Nick Littlewood
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blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood
@blackdogbirder.bsky.social
400 followers 380 following 230 posts

Bugs, bogs and birds.

Wildlife Conservation Management lecturer at SRUC, Aberdeen.

Senior Editor: Insect Conservation and Diversity.

Videos
Environmental science 63%
Geography 16%
Posts Replies Media Videos

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 8h
#bioacoustics

Reposted by Nick A. Littlewood

alanknox.bsky.social
Alan Knox @alanknox.bsky.social · 18h
To all users of #BirdNET: you can do better by tweaking the default settings!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
@blackdogbirder.bsky.social #bioacoustics #ornithology
Optimization of passive acoustic bird surveys: a global assessment of BirdNET settings
BirdNET is a popular machine learning tool for automated recognition of bird sounds. However, evidence on how to optimize its settings for accurate bird monitoring remains limited. Here, we evaluate ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Robin J. Pakeman, Allan D. McDevitt

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 4d
New #mammal conservation #PhD: "Understanding and Addressing Rural Hedgehog Population Declines".

@srucnews.bsky.social EastBio CASE project in partnership with (and co-supervised by) @ptes-org.bsky.social.

Details: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Act fast - applications close 15 December.
🦔🦔🦔

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 5d
This is a fantastic site for ladybird variety - we've also had 11-spot on previous visits. Red Squirrels are ever reliable here too.
A Harlequin Ladybird on a gravestone A 2-spot Ladybird on a gravestone A 10-spot Ladybird next to an Orange Ladybird, on a gravestone A Red Squirrel upright on the ground facing towards the camera.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 5d
A highlight of the annual teaching calendar is the ladybird survey in Sleephillock Cemetery, Montrose. Orange Ladybirds dominated this week, as usual, but variety came from single figures of 2-spot, 7-spot, 10-spot, Cream-spot and Harlequin.

@ukladybirds.bsky.social
@srucnews.bsky.social
Seven Orange Ladybirds clustered on a gravestone A Cream-spot Ladybird on a gravestone. A 7-spot Ladybird on a gravestone. Students looking for ladybirds on a gravestone.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 6d
Both cracking birds (and educational), whatever they are!

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 6d
BBRC giveths and BBRC takeths away.

Latest @britishbirdsbbrc.bsky.social report includes acceptance of the 2013 Cruden Bay Subalpine Warbler as a Western.

Meanwhile, alas, the Black-throated Thrush two months earlier in @hughad.bsky.social's garden is now classed as a hybrid.

#BirdingScotland
A male Western Subalpine Warbler on a gorse stem A thrush basically looking like a male Black-throated Thrush, on a lawn.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 15d
Thanks Alan - a fairly key omission from my post!

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 15d
Cessation of grouse moor management and climate change scenarios are both predicted to drive declines in Red Grouse, Curlew and Golden Plover. Our paper in @jappliedecology.bsky.social, led by Tom Mason, combines these factors in modelling future population trends.

#conservationscience🌎
Infographic showing predicted impacts of management and climate change on Red Grouse, Curlew and Golden Plover.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 17d
A Black-throated Diver was highlight of today's @webs-gsmp.bsky.social count at Portsoy.

#birdingscotland
Very grainy side-on photo of a Black-throated Diver on the sea

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 18d
Scare Umber was another NFG (and new for hectad) in the garden trap this morning among an unseasonal 6 moths of 5 species. Others were another Rush Veneer, a female 𝘌𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢 (most likely November Moth), 2 Spruce Carpets and a 𝘉. 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢.

Portsoy (VC94, Banffshire)
#teammoth
Scare Umber moth - an adult, on egg tray Rush Veneer moth - an adult on green foliage. A female adult Epirrita species (likely November Moth) on an old fence post.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 20d
PhD-themed cake for Rob McHenry's viva celebration last week in Thurso.

Both were adorned with (tasty) Fox scat - very apt with the viva including much discussion of caprophagy (eating 💩) linked to predators' use of tracks in #peatlands.

@theflowcountry.bsky.social
Cake in shape of a Fox's head, with fox-coloured buttercream coating and surrounded by crunchy scat-shaped morsels on a crushed-biscuit surface to represent a track. Rectangular cake with green background (representing moss surface to bog) some bog pools in blue and a track across middle with scattered scats represented by raisins. "Well done Rob" written across cake in red icing.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 22d
First time setting garden trap in several weeks - 4/4 was good going for here in November. Highlight were migrants, Dark Swordgrass (NFG) and Rush Veneer, December Moth was NFY and Angle Shades joined the party too.

Portsoy (VC94, Banffshire)

#teammoth
@migrantmothuk.bsky.social
Dark Swordgrass adult on dead dock flower head Rush Veneer adult on strawberry leaf Angle Shades adult on Rowan stem December Moth adult on wooden panel

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 23d
Nathusius' Pipistrelle becomes #mammal species 2️⃣6️⃣ for Red Moss of Netherly, NE Scotland.

Recorded on @openacousticdevices.info #Audiomoth during September's influx. Just a handful of detections, but this quasi-constant frequency burst looks convincing.

@scotwildlife.bsky.social
#bioacoustics
Spectrogram, showing six calls over one second with more-or-less constant frequency at around 38 kHz.

Reposted by Nina J. O’Hanlon

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 26d
Another brilliant Flow Country Research Conference.

