Pheasants@Exeter

2nd report for @NatResWales to inform their consultation about gamebird releasing in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 This 1 ⬇️brings up to date evidence about ecological effects of released gamebirds w/a focus on 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿, looks at new research in the area & describes knowledge gaps ymgynghori.cyfoethnaturiol.cymru/evidence-polic…

What are the ecological effects of releasing and managing mallard ducks for hunting? Our new OA paper with @ecoevoenviro authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S00… What did we find? A short 🧵

Mallard release in the UK has been increasing over recent years and now ~1.3-2.6 million are released annually Problems are likely to be especially acute (and benefits less) on large "driven duck only" days We call for markedly more research into Mallard release and management

Evidence is currently limited and often weak (especially considering wider ecosystem effects) Releases and associated management have both positive (e.g. habitat creation, feeding) and negative (e.g. interbreeding, disease, eutrophication) ecological impacts

@stuartpengs Yup. That's the kind of thing😱 (And definitely those memes weren't based on yesterday's outing🙄😬)

@pec_exeter "Don't want a big flush, just trickle them it out slowly"

🧵Season nearly over (2 days left) so for anyone who's made it through still sane -Driven pheasant shooting with memes. Some will get these. most here will be thinking 'WTF?' For that tiny minority, enjoy

@stuartpengs "I want us all to move slowly and quietly through this bit. Tap gently and take a few steps, then stop. There's lot of birds in here...."

@stuartpengs Emerging, scarred, from the bramble thickets. Just one field of ankle high beet separates the beaters from their port and sausages on the very last drive of the day. And it's chucking rain.

@fieldsportstv Sounds interesting. Any details or links?

Hunting conference in London - 29th October A new conference on the future of how we manage wildlife is taking place in London in October It runs all day in Westminster on 29 October 2025. Tickets are £67.50 each. Watch in full: youtu.be/_UAzK79piQI #fieldsports

@andychadwick63 @ecoevoenviro @MathewBEllis @JNCC_UK Thanks for reading it in detail. If you'd like to chat it through over a beer, I'm in Exeter🍻

@andychadwick63 @ecoevoenviro @MathewBEllis @JNCC_UK Populations can change fairly rapidly, perhaps due to causes beyond the UK, so a regular and reliable data updating is essential to maintain sustainable harvest. In the case of many of these birds, this is a legal obligation under AEWA, hence the study to evaluate this.

Led by @pec_exeter with @MathewBEllis and myself - new #evidence review for @JNCC_UK of availability of #data and reliability of #models to asses #sustainability of #waterbird harvest by recreational #hunting in the United Kingdom #policy #wildlife #people

How robust is current hunting bag data, and can we rely on it to manage sustainable harvest of UK waterbirds? For most species, it's pretty good, but released mallard🦆🦆can confuse the picture Recent collaboration with @ecoevoenviro and Matt Ellis of @BASCnews

@ecoevoenviro To add context: the density of released pheasants in the general countryside (i.e not where they are released) in summer is ~<20 birds/km2 and concerns are (rightly) raised about the potential negative ecological effects that such densities might exert #abstract" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

Badgers are afforded full protection for entirely different reasons (that were justified at the time) than why you might question that protected status now - that being said - continuous lethal intervention is not sustainable for curlew or other ground nesting species

It forms part of an exciting Special Issue of Phil Trans, "Selection shapes diverse animal minds", edited by Elli Leadbeater & Alex Thornton (on BSky) Co-authors include the ecobird team (on BSky) and @Samellisq royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/2025/…

The paper is Open Access royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rs…

NEW PAPER🎺 How does cognition determine individual fitness? A systematic review of the links between cognition, behaviour & fitness in non-human animals Lots of studies try to explain how cognition might evolve, taking a behavioural ecology approach Has this made progress?🧵