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Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · May 21

The first of our blue tits successfully fledged last week! And, many more nestlings are ready to go — won’t be long now!

#ukbirding #phenology #ornithology #birds

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Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · May 18

Great - thank you. Hope your season is going well in Wytham.

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Keith McMahon @mcmahok.bsky.social · May 18

Freeze frame. Record scratch. You might but wondering how I got here.

The eagled eyed among you might notice that there are 2 blue tits in amongst this brood of great tits.
Mini 🧵

2 photos of a tit nest
The first picture is of some great tits and two blue tits in a nest box.
One blue tit is far left with head down, the other top right corner looking at the camera. The rest of the birds are great tits.
The second picture is a close of the blue tit chick looking sheepish

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Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · May 18

Do you know how much heavier they tend to be around fledging compared to blue tits reared by blue tit parents?

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Reposted by Phenoweb project

SPI-Birds @spibirds.bsky.social · Apr 23

✨ New study ✨

📍 Phenoweb, United Kingdom
👷 Ally Phillimore (@phenoweb.bsky.social)
🏦 University of Edinburgh
🐦 Blue tit
🔗 nioo.knaw.nl/en/projects/...
📑 metadata only

Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)

What do we need to know to stop biodiversity decline, at all levels of life ranging from genes, species, communities, habitats to entire ecosystems?

nioo.knaw.nl

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Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · Apr 23

Although we're still collecting this year's data, 2025 is shaping up to be a record-early year for first leaf emergence among many of our studied tree species — including oaks! 🌳

#phenology 🍃

The change in date of the first oak leaf. Black points represent the mean (+/- SE) first oak leaf date in each year, across all oak trees studied on our transect across Scotland (with day 1 equal to the 1 April). The light grey points represent the first oak leaf date for individual trees. The regression line represents the estimated mean (+/- 95% CI).

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Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · Apr 19

Happy Easter weekend to all who celebrate!

While you're out hunting for chocolate eggs, our team is busy monitoring the breeding progress of our blue tits. 🪺

As of today, we have eggs in 73 nests, with several females already incubating. In contrast, on this day last year, only 2 nests had eggs!

One of our Field Assistants, Charlotte, checking on the progress of a blue tit nest inside of a woodcrete nest box that is attached to a tree.

Photo: Megan Thompson

A clutch of 7 blue tit eggs in a nest in a woodcrete nest box.

Photo: Ally Phillimore

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Reposted by Phenoweb project

Erik Postma @erikpostma.bsky.social · Apr 15

Last year I posted too early and had to retract my post 🫣, but now that all @niooknaw.bsky.social @animalecol-nioo.bsky.social nest boxes on #Vlieland have been checked, we know for sure that it is - yet again - a very early start of the breeding season! @uniexecec.bsky.social @sevans.bsky.social

A plot the date of the first great tit egg on Vlieland against year showing 2025 is the third-earliest year since 1955.

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Reposted by Phenoweb project

Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · Apr 12

They're back! The first three terns arrived yesterday morning. The very first one was 18-year old Calimero. He was followed by 7-year old Severina and 13-year old Fabrice. All arived between 10:29 and 10:54. ♥️ #phenology #seabirds

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Reposted by Phenoweb project

Andrea Estandía @andreaestandia.bsky.social · Apr 11

Proud mum to 936 hungry winter moth caterpillars 🐛 with 500 more on the way! Wish me luck

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Reposted by Phenoweb project

PiedFly.Net @piedflynet.bsky.social · Apr 9

First Blue tit egg at East Dartmoor was April 4 2025. There are 3 earlier lay dates since mid-1950s, all in 2019. Probably about 1 in 8 pairs have started laying - much the same pattern as in 2019. Suggests we can expect first Pied Flycatcher eggs 2 weeks from now. #phenology

Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · Apr 9

And we're off! Our first blue tit egg was laid on 3 April 2025 - making this, by some margin, the earliest start to a season in the 12 years of our project! 🪺

#phenology #ukbirding #ornithology 🪶

A single blue tit egg in a nest inside a woodcrete nest box.

The change in date of the first blue tit egg in the Phenoweb project population. Black points represent the mean (+/- SE) first egg date in each year, across all sites on our transect (with day 1 equal to the 1 April). The light grey points represent the first egg date at each individual site. The regression line represents the estimated mean (+/- 95% CI) and is fitted through data from 2014-2024. The red point represents the date of our first egg found in the current 2025 season.

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Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · Apr 9

Yeah, March 4th is incredible. Was it an outlier, or were other birds soon after?

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Reposted by Phenoweb project

Jamie C. Weir @jamiecweir.bsky.social · Apr 9

It's an incredible honour to be awarded the John C. Marsden medal from the @linneansociety.bsky.social for my PhD research on phenology, moths... and some very hungry caterpillars 🌳🐛

Thanks to all my friends and mentors at @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social, but especially @allyphillimore.bsky.social!

The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · Apr 9

We’re thrilled to announce the recipients of our 2025 Medals and Awards. We’ll be spotlighting each of our amazing awardees from across science, conservation and the arts over the coming days. www.linnean.org/news...
Please like, share and join us in congratulating them all!

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Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · Apr 9

@egioxford.bsky.social in this instance, the nest box is just next to a horse paddock!

Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · Apr 9

And we're off! Our first blue tit egg was laid on 3 April 2025 - making this, by some margin, the earliest start to a season in the 12 years of our project! 🪺

#phenology #ukbirding #ornithology 🪶

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Reposted by Phenoweb project

Edward Grey Institute @egioxford.bsky.social · Apr 3

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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Phenoweb project @phenoweb.bsky.social · Apr 2

Looks like being a very early spring for us. We already have over 60 blue tit nests and didn’t reach similar numbers ‘til around April 10th last year. This sycamore is already in leaf, and last year it didn’t reach a similar stage for another three weeks. When will we get our first eggs?

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