Big 🏆 for Roxane and team at UHI Thurso.

Great to see @rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social's PhD crammed into 30 mins. Loved the Icelandic word for Meadow Pipit and check out those German bog restoration lagoons.

@theflowcountry.bsky.social
Roxane Andersen in front of screen showing conference welcome slide. Rob Hughes in front of screen with photo of a female Common Scoter. Slide showing trends in birds at sites in Iceland, featuring Icelandic bird names Slide showing bog restoration in Germany, including grids of rectangular flooded cells.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 26d
Top priority research need! Just literally been discussing issue of conifer spread and regen onto bogs this afternoon.
cmbeale.bsky.social Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 26d
Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing some fun PhD opportunities. Today, if you're into hydrology, forests and wading 🪶 in Scotland this one might be for you! 🧪 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Rather famous scottish landscape with the west highlands railway looping through mountains. A forest plantation is evident. A few small people on the left are doing their best not to be recognised.

Reposted by Nick A. Littlewood

cmbeale.bsky.social
Colin Beale @cmbeale.bsky.social · 26d
Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing some fun PhD opportunities. Today, if you're into hydrology, forests and wading 🪶 in Scotland this one might be for you! 🧪 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Rather famous scottish landscape with the west highlands railway looping through mountains. A forest plantation is evident. A few small people on the left are doing their best not to be recognised.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 29d
Wild bees drive increased weight and seed set in apples. Increased Honeybee visitation has -ve affect on fruit weight.

Another reminder (as if needed) of importance of prioritising 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙙 bee conservation.

@jappliedecology.bsky.social
#pollinator

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · 29d
Wasn't even the strongest of winds but a northerly blast does make for a lumpy sea.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · Oct 26
Little Auks were limited to a couple of millisecond blurs of probables but a late Arctic Tern was interesting and a Bonxie powered through.

#BirdingScotland
@patchbirding.bsky.social
Adult Arctic Tern flying left just above horizon over stormy sea.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · Oct 26
Seawatching in a northerly at Portsoy is hampered by lack of elevated shelter. I've been cowering next to a shipping container just above sea level, so would've missed flocks of albatrosses if they stayed low.

@patchbirding.bsky.social

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · Oct 23
Many thanks to @countrysidejobs.bsky.social for highlighting distance learning opportunities.

Really grateful for opportunity to shout about our (award-winning) @srucnews.bsky.social Wildlife & Conservation Management MSc course in the process.
countrysidejobs.bsky.social Countryside Jobs Service @countrysidejobs.bsky.social · Oct 22
Career flexibility has become ever more common, find out how a part-time, distance-learning postgraduate programme from @srucnews.bsky.social can help make the leap into your dream countryside job: c-js.uk/4nvy3yy
A group of students stand on a cliff looking out to sea. Text reads: Making the change. Challenges and opportunities of switching your career.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · Oct 22
Work committments prevented a visit to the Rattray Head Eastern Nightingale until today. Fantastic bird - a real shower and very strange looking, reminding at times of a babbler. Think I'd have been bamboozled had I found it.

My first NE Scotland nightingale of any flavour.

#BirdingScotland
Eastern Nightingale on top of a fence post, facing mostly towards camera and with tail cocked. Eastern Nightingale, side-on, on concrete ground with grass growing around edges and stone wall behind. Eastern Nightingale on pointy-topped fence panel, with out-of-focus scrub behind.

Reposted by Nick A. Littlewood

countrysidejobs.bsky.social
Countryside Jobs Service @countrysidejobs.bsky.social · Oct 22
Career flexibility has become ever more common, find out how a part-time, distance-learning postgraduate programme from @srucnews.bsky.social can help make the leap into your dream countryside job: c-js.uk/4nvy3yy
A group of students stand on a cliff looking out to sea. Text reads: Making the change. Challenges and opportunities of switching your career.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · Oct 21
An "atmospheric" day for year-2 @srucnews.bsky.social Wildlife & Conservation Management students to collect moorland plant data at @hutton.ac.uk Glensaugh.

Ended with obligatory human chain to measure the giant Sitka Spruce in Drumtochty Glen - and it's still a 6-student circumference.
Three figures in the mist lumbering across a heather moor Three figures in the mist, around a vegetation quadrat on a heather moor. Four people visible forming a six-person chain around a large Sitka Source.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · Oct 19
Two westbound Velvet Scoters off Portsoy this morning. Just seen one other since moving here two years ago. Now on 123 for the year - one off last year's total.

@patchbirding.bsky.social #BirdingScotland
Distant pic of two Velvet Scoters flying left just above horizon of a choppy sea.

Reposted by Allan D. McDevitt

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · Oct 18
Five species from a #smallmammal #cameratrap at Portsoy, Aberdeenshire - a mouse, two voles and two shrew species - including Water Shrew 😀

#mammal #trailcamera @nesmammals.bsky.social

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · Oct 15
Wey-hey - grand achievement. That's about as many as ever recorded in NE Scotland!

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · Oct 15
And there was a bonus Spoonbill (distantly) in a channel off Kinneil Nature Reserve.
#birdingscotland
Distant pic of a Spoonbill at edge of mud out across an estuary.

blackdogbirder.bsky.social
Nick Littlewood @blackdogbirder.bsky.social · Oct 15
Big thanks to David of @savebutterflies.bsky.social and Bronwen of West Lothian Council Ranger Service, for enthusing us about their sites.