iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sienna Rattigan @siennarattigan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

1/🧵 Today I am giving a talk at the #BOUasm26 Avian Futures conference in York about the progress I've made so far on the first chapter of my PhD @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social which examines the drivers of variation in phenological shifts across trophic levels in Scottish woodlands🪺 🐛 🌳

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Rona Learmonth @rona-learmonth.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Excited to share this joint first-author paper with @andreaestandia.bsky.social, now out in @royalsocietypublishing.org! We combined translocations, common garden experiments and genomic analyses to test for local adaptation to individual tree phenology in winter moths 🌳🐛 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

royalsocietypublishing.org

No evidence of fine-scale local adaptation of winter moths to variable tree phenology | Proceedings B | The Royal Society

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Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

1/🧵 Our 2026 Spring field season data is in! Here are some highlights from our long-term monitoring of blue tits, invertebrates & trees across 44 sites in Scotland👇🏼

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David López-Idiáquez @davididiaquez.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

In our new paper, published yesterday, we use the long-term data set of Wytham Woods to show that great tits have maintained stable temperature at breeding despite the almost 2ºC increase in Spring temperature. w. E. Cole, C. Regan & @sheldonbirds.bsky.social Link -> www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Devi Satarkar @devisatarkar.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Planning a nestbox temperature manipulation experiment in birds? We’ve just published a preprint that may be useful! 🪺🪶 We review 46 studies and also share our own blue tit pilot experiment from Wytham Woods, highlighting some very real practical challenges doi.org/10.32942/X25387

a blue tit peeking into a wooden nestbox

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Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Spring is gaining momentum across Scotland. 🌱 Cumulative budburst across the transect has now passed 40%, driven by a surge of activity at our northern sites in recent days. While the North is waking up, the South continues to lead the way in terms of first leaf emergence. #Phenology #Spring2026

Plot showing the cumulative percentage of trees in first budburst and first leaf across the Phenoweb Transect since 1 April 2026. Orange line shows southern sites, while the blue line shows northern sites. The black line represents the transect-wide trend.

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Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

The first egg for the 13th year of data collection along the Phenoweb Transect was laid on 12th April 2026! Looking like we’re in for a fairly ‘average‘ year up here in Scotland, with nest building and budburst progressing slightly slower than in 2025, especially in the North of the transect🪺🌳

One blue tit egg in a cozy looking nest lined with feathers.

Plot showing the first egg date recorded for the project between 2014 and 2026.

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Edward Grey Institute @egioxford.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

New preprint (part of a programme to understand resilience of the tritrophic tree-insect-bird system to varying climate). We (led by @siennarattigan.bsky.social - her MBiol project) show how temperature in development can carry-over to affect timing at later stages www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Figure 1: Winter moth life cycle. Adult winter moths emerge in Novem-
ber/December and shortly after mating brachypterous females crawl up
trees to lay eggs. Eggs hatch in early spring, and larvae feed on young
foliage until late May when they descend to the ground on silken threads
to burrow into the soil and pupate. Pupation lasts until winter, when
adults emerge and the life cycle begins again. Solid black arrows indi-
cate the duration of each development stage and blue dashed arrows
indicate the temporal variability of each stage.

Figure 3: The effect of temperature treatment on pupal development
time. Each coloured point represents the number of days between the
start of the experiment (used as a proxy for pupation date) and the
emergence date of an individual adult moth. Horizontal bars indicate
treatment means and the dashed vertical line separates the experi-
mental treatments from the ambient.

Figure 5: The effect of temperature treatment on egg development
time. Each coloured point represents the number of days between the
first egg-laying event and half-hatch date of each subclutch. Horizontal
bars indicate treatment means and the dashed vertical line separates
the experimental treatments from the ambient.

Figure 6: The effect of maternal emergence date on offspring’s egg
development time. Points represent subclutches so those aligned in the
x-axis are from the same mother. Lines show the model prediction with
a 95% confidence interval represented by the shaded ribbon. Both are
coloured by egg temperature treatment.

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Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

The first week of the 2026 field season is underway, and Storm Dave has provided a chilly – but atmospheric – start. ❄️🏔 63 blue tit nests initiated, so far, with 4 lined. Looking like a later start for us compared to elsewhere in the UK/Western Europe. #phenology

A snowy mountain scene taken in the northern Cairngorms on 5 April 2026.

Woodcrete nest box hanging from a snow-covered tree.

Woodcrete nest box hanging from a tree, with a snowy landscape in the background.

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Sienna Rattigan @siennarattigan.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

1/🧵My first preprint!🐛🌡️ We examine how environmental effects experienced during one life-history stage persist and modulate environmental responses in later life-history stages. With Lea Beaupere, @sheldonbirds.bsky.social, @rona-learmonth.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

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Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Ahead of this year’s field season, we’ve been busy installing SOPRANO devices at several of our sites. These devices automatically monitor biodiversity and climate, continuously recording birds and bats and sending real-time species identifications back to Edinburgh!🔈🐦‍⬛🦇

Fieldworker kneeling on the ground helping to install the Soprano device as it snows.

Two Soprano devices stood next to each other in the field. They consist of a solar panel, battery, circuit board, audio moth and antenna all mounted onto a tripod.

