Life update klaxon: I’ve joined the Natural Sciences department at Manchester Met as a PhD researcher! Our team will be investigating the role of interspecific competition and community composition in the decline of the willow tit, focusing our efforts on post-industrial sites in the north west.

Current funding models generally focus on implementing habitat management measures, which have so far proven largely unsuccessful in halting local willow tit extinctions. We are looking to investigate how other species, particularly blue tits, interact with willow tits during the breeding season,

and assess their impacts on willow tit ecology. Our main aim is to help develop targeted conservation measures which will help to improve the fortunes of this rapidly declining species and, crucially, won’t inadvertently harm existing populations. I’ve seen willow tits vanish from my local

area in the Dearne Valley in just a few short years (see above from 2021). Although the prospects for this species undoubtedly look rather bleak, I am hopeful that our project will help to improve conservation outcomes for willow tit in the UK.