Helen Baker
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helenbaker.bsky.social
Helen Baker
@helenbaker.bsky.social
240 followers 110 following 57 posts
Ornithology, Mycology, nature.
Seabird team leader JNCC.
Member BMS Field Mycology & Conservation Committee.
Own views.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Helen Baker
btobirds.bsky.social
1/ A new study from @lesserspotnet.bsky.social & BTO in @britishbirds.bsky.social looks at how passive acoustic monitoring is an effective way of surveying Lesser Spotted Woodpecker ➡️ www.bto.org/LSWBioacoust...

#bioacoustics #ornithology @simongillings.bsky.social @hosbirding.bsky.social
A Lesser Spotted Woodpecker on the trunk of a tree. A grey box to the left features the words: New study. Bioacoustics as a tool for the detection and monitoring of a scarce woodland bird – the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. ww.bto.org/LSWBioacoustics. BTO logo is top left of the image. Image credit bottom left reads: Lesser Spotted Woodpecker © Denja1 from Getty Images via Canva.com.
December 4, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Reposted by Helen Baker
bou.org.uk
🔊 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS OPEN

#BOUasm26 | 29 September 2026 | York, UK & Zoom & Bluesky

Avian futures: predicting and preparing for the future of avian biodiversity

Submit your talk or Bluesky abstract now!

bou.org.uk/event/avi...

#ornithology
December 1, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Reposted by Helen Baker
bou.org.uk
🔊 KEYNOTE NOMINATIONS

Who would you like to see deliver a keynote at #BOU2027 ?

#BOU2027 | Avian disease ecology | 6 - 8 April 2027 | Nottingham, UK & Zoom & Bluesky

Nominate via link ⬇️

bou.org.uk/event/avi...

#ornithology 🪶
December 1, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Helen Baker
britmycolsoc.org.uk
Job opportunity with the BMS: Events Officer. Part-time, flexible hours, home based. Covering conferences, training workshops, field meetings & outreach events. Working closely with staff & volunteers. Deadline: Friday 12 December 2025
Details: www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/vacancies.html
A collage of 5 photos from different BMS events.
November 27, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Helen Baker
sjurdur.bsky.social
As I'm planning next years field season, I wonder if anyone on here would like to run a small island project on Skúvoy with me. I will be catching and samling great skuas, but there will be good opportunities to investigate other aspects of seabird island ecology 🌍🧪 #seabirds
November 26, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Reposted by Helen Baker
jncc.bsky.social
🪸UK Overseas Territories launch strategy to benefit wildlife

We have been working with the UK Overseas Territories for a quarter of a century - building understanding, partnership, evidence, capacity and friendship.

#TogetherForNature 💚
A woman stand speaking at a podium. Behind her are a number of flags lined up. It's hard to see the design of the flags but they are each blue and have a smaller version of the UK's red, white and blue flag on them
November 28, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Helen Baker
seabirdmortenf.bsky.social
Doing research on #Arctic #seabirds? Consider submitting an abstract to the session 'Safeguarding seabird populations in a rapidly changing Arctic' at www.uarcticcongress.fo/programme/ca... in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands 26-29 May 2026
Uarctic Congress 2026
www.uarcticcongress.fo
November 22, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Reposted by Helen Baker
ninadehnhard.bsky.social
Another piece of research from team #Shag on Sklinna. Strongly recommended for all researchers working with #biologging data
November 20, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Reposted by Helen Baker
seabirdmortenf.bsky.social
Needing to model impacts on seabird populations in Northwest Europe?

Not sure where to find useful values for demographic variables?

Look no further! In this new paper, we provide model-derived values for age-specific survival of 25 species.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Demography of marine birds in the Northeast Atlantic: Informed parameter values for population modelling
We developed matrix population models for 54 regional populations of 25 marine bird species in the north-east Atlantic, based on 30 years of monitoring data. In Step 1, we parameterised the models wi...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Reposted by Helen Baker
cms.int
Meeting adjourned! 🤝

#AEWAMOP9 concluded in Bonn with the adoption of 11 new resolutions aimed at reducing pressures on migratory waterbirds and strengthening conservation action across the African-Eurasian flyways. 🌏

Learn more about key outcomes & decisions: www.unep-aewa.org/en/news/un-w...
November 14, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Reposted by Helen Baker
cms.int
AEWA's new report is the most comprehensive assessment on threats African-Eurasian migratory waterbirds face: unsustainable hunting, infrastructure development & agricultural expansion. View in EN or FR>

Full report: www.unep-aewa.org/en/publicati...
Summary: www.unep-aewa.org/en/publicati...
November 11, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Helen Baker
btobirds.bsky.social
Worrying reports of bird flu (avian influenza) are coming in, including an outbreak in Whooper Swans in the Fens. Other waterbirds are also being affected, and cases are rising.

