Ben Porter
Passionate Welsh naturalist & photographer fighting for a wilder World.
PhD student studying #seabirds
Often found running in the mountains ⛰️ 👣
https://www.benporterwildlife.co.uk
#StubbornOptimist | #GenerationRestoration
- Reposted by Ben PorterEarly-career ornithologists take note!! The next EOU Fledglings meeting will take place in Gdansk in March 2026. Please RT! #ornithology
- Reposted by Ben PorterWe funded 4 research projects this season 🏦 Here's a little more detail on our recent research grant awardees... (1/2) Izzy Burns @izzyburns.bsky.social is looking at nest microclimate in kittiwakes 🐣 Ben Porter @bardseyben.bsky.social is asking whether storm petrels make good parents 👨👩👧
- Reposted by Ben PorterOur not-a- #stormpetrel chick is getting suspicious of us. #puffin @jasonwalczak.bsky.social @trevormaclaurin.bsky.social @bardseyben.bsky.social
- Reposted by Ben PorterVery excited to visit the west Wales village of Nantycaws this afternoon (the name can arguably be translated as “stream [of] the cheese”), and was delighted to discover that the name of the village chapel (established in 1809) is “Philadelphia”.
- Week three of #fieldwork in the Føroyar…a summary of activities amidst classic Faroese weather, as the Storm Petrel season advances and the snowstorm of Fulmars begins along the basalt cliffs. bardseyben.substack.com/p/week-three...
- Reposted by Ben Porter🌊 Proposal deadline for WSC4 extended to Aug 15 🐦 Help shape seabird science at “Wings of Adaptation: Seabirds in a Changing Climate” 📍 Hobart, TAS | 📅 Sept 7–11, 2026 📝 Submit: WSCScience@worldseabirdunion.org 🔗 bit.ly/4e6wQdc #WSC4 #SeabirdScience
- Reposted by Ben PorterIt's important to have a mentor. Let's make the #seabirds community a better one. ⬇️
- Early career researcher who'd love a mentor? Or mid-career (onwards) looking to give back AS a mentor? Sign up below for the new round of Guillemates 🥰🐧 Mentees👉 forms.gle/cdktNREkhUDb... Mentors👉 forms.gle/uwA9X9giUPnA... Such a great learning (or supporting!) opportunity 👩👩👦👦 Pls share! #seabirds
- Reposted by Ben PorterThe reality of the UK government's despicable Palestine-related policies www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
- Reposted by Ben Porter🐝 Our latest Special Feature, "Network Ecology in the Anthropocene", is now accepting proposals. 📝 The Special Feature will be accepting submissions to all 7 of our British Ecological Society journals.
- Looking like a poor season for #Puffins in the #Faroes from local accounts and observations so far - lots of adults still feeding young chicks which should have fledged by this time of year, many dead chicks in the colony and very low numbers in general :( any others finding similar? #seabirds
- Reposted by Ben PorterOur Scottish and Irish tagged Cuckoos have made it across the Sahara Desert in Africa! 😀 Follow their migrations at www.bto.org/cuckoos #Ornithology 🌍 🪶
- The #marineheatwave update for this week from @mercatorocean.bsky.social shows some pretty intense conditions off the Norwegian coast, and sustained abnormal #SST around the UK and Bay of Biscay. I wonder how such an extreme year in the #NorthAtlantic will affect #seabird productivity this year...
- Marine heatwaves continue to intensify across the global Ocean 🌊🌡️ Areas showing #MHW activity include: 🔵 #GulfOfMexico, around #Cuba, & #Florida 🔵 #SouthChinaSea 🔵 #BayOfBengal 🔵 Canadian coast 🔵 #Breton coast Read more in our bulletin: www.mercator-ocean.eu/bulletin/mar...
- New #substack! Week two of #fieldwork in the Faroes for this year's Storm-petrel research season. Transects in vertical boulder scree, night-time ringing activities and some updates from the nestbox monitoring as the incubation gets underway... bardseyben.substack.com/p/like-a-fai...
- Reposted by Ben PorterGreat to see some climate realism that follows the science from Mr Corbyn. Compare it with Starmer’s offsetting emissions against research nonsense today. 🤣
- Reposted by Ben Porter📢#StopRosebank Info Call: Aug 6, 7pm📢 On Sep 6, people across the UK will take action to stop the disastrous Rosebank oil field. Join us for an info call next week to hear from people planning actions in their area and learn how you can get stuck in 💪. actionnetwork.org/events/stop-...
