iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

The Flamingo Revolution is alive and kicking in Albania. Day 46, and the people are still on the streets protesting about the trashing of environmental protections to facilitate dodgy development proposals. 💪🦩. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

theguardian.com

Dua Lipa calls Albanian protests against Jared Kushner-backed resort ‘inspiring’

Pop star, whose parents are Kosovan Albanian, expresses admiration for demonstrations, which are entering their sixth week

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Sticky traps for insects may be pesticide free but they are a death traps for bats and birds. There have been two separate incidents today (one involving a mother bat who will have a starving baby somewhere). Please share the message. Do not use these traps! #wildlife #bats #conservation

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Stork! Auspicious start to my day at the European Congress of Conservation Biology. @eccb26leiden.bsky.social

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Newt survey in Norway this morning. Mainly great crested, but a smooth newt for size comparison too! 300 cresties have been found in this tiny pond. #amphibians @arc-trust.bsky.social

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Rare female Bechstein's bat found during woodland monitoring in Sussex. Site is rather denuded of old trees, but woodpeckers are still around, making holes that these bats love. Out again tonight, so watch this space! @greenbritain.bsky.social @batconservation.bsky.social

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Love bananas! Quick snack for this fruit bat before release. #zambia @sussex.ac.uk #bats

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Ring-side view! Impala battling at Kafue National Park, #Zambia with my @sussex.ac.uk Zoology field course.

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Was lucky to spot a bumblebee nest entrance. They usually make use of existing holes e.g. small mammal burrows as their legs are too weedy to dig. #Bees @buzzclub.bsky.social

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Gorgeous day out yesterday deploying bat detectors in Dorset. Hoping to pick up serotine migration or spring swarming. #bats Thanks @nationaltrust.org.uk

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Reposted by Fiona Mathews

Bat Conservation Trust @batconservation.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Glue traps should never be used outdoors or in and around bat roosts. They are very dangerous to bats, other wildlife and even pets, often leading to a cruel death. If you do find a bat in a sticky trap please follow the advice on our website www.bats.org.uk/advice/help-...

bats.org.uk

Containing a bat - Bats in need of rescue - Bat Conservation Trust

If you can safely reach the bat, the next step is to contain it in a box. It may sound daunting, but it's really not that complicated! In fact, 90% of p...

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Another bat caught on fly-paper yesterday. The 2nd brought to me in 2 weeks. Dead on arrival: horrible lingering death. This stuff is not environmentally friendly (the manufacturer's photo of it hung from apple blossom is baffling). @davegoulson.bsky.social @batconservation.bsky.social #bats #nature

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Today marks the Spring Equinox (from Puffin Picture Book Trees in Britain, 1948) Artist: SR Badmin

A finely-detailed illustration of a deciduous tree, a beech tree, I think, the section on the left shows the tree in Winter with bare branches and the section on the right shows the tree in summer leaf

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Just looked it up. Turns out there are loads of Pipistrelle Drives!

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Please can we just ban the naming of housing developments after wildlife that used to live there? Real lapwings were in these fields when I was a kid. #conservation #wildlife 🦤

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

This gorgeous and rare lesser horseshoe bat had just woken up from hibernation ready for spring. But she was caught this evening by a cat and died of stress. Please keep your cat in at dusk! #cats #bats @batconservation.bsky.social @batcon.org

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

The highest number of bat species identified in one mixed sample of droppings last year was perilously close to my house 🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇. I can't help living in one of the UK's best spots for bats! @ecotypegenetics.bsky.social #bats #dna @batconservation.bsky.social

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Looking for a needle in a haystack? We have been working hard at EcotypeGenetics to develop new eDNA tests for bats and dormice that are super sensitive and specific. Chat to my brilliant colleagues Tom and Issy if you are at the event, or have a look at ecotypegenetics.co.uk #bats #dormice #eDNA

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

I love collecting pebbles from the beach. Here is today's prize! "The Scream".

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

The costs of Ecuador’s perfect roses also include a sudden rush to extract peat from the Paramo Highlands. I have been in greenhouses where people are spraying pesticides with no PPE at all. Very worrying. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

theguardian.com

The true cost of Ecuador’s perfect roses: how the global flower trade poisons workers

Many farmers in the Andes rely on growing blooms for export, but high water usage and risky pesticides threaten Indigenous communities

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Ecuadorian poison-arrow frogs have been in the news recently. But did you know that Ecuador has around frog 700 species (and counting), and more than 50% are found nowhere else on earth? #frogs @wikiriki.bsky.social 🦤🌎🐸

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Can any Dutch speakers tell me if there is a similarity between the words for peacock and pelican! Pretty sure these sculptures on Pelikaanstraat, Leiden are peacocks? #birds #netherlands

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Just hanging around! Hibernating greater horseshoe bats quite often like to perch on old wires. #bats #nature #wildlife @batconservation.bsky.social

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Lyn Heideman @heidelyn.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Please take a few minutes to ask your Rep to vote NO on the Enhancing Safety for Animals Act (H.R.4255). The #Wolf Conservation Center makes it fast/easy with a letter you can personalize and they'll send for you: engage.nywolf.org/site/Advocac.... It takes minutes to save #wolves for generations. 🌎

$Photo of 8 Mexican gray wolves in a forest (courtesy of the Wolf Conservation Center). By the 1970s, the Mexican gray wolf was virtually exterminated from the wild by the U.S. government and private parties. Only the Endangered Species Act (ESA) saved the wolf from vanishing entirely. After the act’s passage, the descendants of just seven wild-born wolves were bred in captivity to save the subspecies from extinction and enable reintroduction. Thanks to ESA protections, and decades of investment and collaboration between public and private institutions, Mexican wolves were reintroduced to the wild in 1998. Today ~286 roam Arizona and New Mexico, occupying a fraction of their historic and suitable range.$

