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Alex Lees Profile picture
Alex Lees
@Alexander_Lees
Birds, science, politics. Reader @ManMetUni Associate @CornellBirds, Chair BOURC. Usually found in the #PeakDistrict or #Amazonia @RAS_network he/him
John Smith⚛ (ananthropocentric purposivism) 💉x4 Profile picture Dwayne Swanson Profile picture 2 subscribed
Nov 15, 2023 • 22 tweets • 7 min read
Some vicarious excitement for me yesterday sharing in this find evolved into some vicarious disappointment and then some first-hand rage at the cavalier behaviour of some wildfowl breeders that not only complicates record assessment but is also a threat to biodiversity 🧵 1/22 Rich was pretty confident (bearing in mind distance/weather etc) that the Fllxton bird didn’t show any tell-tale signs of captivity - hybrid origin e.g. or any obvious rings/tags etc. So far so good? 2/ britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/upl…
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Oct 12, 2023 • 17 tweets • 7 min read
What do a hurricane, a moth and solar storms have in common? Answer - they have all likely contributed to an exceptional displacement of migrant North American birds in Europe this autumn 🧵1/17


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Image Autumn 2023 has produced an exceptional displacement of Nearctic-Neotropical migrant landbirds in Europe - especially in the UK and Eire, with the most exciting period occurring in mid September 2/birdguides.com/articles/revie…
Jun 24, 2022 • 21 tweets • 7 min read
Nature is good for people.
People can be bad for nature.
Sometimes even leaving 'just' footprints is too much.
A thread on the science of impacts of human disturbance on wildlife
📷Jonathan Billinger 1/21 Image UK biodiversity faces myriad threats of varying importance. Some are obvious - birds of prey being illegally killed, rivers poisoned with sewage and slurry, ancient woodlands destroyed for pointless infrastructure - and the culprits are often all too obvious 2/21
Apr 14, 2022 • 16 tweets • 4 min read
A quick review of the evidence in the Latta et al. pre-print: “Multiple lines of evidence indicate survival of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Louisiana” biorxiv.org/content/10.110… 1/ Image The paper purports to “provide multiple lines of evidence for the repeated though intermittent presence of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers at our study site in Louisiana” drawing on data collected over a decade 2/
Dec 31, 2021 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
The detonation of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of #fireworks to mark the #NewYear brings joy to millions whilst simultaneously contributing to atmospheric pollution, killing wildlife and causing considerable suffering to many people and their domestic animals. Thread🧵1/ Fireworks have been used for millennia to mark religious and secular celebrations starting in China during the Song dynasty (960–1279). 2/
Dec 20, 2021 • 25 tweets • 11 min read
Out now in @CurrentBiology @j_gilroy1 and I have a dispatch: authors.elsevier.com/a/1eHF33QW8Rwq… on the significance of @PaulDufour80 et al.’s stellar paper showing that wintering ‘vagrant’ Richard's Pipits (Anthus richardi) represent a 'population' which return to breed in Russia. Thread 1/ To recap on @PaulDufour80 et al’s discovery, follow his thread here:
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Aug 25, 2021 • 26 tweets • 10 min read
Vilification of British wildlife in the media.
A thread on why it matters 1/ Some of this media coverage is mired in genuine or emerging human-wildlife conflicts; most of which are easily resolved by changing behaviours - but most of it is just abject nonsense and has the potential to increase persecution of some species by kindling hatred 2/
Aug 19, 2021 • 24 tweets • 6 min read
17M UK households spend £250M on 150K tonnes of bird food annually. Great if you are a dominant species like a Blue Tit but what about if you are subordinate species like a Willow Tit?

Thread based on our new paper led by @JackShutt8 authors.elsevier.com/c/1dbei1R~eL8FJ 1/ The provision of food, water and artificial homes for wildlife is a multi-billion £ industry widely regarded as beneficial for wildlife and a very important way for people to connect with nature 2/
Aug 7, 2021 • 25 tweets • 11 min read
c 550 pairs of Hen Harrier in the UK in 2020
0 pairs of Montagu's Harrier in the UK 2020
(down from a 20th century peak of 30 pairs in 1953)
A thread for #HenHarrierDay Restoring UK Hen Harrier populations is easy, all we have to do, by & large - is stop people killing them - whereby they will do OK in existing upland habitats and may eventually spread back to some lowland areas. We are now moving SLOWLY in the right direction 2/
Aug 5, 2021 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Twitter cut the rest of the conservation vs animal rights thread off - which you can find below 👇 Finally, conservation is not about improving individual animal welfare (well unless that individual is one of a handful left alive), it is about stopping populations and species going extinct – by preserving and enhancing biological diversity planet.botany.uwc.ac.za/nisl/Conservat…
Aug 5, 2021 • 18 tweets • 6 min read
Prioritising individual animal welfare can clash with conserving whole species and can risk negative outcomes for biodiversity conservation. An open letter to animal rights folks. Thread 👇 The interests of conservationists & animal rights activists overlap in ending illegal wildlife persecution + illegal trade in threatened species & in concern for the state of animal agriculture - the synergy between land-use & climate change is the greatest threat to biodiversity
Aug 1, 2021 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
Incisive and no holds barred analysis and criticism by @NaturalEngland of media commentary on the #SaddleworthMoorFire publications.naturalengland.org.uk/file/628634757… #HenHarrierDay Thread 👇 Image I was amazed at the time when some folks with vested interests tried to blame management on an RSPB reserve for a major wildfire event that started on a grouse moor, and continue to be shocked that this has continued o this day
Aug 18, 2020 • 9 tweets • 9 min read
Denial of scientific evidence and rejection of scientific methods is increasingly pervasive - in a new paper, written with Simon Attwood, @JosBarlow & @benphalan and available here: nature.com/articles/s4155…, we describe the creeping rise of #ExtinctionDenial
Thread 1/8 👇 Image The @IPBES #GlobalAssessment Report published last year was met with considerable pushback and denial from media and political voices nature.com/articles/s4155… for whom #TransformativeChange & policy options to restore & protect #Biodiversity are anathema 2/8
Jan 11, 2020 • 15 tweets • 18 min read
As pressure mounts to ban moorland burning, expect to hear desperate industry voices invoking ‘wild fire risk’ to justify business as usual scenarios. This is a misleading and nonsensical argument, which seeks to lock us in to a biologically impoverished future.
Thread. 1/14 @Lukesteele4 @guyshrubsole @Rebirding1 @MarkAvery @RuthTingay I’ll first summarize why burning is counterproductive, borrowing heavily from Baird et al. 2019 link here nature.com/articles/s4156… and then outline what needs to be done…. 2/14
Nov 30, 2019 • 29 tweets • 38 min read
#FakeNews and #AmazonFires: how Brazil’s war on its own environmental defenders risks destabilizing a continent.
A thread. @domphillips @SamCowie84 @tomphillipsin @natalieben @GeorgeMonbiot As someone who has been working in Amazonian conservation for 16 years, the events of the last three have come as an unexpected shock, culminating in all-out war on the environment over the summer 2/28
Aug 8, 2019 • 23 tweets • 7 min read
Some epic #ExtinctionDenialism by Matt Ridley here merits a point-by-point rebuttal. THREAD 1/23 “Much of the human destruction of biodiversity happened a long time ago” Yes, the loss of megafauna onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.111… caused by over-hunting changed the face of the planet through the loss of ecosystem processes and was accompanied by innumerable co-extinctions 2/23