Super pleased that our Biodiversity Net Gain work has been nominated as one of the most impactful research projects at Oxford University. We've had Tom Atkins & I on BBC Countryfile, Nat Duffus on various podcasts, EJ Milner-Gulland & Joe W Bull & I advising govt & lots else

Could not agree more!

Our latest paper in Heliyon shows that ash dominated habitats speed up leaf litter decomposition🍂resulting in a 25% reduction in decomposition rates if ash trees🌿are replaced due to #ashdieback .
Yadvinder Malhi
Tom Atkins
ECI, Univ of Oxford
Wytham Woods

cell.com/action/showPdf…

Overjoyed to see Churchyard Beetle (Blaps mucronata) scurrying around in the dark..
These big beasts love to feed on crumbs fallen through the floorboards but unfortunately now rare in the UK.
Submitted one to be sequenced Darwin Tree of Life Wytham Genome Project earlier this year
Coleopterists Society of Britain and Ireland

How about this for a spectacular beast!

Carabus auronitens has been found in at least two locations in the Chilterns this year, the first UK records. Likely the result of accidental introduction (it's flightless)

Thanks Tom Atkins for the record and photograph.

Wytham Woods will feature on BBC Countryfile (BBC1 Sunday 515 pm) , including me on the ecosystem cascades and #ashdieback , Tom Atkins on beetle safari, and much more

For yrs our Oxford Biology-led #BNG team has been painstakingly studying planning applications to understand promise & pitfalls of Net Gain. Here's our guide for planners, LPAs & devs on simple steps to improve #BNG & avoid worst errors led by Nat Duffus
zenodo.org/record/8167972

📣 Check out our top tips for planners assessing #BiodiversityNetGain plans! These are things we learned to look out for during our year long sprint Oxford Martin School

zenodo.org/record/8167972

I've been lucky to have a fab June full of new (in the UK) species for me.
CW from top L: Glanville Fritillary; Field Cricket; Swallowtail; Broad-bordered Bee HM.
Efforts by volunteers & conservationists so clear, with great results RSPB Lincs Wildlife Trust Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust

Great to be able to talk to Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery about my work studying the Grass Snakes and invertebrate diversity at Park Farm - really grateful to be able to undertake research at this wonderful site.

Beech vs Ash in Wytham Woods

What a moth!

Stunning Emperor #Moth from National Trust Dunstable Downs. A mosaic of Hawthorn & Bramble scrub amongst the wider downland is really favourable for this species (but hard to assign discrete parcels to within habitat metrics.. especially when it's full of gradients)

A gorgeous grass snake in central Oxford 🐍

Snapped by our Oxford Biology research collaborator Tom Atkins Tom Atkins who is surveying the grass snakes of Park Farm/New Marston Meadows SSSI for the Leverhulme Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery Centre.