- Such awesome #seabirds - one of ~430 Storm-petrels ringed in the Nólsoy colony last night w/ @jasonwalczak.bsky.social @trevormaclaurin.bsky.social @anneausems.bsky.social, plus one UK-ringed bird. No tapes used, just one 18-metre mist net - the colony is quite dense!
- Reposted by Ben PorterGreat news: the High Court has granted permission for a full judicial review of the government's order proscribing Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act. Let's hope he government's idiotic and draconian order is overturned.
- Reposted by Ben PorterOur local not-a-storm-petrel chick decided to store some of its food for later. That or someone needs to sew this #puffin youngster a bib. #FaroeIslands @trevormaclaurin.bsky.social @jasonwalczak.bsky.social @bardseyben.bsky.social
- New #substack! I'll be documenting this year's seabird #fieldwork in the Faroe Islands with some periodic updates on substack through the coming season, for anyone interested in following. Link below for a brief update from our first week back on Nólsoy... bardseyben.substack.com/p/back-in-th...
- Reposted by Ben PorterHalf a million people signing up to a party that doesn’t even have a name let alone any policies yet but is just saying “we think things could be less shit” should be a clear signal to Starmer that the trajectory he’s taken Labour on isn’t going down well at all
- Reposted by Ben PorterWe know for a fact that the smear machine will now go into overdrive… Corbyn is a huge threat to fascists and far right neolib elites! But the evidence is crystal clear: The “People are Desperate for Change”. www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/new-corbyn...
- Reposted by Ben PorterHighly recommended! This interview with @laurieadkin.bsky.social by @ryankatzrosene.bsky.social is full of wisdom about the thorniest of topics that most people struggle to face uk to. It's full of insights that can only come from a lifetime of careful consideration when there are no easy answers
- Reposted by Ben Porter#ProudBlue Scotland is not having it. They are pissed about Trump’s visit. Way to go, Scotland! 👏👏👏👏 Trump is a WANKER!
- The superb backdrop of Nólsoy’s huge Storm-petrel colony, hosting upwards of 250,000 pairs. Initial checks of our study #nestboxes show a slightly late season, with some birds incubating but many pairs yet to lay. Amidst the numerous #MarineHeatwaves in N Atlantic, I wonder how the season will be…
- Reposted by Ben PorterThis article… … is, by a long way, the clearest account of the UK government’s complicity in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza that I have ever read. Please read and share.
- Reposted by Ben Porter🚨 BREAKING NEWS! The International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared countries have a legal obligation to act on climate change. 🌍 Now it’s time for the Government to act, and lock the UK’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)—under the Paris Agreement—into law. 🐝 #CANBill
- ‘We have to draw the line’ ‘We have to change the system’. Imagine a leader of this country with actual integrity and humanity at their core.
- Reposted by Ben Porter"there is no money for the poor, but billions for war" Solidarity 💪💪💪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Reposted by Ben PorterFrance is to recognise Palestine as a state, Macron has announced. The decision will be formalised at the UN General Assembly in September. “There is no alternative”.
- And so it begins! The Storm-petrel fieldwork season in the #Faroes kicks off for 2025, joining @anneausems.bsky.social @jasonwalczak.bsky.social @trevormaclaurin.bsky.social to carry out sampling for @seaghosts-biodv.bsky.social and further research for my PhD on European Storm-petrels.
- Reposted by Ben PorterWhat this goes to show is that the ever-so-respectable, middle-of-the road, technocratic pillars of the British Establishment - Starmer, Cooper, Reeves and the rest - turn out, when you discover what they really want, to be just as batshit crazy as Trump or Orban.
- Ever more surreal, ever more oppressive. Elderly people in Cardiff holding cardboard signs supporting Palestine Action get their doors stoved in, homes raided and food apparently tested for radioactive materials. Cardboard: the new weapon of mass destruction. 🧵 docs.google.com/document/d/1...
- Reposted by Ben PorterHuge news from the first landholding purchase made under the community buyout provisions of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. Restoration on a massive scale! I dream of communities doing the same for our Peak District grouse moors. 'Only' politics stands in our way.
- Reposted by Ben PorterMy chat with Sarah Wilkinson of the now banned, Palestine Action is still online. Its sickening to think that things have gotten even worse since this interview 🇵🇸 youtu.be/MM2pkbR6Ub4?...
