Amy Gresham (she/her)
Ecologist interested in how animals respond an ever-changing environment 🌍
Research & Development fellow | DEFRA 🌳
Postdoc | iDeer project (2023-2025) 🦌
PhD | Bangor University (2023) 🏔️
Views are my own
- Rat-tailed maggots at a garden centre! These are aquatic larvae of hover flies 🐝 They breath through their tail snorkels 🤿 They break down organic waste 🌿 Their adult forms are important pollinating insects 🍎 They're so mesmerizing to watch! Info from @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social
- I would be very interested to see the feasibility studies behind this, particularly habitat suitability assessments. You can't tell me the UK is a more suitable place for elk now than it was 3000 years ago..?! www.countryfile.com/wildlife/elk...
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- Agreed
- Are you a female deer stalker based in the UK? The British Deer Society want to hear from you 🦌🎯 www.surveymonkey.com/r/NK77K3S?fb...
- Quercus robur flowers ~ tiny pink female flowers nestled next to the pendulous male catkins 🩷
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- Well done for all the work you put in! Good things may yet come of it 😊
- Had a blast this weekend at my first @mammalsociety.bsky.social conference with this lovely lot 🦌 🐿️ the talks were all superb, and it was great to be back in Bangor 🏴
- Hot off the press: a Conservation article on our recent work exploring patterns in the seasonal diet of fallow #deer in North Wales @graemeshannon.bsky.social @markuseichhorn.bsky.social @bangoruniversity.bsky.social 🌳🦌💩 theconversation.com/what-deer-po...
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- Definitely! Two sides to the coin, depends on your woodland management objectives :)
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- I saw a similar sign in Colombia with my mum and my genuine reaction was "what... no trumpets??" she couldn't stop laughing
- NEW PhD OPPORTUNITY 🌳🌲 "Biodiversity for woodland resilience: the long-term functional ecology of tree diversity" www.envision-dtp.org/2025/biodive... Closing date 17:00 on Wednesday 12th March 2025. @bangoruniversity.bsky.social @ukceh.bsky.social
- Coverage of our recent paper from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research 🦌
- Very chuffed to get this paper out from my PhD! Learning the process of DNA metabarcoding was very challenging for a newbie to molecular ecology, I couldn't have done it without all the co-authors! #deer #DNAmetabarcoding #forestry #deerdiary
- New paper out today led by Amy Gresham exploring fallow deer diet using metabarcoding. Results were very different to what we expected! besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... Graphical abstract: @linecordes.bsky.social @markuseichhorn.bsky.social @bangoruniversity.bsky.social #deer
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- Thanks Si, couldn't have done it without MEEB!
- What do deer eat in the winter? In the UK a common assumption is that they subsist on over-wintering crops or grazing land. In our new paper led by Amy Gresham we overturn that story. 1/7 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
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- Hi both, yes we had a theory that bramble was acting as a winter survival resource, as it has persisted despite the long term heavy deer browsing in these woods. Could be an energy saving strategy to stay put and use this resource instead of foraging more widely in winter?
- 🚨 New fully-funded PhD project 🚨 "Ecologically-based temperate rainforest restoration: effectiveness for biodiversity recovery, carbon sequestration and resilience" 🌳🌲 tinyurl.com/4nv253hw Closing date for applications 28th February Contact: Professor John Healey j.healey@bangor.ac.uk #findaphd
- With increasing disturbance from extreme weather and tree diseases leading to a more open canopy structure, bramble cover is set to increase in European forests, which could support further expansion of deer populations.
- As we work to expand tree cover and enhance forest resilience and biodiversity, we should seek to understand the dynamic interactions of increasing deer populations with rapidly changing treescapes.
- Broadleaf trees became more prevalent in the diet in the spring and summer, with oak being most prevalent in autumn, probably due to acorn consumption. Spatially clustered taxa (e.g. Betula sp., Corylus sp. and Fraxinus sp.) were consumed less often than expected ....
- ... whilst widespread taxa (e.g. Rosa sp., Prunus sp. and Quercus sp.) were consumed more often than expected, given their availability in the landscape. In contrast to broadleaved trees and shrubs, conifer trees were found in very few samples.
- We studied the diet of fallow deer in North Wales to understand how they may be impacting local woodlands. We expected the diet would be dominated by grasses supplemented by woody browse in the winter, as this species is typically characterised as an opportunist bulk grazer.
- In fact, we found that the deer were consuming bramble (Rubus fruticosus agg.) more than any other taxa. Rather than diversifying their diet in winter as expected, the diet diversity was actually lowest in winter, with bramble forming 80% of the diet.
