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Ariel Brunner @arielbrunner.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Mental experiment: what would be the political reaction in Europe if 10000 Europeans were killed within a week by a terrorist oragnisation? How can the climate and ecosystems crisis still be treated as a non-issue, a niche concern, or nice to have?

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

We had a relatively decent breeding season (for WT) with ~65% nests successful, all failures due to predation or usurpation by BTs. One pair the male died during egg laying, presumably predated, but the female managed to fledge 4 chicks against the odds. Remarkable parents when given the chance.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Good to hear there are still a few clinging on Geoff, but depressing nonetheless. @swdwrd.bsky.social and I were wondering a few weeks ago where there were birds remaining. I wonder if lower tree cover up there might reduce vulnerability to GSW + higher elevation a slight buffer to climate effects?

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Not that I can remember. I assume they are still moving around a fair bit at the moment, given we caught them close together in the same net, when do territories become more rigid?

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Just been for a walk and smoke just started engulfing Warrington, smells pretty bad too.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Ah ok interesting, thanks! I was only sceptical because Wayne had a couple of really late nests that only fledged a couple of weeks ago that were 4th or 5th attempts, and was wondering if the same was true of these. I’ll brush up on dispersal timings etc in the book 😉

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

I don’t for certain, hence why I said ‘likely’, but we caught them in the same net within an hour of each other (2 and 2), and they were hanging around the general area together all morning.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

😂 Much more pleasant to handle than other tit species I can assure you!

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Unsure, not one of the nests we were monitoring unfortunately.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Four juvenile Willow Tits colour ringed this morning at Wigan Flashes LNR, likely all part of the same brood. They should be dispersing soon, so fingers crossed for some follow up sightings, and maybe even nest finding next year… #UKBirding

Juvenile Willow Tit in the hand displaying colour ring combination of GMVB.

Juvenile Willow Tit in the hand displaying colour ring combination of BMOV.

Juvenile Willow Tit in the hand displaying colour ring combination of CMON.

Juvenile Willow Tit in the hand displaying colour ring combination of GMLW.

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Richard K Broughton @richardkbroughton.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

And they left off Turtle Dove and Willow Tit probably so as not to depress people too much.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

We have an experiment ongoing looking at nesting behaviour in BTs when given the choice of a ‘standard’ box vs a simulated WT nest, and what then happens when you remove those standard boxes. The results currently look like they will be very interesting…

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Wild Horizons @wildhorizons.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

The last Willow Tit nest of the season now fledged, successfully protected from Great Spotted Woodpecker predation. No GSW predation in protected nests this year, in stark contrast to 100% predation rate by GSW in unprotected nests. Very promising results.

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Abbey @abbeyarletto.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

When reality surpasses fiction! Top: fictional forecast for August 2050, broadcast by French TV in 2014 to warn about the consequences of global warming. Bottom: Real French forecast for yesterday, June 22, 2026.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

After the completion of the bulk of Willow Tit fieldwork for the season, nice to have a change of scene helping out with a friend and fellow PhD student’s project on Sand Martins. Gorgeous birds, also joined by a few friends… #UKBirding

Sand Martin adult posing for a picture after ringing.

Highland cattle encroaching on our ringing station.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Yes I suspect the same sadly. It’s a shame labour seems to have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to environment.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Probably the most stable stronghold of Willow Tits remaining in the northwest and a vital source population for surrounding areas. Sadly at least two traditional territories lost to urban development in the last couple of years, hoping AB can advocate for more robust legal protection for WTs…

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Richard K Broughton @richardkbroughton.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Andy Burnham is now MP for an important constituency of Willow Tits! Key areas of Amberswood Common and the Flashes of Wigan & Leigh NNR are in Makerfield, where our study was based. There's dozens of Willow Tit territories there, and likely hundreds in the wider area. doi.org/10.1080/0006...

Willow Tit territories (and dots showing nests) in an area of Makerfield, Wigan.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Thanks! That’s better news than I was anticipating to be honest. Will try and have a ride up to look when I’m next back.

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Ben Secker @bensecker.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Do you know the Willow Tit situation at Ingbirchworth/Royd Moor/Scout Dike? Those were the last I saw around Barnsley but haven’t been back home in peak time to check properly in the last couple of years. Latest Xeno-Canto records from GB are from around our area: xeno-canto.org/901361.

xeno-canto.org

XC901361 Willow Tit (Poecile montanus)

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Wild Horizons @wildhorizons.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Over several days, a male Great Spotted Woodpecker has spent more than 8 minutes trying to open up this protected Willow Tit nest. No way into this cavity! Protective mesh guard holding strong.

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