Liam Langley
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liamlangley1.bsky.social
Liam Langley
@liamlangley1.bsky.social
2K followers 1.1K following 320 posts
Seabird Ecologist interested in movement, foraging ecology and navigation. Recently moved to Lund and currently getting to grips with life in Sweden. Spend an unreasonable amount of time stood on a hill waiting for birds to fly past. He/Him.
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Reposted by Liam Langley
dlangstonbirder.bsky.social
Distinctive 1w Russian Common Gull (heinei) candidate at Frieston Res this aft, seemed to tick all the boxes.
#LincsBirding
@lincsbirding.bsky.social
November 18, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
runnelstone.bsky.social
Blue-winged Teal at Hayle Estuary (15th Nov ‘25). Present since since the 8th Nov but really tricky to pin down. The 15th is the only day so far when the “masses” have connected. It’s Cornwall’s 27th record.

Pic courtesy of Paul Freestone.

#cornwallbirding #birding #ukbirding
November 18, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
xavh.bsky.social
Fully funded NERC GW4+ PhD Opportunity - *Understanding The Spread of Antimicrobial Resistance by Migratory Birds*

Supervised by me, @stubearhop.bsky.social (Exeter) & Patricia Brekke (ZSL). Application deadline 8th January. Please get in touch for more info

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
November 17, 2025 at 6:06 AM
Reposted by Liam Langley
jamesdrage.bsky.social
A cold, Pyllosc-themed day on patch with warblers enjoying insects along a sunny willow ride at Swanpool. 2 of each Sibe Chiff and YBW, and a showy Dusky Warbler found by fellow student Trysten. Additionally Vagrant Emperor, and another Sibe Chiff at Maenporth. @cbwps.org.uk
November 17, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
wiwildlife.bsky.social
This Swallow at Balranald, N Uist this afternoon appears to be the American subspecies: erythrogaster due to the lack of a dark band across the lower throat.
November 17, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
jacquiglencross.bsky.social
My first PhD paper is now out! We calculate overlap intensity between African penguins and the local purse seine fishery 🐧🐟

Check it out in @jappliedecology.bsky.social
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Spatial overlap alone downplays the level of interaction between a central place forager and the local fishery
While spatial overlap is commonly used to quantify interactions, it may underestimate the true degree of competition between foraging predators and fishing vessels. Our alternative population-level m...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Reposted by Liam Langley
jennycdunn.bsky.social
Fully funded PhD opportunity based at @york.ac.uk through the ECOWILD DTP working with a great supervisory team (!) on the impact of multiple stressors on wetland bird health www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Deadline 9th Jan 2026
A Toxic Brew? Evaluating Multi-Stressors (Chemicals and Pathogens) and their Impacts on Avian Health in UK Wetland Ecosystems at University of York on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - A Toxic Brew? Evaluating Multi-Stressors (Chemicals and Pathogens) and their Impacts on Avian Health in UK Wetland Ecosystems at University of York, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:52 AM
liamlangley1.bsky.social
Nice to relocate the female-type Blue-winged Teal on Hayle with @lobb66.bsky.social this afternoon - after a week without a report and 45 minutes of trying to pin it down in crap light it felt almost as a good as a self-find! #UKbirding
A female-type Blue-winged Teal facing left on the water. The white-spot at the base of the bill, broken pale eye ring, dark blue bill with a spatula re tip and sloping forehead separate the bird from an Eurasian Teal!
November 15, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
lobb66.bsky.social
A quality 45 minutes with @liamlangley1.bsky.social as we nailed the Hayle Blue-winged Teal originally reported last week. To go from a ‘dodgy looking Teal’ to full on blue forewing in flight was nice. #cornwallbirding

Pic thanks to Adam H
November 15, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
bksandercock.bsky.social
Field trip to Falsterbo ringing station with the migration ecology course from Lund University
Falsterbo Long-tailed Tit Long-eared Owl Bird ringing station
November 15, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Reposted by Liam Langley
lobb66.bsky.social
Requesting opinion/thoughts on a possible AGP with 30 GP at Hayle pm today. Retained summer plum, slighter in size, strong head pattern, grey-er background colour, thinner bill. Didn’t get underwing nor primary proj - face-on the whole time until it flew W #idhelp #cornwallbirding #please #begentle
Greyer background colour. Size differential a bit false here Best shot of head and bill Clearly a slighter bird - extensive retained sum plum. AGP moults later than GP? A juv and adult GP either side for comparison ..
November 14, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
cateden91.bsky.social
Super excited to share the first paper from my PhD! 🎉

We found that rivers don’t just matter for wetland birds - they also help support terrestrial insectivores, thanks to the flow of energy and nutrients from aquatic insects. 🌊🦟