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Congratulations Dr @liselotterambonnet.nl! Was very happy to be part of the examination panel, and hear about your excellent research on #citizenscience @unileiden.bsky.social #birds #plasticpollution

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Some of the fun, and frankly weird, stuff found during bats surveys this month with @wiltsbatgroup.bsky.social. #caving #bats 🦇

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Reposted by Fiona Mathews

Charlotte Maddix @cwmaddix.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Huge news for Scotland’s nature! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🌳🦅🪱 🍄 The Natural Environment Bill has officially been voted into law, marking a landmark victory for people and nature. 🧵 (1/4)

A split-screen graphic that says "PROTECT THE BEST" on the left and "RESTORE THE REST” on the right. On the sunlit forest with autumn leaves is shown under a white heart icon. On the right, a rugged mountain valley is shown under a white icon of a hand holding a sprouting plant. A teal diagonal line separates the two landscapes.

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Scottish Wildlife Trust @scotwildlife.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

❗LAST CHANCE TO APPLY❗ Tomorrow is the last chance to apply to join our team on Handa for the season. If you'd like to spend your summer supporting vital conservation work on this remote island then head over to our website. 👇 bit.ly/4bFytiH #vacancy #volunteering

A photo of a sandy beach. The pale sand is littered with small pieces of dark seaweed as well as several large pieces of driftwood. The sea beyond is shades of blue and turquoise and in the horizon there are rocky outcrops and tall mountains off the North West coast of Scotland.

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Sharing the love of bats! Have trained 25 volunteers from the brilliant @wiltsbatgroup.bsky.social this January. #bats 🦇 #conservation #caving

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

"The question is not Can they reason? Nor, Can they talk?, but Can they suffer?" Wise word of Jeremy Bentham. Great blog reminds us why they need repeating almost 250 years later.

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Reposted by Fiona Mathews

Chris Townend (Wise Birding) @wisebirding.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Despite monsoon rain and very strong wind in Sierra de Andujar, our perseverance finally paid off and we had some special views of two Lynx together late this afternoon. A well deserved result for a great team! #Mammals #IberianLynx #WiseBirding

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

I was lucky enough to see some of these frogs last month. Rights of Nature are still alive and kicking in Ecuador, despite government efforts to undermine them. 🌎🦤🐸

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Meet the harlequin frogs that sued a state! In Ecuador, the Rights of Nature are recognised so a case in their name succesfully argued the government had failed in its duty of care by granting permission for a copper mine. Mining has stopped. #RightsofNature #frogs #nature #wildlife

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Just a few of the microplastics we've been finding in the beetles and bugs eaten by hedgehogs. Great to be joined by almost 200 people for this morning's webinar about our research @emilyzoologist1.bsky.social @ptes-org.bsky.social @biologicalrecording.co.uk 🦔🌍 #plasticpollution #hedgehogs

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Recommend reading this article, not just because of the careful by local activists, but because it highlights the need to consider the interests of wildlife and humans together from the outset.

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Indeed. Yet one of the problems is that carbon markets, biodiversity credits, and many other funding streams specifically exclude conservation of existing forest.

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Look at this beautiful bat! Delighted to be welcoming Fred Touzalin to talk to us about his amazing work on Greater Mouse-eared bats, from conservation to molecular biology and disease dynamics. Look at the photo too! 🦇🦇🦤

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Thank you! If everyone reading this post does the same, it would send a powerful message.

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Reposted by Fiona Mathews

Dominique Berteaux @dominiqueberteaux.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

In Functional Ecology, we integrate predator energy balance into functional responses to better understand tundra species interactions. This paper reflects major field and modelling efforts by our #UQAR team and colleagues. Read: bit.ly/49p6brL 🧪🌿🌎🦊 #wildlife #movementecology #arctic #fox #ecology

An Arctic fox carries a goose egg on Bylot Island, Nunavut. Picture Louis-Pierre Ouellet.

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Wonderful news for Ecuador and the world. Voters have said no to: 🔸️Consolidating power in the hands of a few; 🔸️allowing US military bases 🔸️rewriting their inclusive constitution that values the rights of nature and indigenous groups. Democracy is alive and kicking! www.reuters.com/world/americ...

reuters.com

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Fue en el bosque nublado en Ecuador (Reserva St Lucia). Uno de mis lugares favoritos en el mundo! 🦋🦜🦇🌳

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Una polilla (Gymnelia sp. Un imitador de avispa). Muy hermosa!

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Estoy muy preocupado sobre el referendum en Ecuador mañana. No tires tu constitución única! El futuro de tu país precioso, y las vidas de tus hijos dependen de ti! #Ecuador #referendum #rightsofnature 🇪🇨🌎

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

The eyes of the world should be on Ecuador tomorrow. The Trump-backed government is holding a referendum to permit US military bases in the Galapagos, and allow changes to the country's unique constitution to facilitate mining, threatening the rights of nature and indigenous people. Disastrous! 🦤🐢🌎

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Bats face a dizzying array of threats, ranging from climate change to being entombed by housing insulation. Spent a busy few days in Bonn with the Eurobats Advisory Committee highlighting issues and identifying solutions. 🦇🌍🦤

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Don't buy 'curiosities' made of dead bats! Online stores including Amazon and Google shop are still openly selling these items, a year after we highlighted the problem. Trade in Endangered species needs to stop. #wildlife #bats #nature 🌍 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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