Nicola Crockford
@numenini.bsky.social
480 followers 90 following 5.1K posts
RSPB Principal Policy Officer. BirdLife Global Flyways Programme policy lead. Privileged to work full time for the world's migratory birds. Love snorkelling. The views I express here are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the RSPB.
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Reposted by Nicola Crockford
peterfrankopan.bsky.social
Belarus rarely makes Western headlines — but it should this week.
A quiet move by the Trump administration has just handed Alexander Lukashenka, and indirectly Vladimir Putin, an unexpected gift.
🧵👇
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
cms.int
Raptors are vital to healthy ecosystems, yet many are declining. 🦅

Attending #IUCNcongress? Join us to explore the ecological & socioeconomic importance of vultures and sooty falcons, and how coordinated action translates research and policy into practical conservation: www.cms.int/sites/defaul...
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
kyle-horton.bsky.social
Another massive movement of migratory birds underway tonight — nearly 1 Billion Birds! With the full moon, you might be able to see some silhouettes zipping by. You can make your own flow maps here (just hit record): aeroecolab.com/uslights
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
alexanderlees.bsky.social
"The causes of insufficient reproductive success in our two study populations were low rates of whole-nest survival, which were only sufficiently high to maintain population size for nests in gardens. Low nest survival rates were mostly the result of egg or chick predation."
bou.org.uk
EARLY VIEW in IBIS

Inadequate reproductive success is a potential cause of Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) population decline in England | onlinelibrary.wiley....

Malcolm D. Burgess et al | #ornithology 🪶
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
bou.org.uk
EARLY VIEW in IBIS

Inadequate reproductive success is a potential cause of Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) population decline in England | onlinelibrary.wiley....

Malcolm D. Burgess et al | #ornithology 🪶
numenini.bsky.social
Around a temple at Nantong Yangkou, Spotted Dove, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, some handsome Red-billed aka White-cheeked Starlings & Oriental Magpie.
#BirdsSeenIn2025 #China 1/2
numenini.bsky.social
On a humid, dank, dawn at Nantong Yangkou, quick bit of birding before flight home from Shanghai included a Common Hoopoe & on a little wetland, big roost of Black-crowned Night Heron, while a Pied Kingfisher hunted for brek & Black Drongo perched above the tidal flats. #BirdsSeenIn2025 #China 1/2
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
birdlifeglobal.bsky.social
A historic partnership for people and nature. ✨

The World Bank and BirdLife International are scaling up conservation efforts across the African-Eurasian Flyway 🤝, supporting over 2 billion migratory birds and numerous communities. 🌍

Discover more here: www.birdlife.org/news/2025/10...
World Bank and BirdLife launch historic conservation push
The latest Global Flyway Initiative aims to save critical bird habitats and link three continents across the African-Eurasian Flyway…
www.birdlife.org
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
zacklabe.com
October has observed some of the largest warming trends in the #Arctic. This is greatest over areas with a lack of sea ice cover (nearly all of the Siberian Arctic). Arctic amplification is largest in the boreal fall.

Data: doi.org/10.24381/cds.... Info: doi.org/10.1175/BAMS....
Polar stereographic map of 2-m temperature trends in units of °C per decade over the Arctic for the month of October. Trends are calculated over the 1979 to 2024 period using ERA5. The largest warming is an areas of open water that were previously sea ice covered along the Siberian side of the Arctic. These trends exceed 2°C/decade in these areas.
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
dantheclamman.blog
Phoresis is the name for when one organism attaches to another for the purpose of travel, and pea clams (Sphaeriidae) are masters of it. They attach to birds, fish, salamanders, and even aquatic insects like dragonflies or water boatmen to get a ride upstream. Ride on, little clams! (293)
Figure from Zelaya and Marinone 2012 showing a reservoir in Bolivia, where an unfortunate water boatman was found with two pea clams clamped onto its little claws. A pea clam is shown, 4 mm long or so. A close up of a claw, and a chip on the shell from where the boatman tried to kick off its hitchhiker, and also a piece of the leg stuck in the clammed-up bivalve gill
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
dunlin.bsky.social
Dropping in - a flock of Marbled Godwits arriving at the roost site. Bodega Bay, CA #birds #shorebirds
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
billsutherland.bsky.social
What are the ecological consequences of using different grazing species? In this video I discuss the issue with Lee Schofield, author of Wild Fell. youtu.be/ozHdOKKtpzU?...
Conservation grazing: how different species shape habitats
YouTube video by Bill Sutherland's Conservation Concepts
youtu.be
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
rytikerttunen.bsky.social
What an epic return! 🤩🌍🐦