Read more here: 👉 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Cross-system transfer of fatty acids from aquatic insects supports terrestrial insectivore condition and reproductive success - Oecologia
Cross-system fluxes of aquatic insects rich in omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 LC-PUFAs), specifically eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), may subsidise ins...
link.springer.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Reposted by Liam Langley
beardybirder.bsky.social
Pine Bunting seen briefly with mobile Yellowhammer flock at St Aldhelm's Head Quarry at 1030hrs & not relocated as of 1250hrs. Ltd parking available in Renscombe car park, otherwise park in Worth Mattravers village car park and walk down, staying out of private fields @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social
Apparent Pine Bunting perched amongst Elder twigs. Apparent Pine Bunting perched amongst Elder twigs.
November 13, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
rarebirder.bsky.social
Huge fall in Gyr Falcon population in Iceland www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/H...
Huge fall in Gyr Falcon population in Iceland
Gyr Falcons feeding on infected carcasses are dying in growing numbers, according to researchers monitoring breeding territories across the island
www.rarebirdalert.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 11:28 AM
liamlangley1.bsky.social
Very faint Aurora seen looking north from St Ives Island last night with @elliepursey.bsky.social during a break in the clouds after midnight - an unexpected patch tick and the furthest south I’ve ever seen it!
A dark scene with the black ocean in the bottom half and the night sky in the top half. Above the horizon a faint wash of pink and green shows the presence of the Aurora Borealis.
November 13, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Liam Langley
spurnbirdobs.bsky.social
Winter at Spurn is never quiet.

Join us as a Residential Winter Volunteer and help protect one of Britain’s most remarkable birding sites.

Fresh air, new skills, and unforgettable wildlife moments await 🪶

🔗 spurnbirdobservatory.co.uk/news/winter-...
November 13, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Reposted by Liam Langley
hannahmrowland.bsky.social
🐞🧬🦅 join us for a PhD position researching how birds evolve resistance to prey toxins. If you’re excited about wild chemical arms races, we’d love to hear from you. @shabmohammadi.bsky.social @livuni-ives.bsky.social @livuni-ismib.bsky.social @mpi-ce.bsky.social

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Eating Viceroy Butterfly https://stevecreek.com/scissor-tailed-flycatcher-eating-butterfly/
November 12, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
fairislebirdobs.bsky.social
Still wondering whether to visit the new Fair Isle Bird Obs in 2026? We are open for bookings 20th May to 31st October. Although there is only limited availability in May-July, we still have plenty of space from early August until the end of October. Our website includes information on how to book.
Scops Owl, Fair Isle, June 2025. © Alex Penn Black-faced Bunting, Fair Isle, October 2025. © Alex Penn Oriental Turtle Dove , Fair Isle, October 2025. © Kevin Kelly Music night at the Obs. © Alex Penn
November 12, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
markgolley.bsky.social
And here it is! This glorious flight shot was taken by Mike Edgecombe @mikee100.bsky.social as the Pallid Swift whizzed below the two of us along the undercliff at West Runton this afternoon. A gorgeous subtle bird & so instructive too.
@linnetincley.bsky.social
#NorfolkBirding
#RareBirdsUK
#BirdID
Few words are needed here. This is a sensational capture by Mike & it's one of the best Pallid Swift shots I've seen in ages. Quite superb. Bravo @mikee100.bsky.social 👏
November 11, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
palustris.bsky.social
A 'List of Birds' from Sharp's History of Hartlepool (1816). Eider was a rarity but Scaup were common: over 1,000 caught in a week in winter 1788-9 were "sold for 1s. per dozen". Glaucous Gull was simply known as Winter Gull, and a local Herring Gull reached 21 years old. 1/2
@teesbirds.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
birdlifeglobal.bsky.social
Want to help tell one of nature’s greatest stories? ✨

Join the team as our new Global Flyways Communications Officer and bring the wonder of bird migration to audiences worldwide. 🌍


Learn more here 🔗 birdlifeinternational.teamtailor.com/jobs/6733623...
November 11, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
robertvaughani.bsky.social
I completed the Swainson's and Grey-cheeked Thrush illustration over the weekend. It was really enjoyable to work on these 2 subtle American vagrants that I was lucky to see earlier this Autumn close to home. #donegalbirding
November 11, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Reposted by Liam Langley
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Liam Langley
davidpritchard.bsky.social
#PhD position!

Comparing #foraging and #cognition in #hummingbirds and #bumblebees

Fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies, lab experiments at @newcastleuni.bsky.social, and ecological modelling at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social

Details (including my email) here: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
From preferences to pollination: do hummingbirds and bees differ in how they choose flowers?
iapetus.ac.uk
November 9, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Liam Langley
eldarrak.bsky.social
Want your modelling to save birds? PhD with me at UvA (Amsterdam): build spatial integrated population model for black-tailed godwits with world-class dataset and strong team here & @birdeyes-gfn.bsky.social/RUG). werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies... Apply by 1 Dec 2025: #Ecology #Bayesian #Conservation
a couple of individually marked godwits. Photo by J. Seenstra
November 4, 2025 at 11:31 AM