iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I think it was really a cunning "disqualify me now" trap to catch the foolish!

Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I found this worked well for convincing people they could do better than an AI, but it doesn't help them think about the learning processes that are side-stepped by using AI in other ways. I find the analogy of taking a lifting device to a gym starts that discussion better in small groups...

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Eeek, indeed. And if the AI process was also used to compute mean of 3.3 and 3.7 as 3.53 (?!) we're even clearer about it's value. My last application was rejected because I'd included a table using the "add table" button, but the guidance said we couldn't include tables (and we'd all missed it).

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I like the sound of warblets. We should start that campaign. Or at least have warblets as the accepted local variant while on the peninsular.

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BTO | British Trust for Ornithology @btobirds.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

We are pleased to announce our first Youth Out in Nature Summit at RSPB Newport Wetlands 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 on 26 Sept. Our BTO Youth Volunteers have been working with the RSPB Youth Council to provide this unique opportunity - sign up today! www.bto.org/our-work/eve... @rspb.bsky.social @rspbcymru.bsky.social

A group of young people birdwatching at a wetland site, with text promoting the BTO/RSPB Youth Out In Nature Summit on 26 September 2026. Photo by Katie Hargreaves/BTO/RSPB.

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

climate action had +- cross-party support in UK, only changing recently climatebarometer.org/a-short-hist.... Actions that deliberately increase that politicisation of the issue while maybe good for the party leading the way would almost certainly do long-term damage. This isn't a political game!

climatebarometer.org

Making sense of UK polarisation on climate change - Climate Barometer

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

On the one had I agree with your conclusion - now is the right time to talk about these issues, and a party that is serious about them is likely to win supporters. But on the other hand if this further polarises climate along party lines I think this could be disasterous for all. Traditionally UK...

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Could we have a shelf or two of the finest non-specialist work of our own staff, students and alumni? Many of our colleagues have great books from Kate Pickett's classic "The Spirit Level" or Penny Spikins "Hidden Depths: The Origins of Human Connection" to Chris Thomas' "Inheritors of the Earth"?

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Gulls get a bad press, but I always like a smart one! This Lesser-black Backed Gull was on Skokholm at the start of the month, keeping a wary eye on it's chicks below. A fine bird!

A very smart Lesser Black-backed Gull on a rocky rise with green background with very blurry puffins behind. It's a smart bird, with a shiny white head and undersides, smooth slate grey back outlined in white, with black wings with tiny white diamond tips. What makes it cute are the yellow legs and beak, as well as beady yellow eye. If you zoom in you'll see there's a fine red rim around the eye, which is either lovely eyeliner, or the sign of a heavy night accounting for the perhaps slightly angry look.

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SCCS Cambridge 2027 @sccscambridge.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

📢 Apply now to SCCS 2027 🎉 The 26th Student Conference on Conservation Science will take place between 30 March – 1 April 2027 at the University of Cambridge. Check the website for further details and to apply: www.sccs-cam.org

sccs-cam.org

Student Conference on Conservation Science - Welcome

SCCS helps young conservation scientists gain experience, learn new ideas and make contacts that will be valuable for their future careers.

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

This Friday @cascade-hei.bsky.social & Defra are organising the first of a joint series of seminars on topics of interest to Defra & academics in the biodiversity world. Join us at 1pm for a lively discussion of AI, biodiversty & ethics! 🌎 🧪 events.teams.microsoft.com/event/4bb0d8...

Card showing title of talk and time - ethical frameworks for high-tech biodiversity monitoring in lower-income nations

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Here's that image, so save you finding the press release. It is impressively weird - look at those horns, and does it think it is a cheetah?! From the flower scaling, mind, these are teeny creatures...

Extraordinary AI generated image of two of what we are to assume are antelopes rather like impala, one is climbing on a dry brach like a cheetah. This one has one normal horn that it could have stolen from a Kob, and another that, bizarrely, splits in two half way up creating a langoustine like claw. The lower individual looks slightly scared - as well it might with a monster like this poised for the kill. There are some very large flowers on the wide, adding an even more surrel scaling to the whole image. Don't do this folk. We provided a very nice set of images that I'd given permission for people to use. What weird system automates this dross!

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Many thanks to Rob Critchlow for leading, Andy Plumptre and Roberto Correa for doing so much! We've got a story here: www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve... & you should ignore the AI generated version here bioengineer.org/how-ambiguou... that accuses us of providing a bizarre AI image! 5/5

york.ac.uk

Why vague conservation targets are failing some vulnerable species

A shift toward more precise, measurable conservation goals could hold the key to protecting vulnerable species, according to the findings of a new study looking at African elephants.