A common snipe tagged in April 2025 near Olomouc is back in Czechia after migrating to the Yamalo-Nenets AO (east of the Urals) – a round trip of over 7,500 km!

#HABITRACK #ornithology #birdmigration #snipe
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
markaeaton.bsky.social
My first Whooper Swans of the autumn, two on the Coquet Estuary this afternoon, their heads stained by a summer of feeding in peaty Icelandic water #NEbirding
Pair of Whooper Swans on the Coquet Estuary
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
acorncarver.bsky.social
If you’re near RSPB Titchwell on the 11/12 October in the afternoon pop in and catch my video/photo presentation about RSPB Snettisham, and it’s free😀
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
For 101 years, ecologists have sought to explain the 3-4 years multi-annual cycles of voles and lemmings. In our paper, doi.org/10.1073/pnas..., we find that Density-dependent recruitment, but not survival drives cyclic dynamics in a field vole population, overturning accepted wisdom.
a field vole Microtus agrestis
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
waderstudy.bsky.social
New paper 📄⬇️
#waders #shorebirds
avianbiology.bsky.social
NEW PAPER: Badgers, weather, and waders: badger predation on lapwing nests rise in cold conditions (below 4°C) and with high earthworm availability. Cold years see heavy losses, suggesting weather forecasts could guide management to protect waders

➡️ vist.ly/499u6

#ornithology #birds 🪶🧪
Lapwing. Photo credit: Max Wright Badger predating a lapwing nest: Photo credit: Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust Fig. 2 from the article: Relationship between the overall probability of badger predation on a lapwing clutch at Auchnerran farm, northeast Scotland, and (a) 7-day temperature, (b) earthworm abundance together with implications for the overall probabilities of other fates. Fig. 3 from the article: Annual 7-day temperature (°C) (immediately prior to lapwing nest outcome) across 2018–2023 at Auchnerran farm, northeast Scotland.
numenini.bsky.social
Eriswell Lode looks potentially tempting for a snorkel, with healthy growth of Broad-leaved Pondweed (Potamogeton natans). Beautiful Harebells still in flower, nestled among the long grass.
Orange Mullein, I think, a garden escape at Holywell Row. #Wildflowerhour #Nature #Wildlife #Suffolk 2/3
numenini.bsky.social
Raindrops remain on fallen White Poplar leaves but are quickly drying off in the stiff breeze. A fine display of Common Toadflax along the Cut-Off Channel and a patch of Fennel. The Hemp Agrimony going to seed, still channelling a candy floss vibe. #Wildflowerhour #Nature #Wildlife #flower 2/3
numenini.bsky.social
Good to be out exploring in the blowy, mild West Suffolk countryside yesterday, along the Cut-Off Channel Mildenhall - Holywell Row. Enough Field Mushrooms for breakfast but few other #fungi, despite recent rain. Fairy Ring Champignons & Garland Roundheads on show. #MyWalk #Nature #Wildlife 1/3
Reposted by Nicola Crockford
birdlifeme.bsky.social
Jordan hosts the Regional Workshop on Coastal Wetlands in the Arabian Peninsula, under the patronage of H.E. Dr. Ayman Suleiman.
Organized by BirdLife Middle East & RSCN with wide participation from GCC, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, and international partners.