- Reposted by Ben Porter📢 Yesterday Defra announced that toxic lead ammunition would be banned in Britain! BTO’s research helped forge this change.📝 The new ban will protect wildlife and the wider environment, with reduced levels of lead pollution in terrestrial and aquatic habitats.
- Reposted by Ben Porter📣 In case you missed it, we are now accepting session proposals for the #UArcticCongress 2026! The event takes place in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands from May 26 to 29, 2026. 📅 The call deadline is extended to July 31, 2025. Read more and submit a session proposal: www.uarctic.org/about-us/mee...
- Sunset to Sunrise - an awesome night out running half the Paddy Buckley round in #Eryri, starting 7pm in Nantmor finishing 7am in Ogwen. Brutal 5000m ascent but epic moonlit mountains, mist inversion and total quietude through the dead of night. A good way to prepare for nocturnal #seabird work 😂
- Reposted by Ben PorterAnother unlicensed sewage discharge into our waterways during a dry spell. South East Water hang your heads in shame.
- This is such a good thread. @thegreenrunners.bsky.social
- How different birds would run a marathon... a thread. 👇 Reckon you could outdo these birds? We're taking applications for London Marathon 2026 Team RSPB runners. Follow the link to apply, you have 'til Sunday! 🏅 rspb.org.uk/helping-natu...
- Reposted by Ben Porter
🌡️ June 2025: Lowercase western Europe saw its warmest June on record at 20.49°C. Globally, 3rd warmest June on record. Highest daily SST ever recorded for the western Mediterranean (27°C). Get the full #C3S Bulletin 👉 climate.copernicus.eu/surface-air-... - Studying #seabirds around Britain & Ireland at PhD or masters level? Get in touch if you'd like to join our lab group 'PhULMaR' to share ideas, research, support each other and connect with others researching these amazing birds! Our new #Bluesky account: @phulmar.bsky.social 🐦 🌊 🌍
- Hello! We're now on #Bluesky! PhULMaR is a PhD lab group for those around the British and Irish Isles studying birds that use the #marine #environment. Currently headed by @bardseyben.bsky.social @dianepavat.bsky.social, we meet online on the last Friday of each month. Get in touch to join!
- Reposted by Ben PorterMost Brits support a wealth tax
- Reposted by Ben PorterA reminder that the suffragettes would be prescribed as terrorists like Palestine Action.
- Reposted by Ben PorterToday's @northwaleslive.bsky.social BirdNotes looks at Red @webs-gsmp.bsky.social Alerts issued at two #NorthWales Special Protection Areas, and a @natreswales.bsky.social report into why one is in unfavourable condition. 📷 @bardseyben.bsky.social #BirdingWales www.birdnotes.wales/blog/waders-...
- Reposted by Ben Porter🌿 Ellen Bradley, Co-Director @ukyouthfornature.bsky.social: “We're here to ask Keir Starmer to bring back the #CANBill for a debate and vote in Parliament. We need legally binding commitments to nature and climate, to restore faith in a system that has been a series of u-turns and broken promises.”
- Reposted by Ben PorterHey, thought I could share some images and thoughts from fieldwork on Skúgvoy, Faroe Islands. We are looking for breeding territories of great skua, some of which we caught last year and deployed loggers onto (under the @seatrackscience.bsky.social project) which we hope to retrap.
- ‘The countryside can be naturally hazardous’… ‘The river is polluted by sewage’ Great signage from NRW. I’m absolutely outraged at the state of this National Nature Reserve #AtlanticRainforest near Llan Ffestiniog, whose river was subject to 178 sewage dumps in 2024. You can literally smell it.
- Reposted by Ben Porter🏴 Scotland's had control of the #CrownEstate since 2016. Last year: £108M+ reinvested in Scottish communities. #Wales? Blocked from doing the same by Labour 🥀 🏴 It’s time to bring our wealth home!
- Reposted by Ben PorterPlease come and take my job! I’ve been the social media support officer for the @bou.org.uk for almost 4 years and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it! I made so many new friends, met new colleagues, attended many amazing conferences and learnt a lot. This is an ideal role for #ECR folks in #ornithology 🪶
- ⚠️ Passionate about science communication? Join our team! We are looking for the next Social Media support officer 🔗 bou.org.uk/about-the... ⏰ Deadline 25 April 2025 Get in touch with our current officer if you have questions @natbzielonka.bsky.social #ornithology 🪶 Please repost!