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

that when allocating funding for conservation based on metrics, even apparently small choices between metric can make huge differences to where conservaiton is funded. That suggests to me that complex, combined biodiversity metrics are likely to lead to weird conservation outcomes. 4/5

A baby elephant peeps out from between its mother's legs. This little innocent has yet to form any opinions about funding, unless it involves more milk from mama. It is pretending to drink water and flapping its ear, because that's what all the cool elephants do.

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Want to maximise the number of populations that are stable or growing? Fund projects in CM, ZA, MZ, etc. None of these allocations matches the current business as usual, which suggests philanthropic funding could be much better used. More generally, this work suggests ... 3/5

Figure from the paper showing the proportion of total donor funding for each objective across all countries when optimizing for each return on investment (ROI) objective (at 150 M USD for 5 years) in comparison to the “most recent” business as usual. BAU allocation was rarely the most efficient use of limited financial resources. The greatest proportion of country level funding per objective (0.38) was in Zimbabwe the sum of funding proportion for each objective (colored bar) across all countries is equal to 1. Only countries that received donor funding are shown. Some major differences are as in the text.

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

We discovered that optimal allocations of scarce conservation funds depends on what you want to achieve & that even for something as single-minded as 🐘 conservation alternative plausible objectives have a huge impact: want to maximise numbers of elephants in Africa? Spend in ZW, ZM, TZ or GA. 2/5

Here's a yound elephant pretending to be big and scary by flapping her ears forward. She is angry to hear that funding is not being allocated optimally, she's young, has the whole of live in front of her and is thining of the future where she's funded to have all the baby elephants she can. And she's maybe mildly irritated by a fly on her right shoulder.

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

New paper out this week on elephant conservation & conservation objectives. We considered where money is spent on elephant conservation by philanthropists & international funders, seeking to determine what the best way to spend this $$ should be. 1/5 conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... 🧪🌍

An elephant looks puzzled while standing in knee high vegetation and under a tree. He's probably pondering whether the money spent on elephant conservation is optimally shared with his colleagues elewhere and may be slightly disappointed to know that actually he doesn't get any of that cold hard cash at all. It's a difficult life being an elephant and if he had the money he might choose a very different way to spend it. On very large amounts of recreational drugs, for instance. He is a bit ragged around the ears as through he enjoyed fights, but maybe some plastic surgery and ear reconstruction is what he really wants?

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

I'm hoping you keep a copy of them for diatom top trumps? You've got all the stats and images you need right there, and some 9 year old future diatomologist (?) absolutely needs this!

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Arjun Amar @arjundevamar.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Post-doc opportunity in raptor conservation at The FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology in Cape Town, South Africa - with @megmurg.bsky.social and me. South African Citizen or have a valid work visa. science.uct.ac.za/fitzpatrick/... #Ornithology #RaptorResearch #AfricanOrnithology

science.uct.ac.za

Applications open for Quantitative Raptor Biologist postdoc at FitzPatrick Institute

Call for applications for a postdoctoral fellowship in quantitative raptor biology; deadline 15 May 2026

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Are you looking for a Post-doc related to biodiversity? We might have just the role for you! @anthropocenebio.bsky.social are curently advertising 10 (yes!) post-docs covering natural & social science of biodivesity. Come work with us & share with anyone appropriate! sites.google.com/york.ac.uk/l...

sites.google.com

LCAB Postdoctoral recruitment

The Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity (LCAB) is a major research centre funded by the Leverhulme Trust to increase knowledge of how the relationship between humanity and the natural worl...

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Graeme Beale @midfyffe.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Miw the museum cat. #Scottish #cat poem of the day number 5. Text in the thread, along with the inspiration. It turns out that MIW is the Ancient Egyptian word for cat. What a joy! Poem in the thread, along with the inspiration from Islam Issa's Alexandria. youtube.com/shorts/J4_ry...

youtube.com

Miw the museum cat: Scottish Cat Poem of the Day 5

YouTube video

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Very grand. Have one for me too...

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Can confirm, this is how he sounds...

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Yes indeed! In the glorious sunshine.

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Quite the highlight at Filey Bird Obs this morning, when we caught & ringed this stunning Long-eared Owl! Otherwise quiet, with a few goldcrests and a single chiffchaff in the bushes shoeing spring is so on the way up here! Great to see these birds though & it won't be long before they all arriving!

A long-eared owl in the hand for ringing. It is down from tummy upwards starting over its shoulder at the camera with piercing orange eyes. This is a powerful floofball that is perfectly camouflaged as a tree trunk with browns, and gets everywhere.