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Jørgen Søraker @jorgensoraker.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

📑📊We have just uploaded a new pre-print where we decompose spatial, temporal and spatial-temporal variation in natural selection on reproductive traits for great tits and blue tits. With Yimen Araya-Ajoy, @ellafcole.bsky.social and @sheldonbirds.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

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Edward Grey Institute @egioxford.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

New paper out! Great tits face distinct challenges from extreme weather during development, based on 60 years data from >83k nestlings in Wytham Woods 🐣 Cold snaps & heavy rain can stunt growth, but earlier breeding may help buffer this! By @devisatarkar.bsky.social et al. doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70794

doi.org

Developmental Stage‐Specific Responses to Extreme Climatic Events and Environmental Variability in Great Tit Nestlings

Extreme climatic events (ECEs) impact great tit nestlings in a developmental stage-specific and context-dependent manner. Using 60 years of data on 83,000+ great tit nestlings from Wytham Woods, UK, ...

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David López-Idiáquez @davididiaquez.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

We have published a new pre-print showing a decline in great tit adult and nestling mass of around 1 gram in 47 y. [rate of approx. -0.040 Hadanes] With @ellafcole.bsky.social, @devisatarkar.bsky.social, Sam. Crofts, @mcmahok.bsky.social & @sheldonbirds.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Decline in body mass in adult (left) and nestling great tits. In the nestling plot, the purple line represents all nestling and the green line those that recruited to the population as breeders. Their different slope suggest an increase in the strength of selection on nestling mass something confirmed in the MS by analysing the temporal trends in selection differentials (see link for further information)

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Edward Grey Institute @egioxford.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

🚨🚨🚨 Field Assistant positions - four of them!! - working with the long-term Wytham project this coming spring. Details below. Previous year's field team - come and join us! Details below ⬇️

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Sienna Rattigan @siennarattigan.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Very excited to be giving a talk at #BES2025 where I’ll be presenting my Masters research that I carried out @biology.ox.ac.uk supervised by @sheldonbirds.bsky.social and @rona-learmonth.bsky.social 🐛🌡️

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Dr. Emily G Simmonds @emilygsimmonds.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Second PhD alert: Advertising a second PhD alongside Amanda Lenzi (lead) and Finn Lindgren on: 'Forecasting nature’s calendar: Joint probabilistic models of phenology in space and time'. Also competition funded through the E5 DTP at Uni of Edinburgh. e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk/project?item...

e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk

Project | E5 Doctoral Training Partnership | E5 Doctoral Training Partnership

The project advertisement

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Dr. Emily G Simmonds @emilygsimmonds.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

PhD advert alert! Come work with me at Edinburgh. I'm advertising a PhD on: "Predicting responses of birds to climate change", competition funded through the E5 DTP. Would suit those with an interest in predicting responses to climate change, birds, or both. e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk/project?item...

alt="Schematic of a graph of a population trajectory for blue tits that is known for half of the x-axis (time) and then forecasted with uncertainty. Above the population trajectory are some weather images (a sun and some rain) they have connections to the population size but the path is unknown. "

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Interested in a PhD in ornithology? Funding available for projects at the interface of ecology, behaviour & evolution from Oct '26 working on long-term population studies of tits at Wytham, based in @biology.ox.ac.uk in the new Life & Mind Building in Oxford www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Celebrating a successful field season with great food & good company - May 2025

Front view of the Life & Mind Building, which opened in Oct 2025: The new home of Biology at Oxford

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Devi Satarkar @devisatarkar.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

New preprint! 🪶 We analysed 60 years of data on 83,000+ great tits to show how extreme climate impacts on nestling growth and survival are stage-specific and context-dependent 🐣 🌍🔥❄️ With @davididiaquez.bsky.social @iremsepil.bsky.social @sheldonbirds.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

a 14 day old great tit nestling, ringed for individual identification

Figure from the paper showing that extreme climatic events interact with ambient climatic conditions and breeding timing within a season, in a developmental stage-specific manner, to influence nestling growth in great tits

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Sienna Rattigan @siennarattigan.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

My first time attending this conference, but certainly not the last! Left me feeling super excited to started my PhD in October after hearing so many incredible talks in the field🪺

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Soay Sheep Project @soaysheep.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

🔭🐑 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.

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Sienna Rattigan @siennarattigan.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Feel incredibly lucky to have been a tiny cog in this amazing team for a second year now. I don’t think i’ll ever get tired of seeing spring unfold right before my eyes! Excited to do it all again next year when I’ll be a bit further north… @phenoweb.bsky.social 🪺

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Edward Grey Institute @egioxford.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

The first eggs have been laid in this, the 79th year of data collection in the Wytham Tit Project! First Blue Tit egg laid 2 April, first Great Tit 3 April. Looks like an early spring, with first oak leaves out, though the observed first egg dates fit the long-term pattern well wythamtits.com#intro

A single Blue Tit egg in a complete nest inside a woodcrete nestbox in Wytham Woods, 3 April 2025

Early developing Oak in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire, April 2025

Newly emerged Oak leaves, Wytham Woods, near Oxford, 3 April 2025

Figures showing the change in the date of the first egg in the Great Tit and Blue Tit populations at Wytham Woods, near Oxford 1960-2025, and the relationship between average March daily maximum temperature and date of the first egg in the population for each species. In each figure the line fitted is for the data for the 65 years from 1960-2024, with the value for 2025 shown as a green (Great Tit) or blue (Blue Tit) star. The two right hand panels compare the change over time and the response to March temperature in the two species; Great Tits show a slightly steeper response to temperature than Blue Tits, and are advancing the population first egg date slightly more quickly.

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