>”In some parts of this wood, egg-laying has shifted by three weeks,” explains Dr Ella Cole of Oxford University.
>
>The softly-spoken, seasoned ornithologist is showing me around a very special field site – Wytham Woods in Oxfordshire; one of the most studied woodlands in the world.
>
>This year is the 75th anniversary of a study that has tracked 40 generations of great tits in the wood.
>
>It is one of the longest-running animal-tracking studies in the world.
>
>It is precisely because this is a decades-long study that has followed every nestling – marking and counting the birds, recording the exact date that females lay their eggs and the date those eggs hatch – that the data has revealed this trend in the timing of critical seasonal behaviour.
>
>”The tits here are actually managing to track the other members of their food chain,” explains Dr Cole. “So, that’s the peak in the number of the caterpillars they feed on and in the timing of the oak trees [that the caterpillars] feed on.
>
>”The whole sort of food chain has shifted earlier in the spring.”
I had a lecture in 2017 where the professor showed us maps of areas that will be inhabitable by quintessential British species in 10 years time and in the next 5 years we’re about to be absolutely fucked. So many things like willow trees, cowslips, blackbirds, all just going to die.
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>”In some parts of this wood, egg-laying has shifted by three weeks,” explains Dr Ella Cole of Oxford University.
>
>The softly-spoken, seasoned ornithologist is showing me around a very special field site – Wytham Woods in Oxfordshire; one of the most studied woodlands in the world.
>
>This year is the 75th anniversary of a study that has tracked 40 generations of great tits in the wood.
>
>It is one of the longest-running animal-tracking studies in the world.
>
>It is precisely because this is a decades-long study that has followed every nestling – marking and counting the birds, recording the exact date that females lay their eggs and the date those eggs hatch – that the data has revealed this trend in the timing of critical seasonal behaviour.
>
>”The tits here are actually managing to track the other members of their food chain,” explains Dr Cole. “So, that’s the peak in the number of the caterpillars they feed on and in the timing of the oak trees [that the caterpillars] feed on.
>
>”The whole sort of food chain has shifted earlier in the spring.”
I had a lecture in 2017 where the professor showed us maps of areas that will be inhabitable by quintessential British species in 10 years time and in the next 5 years we’re about to be absolutely fucked. So many things like willow trees, cowslips, blackbirds, all just going to die.