- Reposted by Ben PorterSo exciting to see our migratory fly review paper in the @washingtonpost.com!! Read here: www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025... Also, I'm going to be on Source FM at 8pm GMT (50min time) talking all about migratory insects: www.thesourcefm.co.uk Full paper: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
- Reposted by Ben PorterInevitable from a party that has been captured by those whose only skill is to pander to the fervently anti Net Zero online right . Fiddling while the planet burns . Sign my Govt petition to ban fossil fuel ads and sponsorships govpetition.uk/700024
- Mountain Manxies! It was so exciting to finally get the opportunity to witness the amazing mountaintop Manx shearwater colony on Rùm last week (west Scotland). The night’s bivvy to experience their arrival on Hallival was pretty awesome. Here’s a short piece for #SeabirderSaturday
- Reposted by Ben PorterThank you for sharing @bardseyben.bsky.social Have you seen our upcoming event in Stroud with ATM Streetart for World Curlew Day:
- Always such a bittersweet soundscape to record: the utterly evocative and beautiful spring chorus of Lapwings (Cornchwiglen) and Curlews (Gylfinir) from a small, electric-fenced patch of Welsh uplands that represents one of their few strongholds in this part of the country. I hope we can save them.
- A beautiful film released earlier this year by @curlewaction.bsky.social on the plight of the Gylfinir / Curlew: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBnO... And don't forget #WorldCurlewDay coming up in April!
- Nature Workforce Wales 🌿🏴🐧🐝 If you think that you are contributing to conserve or restore nature (in a voluntary or paid role) then please fill in this survey! // os ydych chi’n meddwl eich bod yn cyfrannu at adfer byd natur (wirfoddol/gyflogedig) llenwch yr arolwg! ymateb.gov.wales/s/1IYLHF/?la...
- Croeso nôl! They’re back! Osprey Elen is back in the Glaslyn #NorthWales 😄🌿🎉
- Reposted by Ben PorterIt should be obvious by now that Netanyahu won't stop until every Palestinian in #Gaza (and perhaps the West Bank) has been murdered, maimed or expelled. He wants it all. Governments like ours should cut off all military equipment, diplomatic support and other relations until the genocide ends.
- Reposted by Ben PorterIt's not real. It's not us. It's not bad. It's too hard to fix. It's too late. Just about every climate denial argument I've ever heard is a variant of one of these five categories, and each one is as bad as the next. Why? Because they all have the same goal: prevent action as long as possible.
- Crank up the volume and lap up those joyous sounds of early spring. A little film from Pen Llŷn last week with some of my favourite sound recordings, including the pure dusk chorus of Blackbird and explosive dawn greeting of Song Thrush. Mwynhau, enjoy 🎧🎶 #PlantPotParabolic youtu.be/k_Enr8CspkE?...
- Parting ways with my beloved little electric Nissan van - delighted to say that her new occupancy will be carting around waste for a community composting scheme in the Dyfi Valley 😄👌🏽🍄 couldn’t find a more fitting second home. What a great enabler of adventures she’s been for the last few years!
- Reposted by Ben PorterThere is an alternative to Government welfare cuts - a 2% tax on wealth. There is no shortage of money here, we just need a fairer approach to tax - take more from the few not the many.
- What better way to spend a sunny, warm Saturday (😅🙈) than grappling with Raspberry Pi cams to get the system working for #Stormpetrel nest monitoring this summer! So grateful for Hannah Hereward’s immense help in this - coding is not my strong point… @robthomasbirds.bsky.social
- Reposted by Ben Porter👀 "Why should I care?" Ahead of #InternationalWomensDay Christiana Figueres and @katharinehayhoe.com talk about women, science & climate on @outrageoptimism.bsky.social bit.ly/3X0uaX8 💬 Why do YOU care about climate action? Tell us below. ⬇️ #WomenInSTEM #IWD2025
- FIRST WHEATEAR OF THE YEAR!!!!! 😄🥳🏔️ what an exciting moment. Sadly no camera with me, but it’s on that rock - I promise 😆 what a backdrop (Llyn Padarn, Nant Peris and Eryri). Spppprrrrriiinnnng 🌿
- A frustrating and enlightening report, outlining just how inadequate current legislation is to reversing #biodiversity declines in Wales. We need to do better than this - we’re half way through the decisive decade and species are still plummeting. Full audit report below.
- "Good intentions and examples of funding for biodiversity action are not enough. @welshgovernment.bsky.social needs to do more to lead by example, support improvement, and take a more active interest in the application and impact of its own legislation" - Auditor General wao.gov.uk/news/nature-...