📷 Sick Whooper Swan by Kane Brides

#UKBirding #BirdingWales #BirdingScotland
Whooper Swan sick with bird flu in a field, photograph by Kane Brides
November 6, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Helen Baker
ukrbbp.bsky.social
The latest report from the RBBP, Rare Breeding Birds in the UK in 2023, is out now in British Birds. It reports on the 104 species and races of rare breeding birds recording breeding, or showing signs of breeding, in 2023. Read the summary at rbbp.org.uk/2023-report-... #ornithology #ukbirds 🧵[1/15]
The cover of the November 2025 issue of British Birds, with a Little Ringed Plover sheltering its chicks
November 4, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Reposted by Helen Baker
ukrbbp.bsky.social
Our report for 2023 is out now in @britishbirds.bsky.social. There's a summary at rbbp.org.uk/2023-report-... but if you prefer to watch rather than read then here's RBBP secretary @markaeaton.bsky.social with a few key points and some lovely photos! #ornithology #ukbirds youtu.be/arj1m7NfKmY
Rare Breeding Birds in the UK in 2023
YouTube video by Rare Breeding Birds Panel
youtu.be
November 4, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Helen Baker
jassydrak.bsky.social
My first book RHS Fungi for Gardeners is out now!
Such an amazing opportunity to write for RHS and with such fantastic publishers as DK.
Better yet is that doing it enabled me to get my own compound microscope 🤩🍄
Check how the hyphae bend out at 90° on Mycena leptocephala stems
#fungifriends
Dark blue hardback cover of RHS Fungi for Gardeners on a set of shelves of gardening books in a book shop Jassy Drakulic standing next to the bookshelves featuring her new book, smiling Red stained hyphae of nitrous bonnet with pointed ends that bend away from the stem at right angles
October 13, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Helen Baker
jncc.bsky.social
🔮 How can monitoring data help predict the future of our environment?

Watch our #UKTEPoP Autumn Festival session with experts from JNCC, @ukceh.bsky.social and @btobirds.bsky.social on the power of prediction.

📺 youtu.be/KXY2-hdZ49M?...

#Conservation #Data #Prediction #TogetherForNature
TEPoP Autumn 2025: The importance of Prediction
YouTube video by JNCC
youtu.be
October 27, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Helen Baker
britmycolsoc.org.uk
Out now: Field Mycology Vol 26(3) - October 2025. Fungi on the front cover: Mycena olivaceomarginata - Brownedge Bonnet - in a lawn in Norfolk, UK. (Photo credit: Geoffrey Kibby) 👉 Find all articles online here: fieldmycology.org/index.php/jo... 📣 Register as a Reader to hear about new issues
Cover of the Field Mycology journal October 2025, with a photo of Brownedge Bonnet mushrooms in grass.
October 28, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Reposted by Helen Baker
bas.ac.uk
Supercharged seafloor spotting! 🐚

Our AI and science teams have been using machine learning to label surveys of the Antarctic seafloor. It's dramatically sped them up from <8 hours per photo, to a few seconds.

This one looks like a quick job. But stay with us as we up the difficulty...

🧵 1/4
Image 1 is a pretty empty image of the Antarctic Sea floor. There's visibly a few large starfish in bright pink. In the annotated version of image 1, there's around 15 creatures labelled, including some tiny shells scattered across the floor.
October 20, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Helen Baker
ukrbbp.bsky.social
A few opportunities to learn about rare breeding birds and the work of the RBBP. If your bird club/wildlife group/RSPB group would like an online talk from our Secretary @markaeaton.bsky.social, get in touch.
A mocked-up T-shirt with four RBBP talk dates on
October 20, 2025 at 5:57 PM
helenbaker.bsky.social
This is a parasitic fungus, Gomphidius roseus, the Rosy Spike, a gilled boletale, which targets the Bovine Bolete, Suillus bovinus, an ectomycorhizal species with pines. #FungiFriday
October 17, 2025 at 7:22 PM
helenbaker.bsky.social
A rotter, this is Bulgaria inquinans, the Black Bulgar or Black Jelly, which is common in broadleaf woodland but most often on fallen oak. It can produce a turquoise dye if processed carefully, but more often a lovely green. #FungiFriday
October 17, 2025 at 6:50 PM
helenbaker.bsky.social
It's waxcap season - fungi of nutrient poor grasslands that tend to peak in late autumn. This is the Date Waxcap, Hygrocybe spadicea, from grassland within the Balmoral estate. It is a rare species and an indicator of high quality fungi (CHEGD) grassland. #FungiFriday
October 17, 2025 at 6:45 PM
helenbaker.bsky.social
It's #FungiFriday and yesterday was world fungus day so here are a few recent finds. These are dinner-plate sized Scaly Tooth, Sarcodon squamosus, from the ancient Caledonian pinewoods of Ballochbuie in the Balmoral estate.
October 17, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Reposted by Helen Baker
britmycolsoc.org.uk
Join us on 29th November at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, for the BMS Autumn Open Meeting. Hosted by Prof Martin Bidartondo and Dr Carrie Andrew, the meeting features expert speakers covering a variety of mycological topics. Find out more here: www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/aom_2025.html
Photo from Kew Gardens of a wooden bridge among trees and plants in autumn colours. With the BMS logo and the words: Autumn Open Meeting 2025. Saturday 29th November, Lady Sainsbury Lecture Theatre, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.
October 15, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Reposted by Helen Baker
steffopp.bsky.social
NEW JOB in #ornithology with @RSPBScience to oversee research in #Wales with #seabirds and #waders: buff.ly/qkTVU6m
October 10, 2025 at 6:39 AM