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Jack Hatfield @jackhhatfield.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

What is resilience for a landscape? Check out our (with Charles Cunningham, @hannalp.bsky.social, Lauren Barnes, Chris Thomas and @janehillyork.bsky.social ) new paper now out in @peopleandnature.bsky.social Early View @anthropocenebio.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/pan3...

doi.org

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

I assume they're called palm squirrels because they fit so nicely?

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Are you a national of an African country? Looking to study birds of prey at one of three leading ornithological research university across the contient? This might be for you! raptorresearchfoundation.org/grants-award...

Poster advertising the Arican Raptor Leadership Grant - African antionals applying for MSc or Hons courses at AP LEventis Ornithological Research Institute (Nigeria), Fitzpatric Institute of African Ornithology (UCT, South Africa) or Mohammed V University (Morocco) are invited to apply via https://raptorresearchfoundation.org

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Nicolas Mouquet @nmouquet.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

‪ 🌳 Do you want to contribute to research on how humans perceive forests? Take this quick, anonymous 10-min survey 🌲 👉 www.biodiful.org#/forest This will help us explore how people experience forest biodiversity! Please share on 🦋 & tag @biodiful.bsky.social to reach more participants 🙏💚 🌐🌍🦤🦑🪴🍁🧪

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

I got my copy last week and can confirm that this is a brilliant book and a true bargain, for an incredibly detailed and informative work on an internationally important yet remarkably under appreciated local nature and birding site. Buy your copy now!

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George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Do you work for a conservation organisation? Take part in this global survey of conservation labour - on who does what in conservation, where, and how: www.cmi.no/projects/292...

cmi.no

Conservation Labor: A New Frontier in Labor Theory and Conservation Science (CONLAB)

There is a rapidly developing literature on the 'human dimensions' of conservation, including critical scholarship and appli...

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

So I guess we do have the same names in mind here, but when I'm talking to NE, Defra, etc., I'm not usually seeing all that much policy influence from them - except as regards the broad public agenda. The names I hear in those circles are, in general, the more evidence-focussed academics.

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Yes, that seems a well balanced review, and it was certainly in the space of rewilding that I had found it easiest to imagine who @jmbecologist.bsky.social might be thinking of. Also, I think, in the world of conservaiton law enforcement...

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

We clearly need to get together over a beer and discuss names! I do suspect that as the biodiversity crisis has risen in prominence a larger community has grown, & within that wider community there some who have only a very superficial understanding who have gained quite a following.

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Is it not ever the case that academic thought, analysis & evidence is (mis)translated & popularised by a different set of public faces who rely on narrative & personal anecdote to sell things? Accuracy & nuance matter, but narratives do too. Are you seeing this differently today than previosuly?

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

I'm intrigued. I can think of people who popularise public discussion in specific areas like rewilding for whom this is true, but the people I'd view as conservation gurus (those who lead thought in multiple areas) are all evidence people. & I see NE & Defra taking those views seriously.

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Emma @emmasartworks.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

A not-completely-exhaustive illustration of our winter shorebirds, but these are the species that you’re most likely to see during winter around Teesmouth (northeast England). 🐡🪶 #birdingNortheast

Pen and watercolour illustrations of waders/shorebirds from the Hartlepool/Teesmouth area of northeast England

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Love these pictures. Is the elephant set backwards? The images seem sequences from right to left, unlike the bird and horse. Unless I'm being dim?

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

They're often hard to age, so maybe? But if you're confident of age then not ours. Hope you can complete the photo set and work it out!

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

There's a chance this is one of ours: we ring most passerines with rings this way up (easier to read in the hand & photos easier to turn around!) & have used rings beginning BKA. The second pic might show a number ending 6? If so, we have 2 possibles, but both ringed 2023 & Uni of York or nearby.

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

And, no, I have no idea why I look so startled in that pic!

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Some fantastic reflections on attending #IPBES12 from ECRs at @anthropocenebio.bsky.social here, including thanks to the @ipbes.net experts & exec for taking timeto explain the details of the process. I'd love to hear other reflections from folk who came to the @cascade-hei.bsky.social pre-briefing!

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Some very productive times at #IPBES12 for the @cascade-hei.bsky.social team! There are so many needs identified by IPBES experts & members that #UKHEI can support. It's also been great to help so many ECRs navigate their way through these events - the future of science-policy engagement looks good!

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Great to have some fanstastic @york.ac.uk colleagues along for discussions at #IPBES12 at the moment. @charlielem.bsky.social @proflinds.bsky.social and loads more! Also fun to catch up with colleagues from across the world to discuss these important topics.

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

This was a great workshop, and I'm also excited about what comes from the work of CASCADE over the past 2 years. Watch this space!

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Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Ouch. Just hoping that same individual isn't also one of my applications I'm shortlisting this week! Quite baffling.

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