Conservationist 🌱| Avid climber and explorer 🏞 | PhD in molecular ecology (specifically Dr of otters) 🐾 | she/her
Liverpool, England
Joined November 2012
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I’ve finally got my first lead author paper published 🥳 In this we investigated the impact different data clean-up methods have on dietary #metabarcoding datasets 🧬👩🔬
If you want to find out more the paper is now #OpenAccess in Early View @MethodsEcolEvol!
Massive congratulations to @Mini_Drakey for pushing forward this assessment of data clean-up methods for dietary metabarcoding datasets, now #OpenAccess in Early View @MethodsEcolEvol! 🥳🎉🧬💩
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wi…
Thank you to everyone who helped make this work happen: @Otter_Project for supplying the otter samples 🦦💩, @JordanCuff for spider diet data/helping bring the paper together 🕷, and all the researchers @MolEcolCU for their support/advice 🥰
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Polecats underwent a massive population decline and range contraction in the early 1900's but now have recolonised a lot of England and Wales! So good to see the such positive results following years of monitoring! #MustelidMonday
Its easier to spot signs of otters than actually see them. One sign of otters is their spraint (aka poo). Some people say Eurasian otter spraint smells like jasmine tea, so if you find some poo and want to tell if it came from an otter, give it a sniff 😉 #MustelidMonday
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Yay! So exciting to see all @JordanCuff’s hard work on these primers finally come together and be shown off to the world 😁🕷🧬
The first paper directly from my @SWBio_DTP PhD is #OpenAccess online @Ecol_Ent! 🥳
New PCR primers for spider dietary analysis via metabarcoding and a field-based analysis of money spider prey choice. 🧬🍽️🕷️
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/…
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4 years later and I can officially call myself a doctor! 🥳 Doing a PhD has been one of the most stressful projects I've undertaken, but it's also been a great experience! Now to relax a bit before the next stage #phdlife
Grison are pretty skilful hunters - not only can they catch prey in terrestrial habitats, but their webfeet help them hunt in rivers and they've even been see part way up trees! #MustelidMonday
Such great news that the Pine Martens reintroduced to the Forest of Dean last year have had some pups! #MustelidMonday
BBC News - 'First' English-born pine martens filmed after relocation bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england…
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This is so cool! Maybe soon the internet will be full of videos showing the adventures of different beetles 😁 🐞 (I could only find the one beetle emoji 😂) bbc.com/news/amp/technology-…
The marine otter's latin name is Lontra felina, which translates as marine cat. This species is the smallest marine mammal and is mainly found along rocky shorelines in Peru, Chile and Argentina #MustelidMonday
The weasel (Mustela nivalis) is the smallest carnivore in the UK measuring only ~20cm in body length and weighing in at ~120g for males and 60g for females #MustelidMonday
Here are some other #invertebrates I found during week 4 of #30DaysWild it's been great finding what wildife has managed move into our garden/house in a new build estate (starting top left clockwise: honey bee, bumble bee, garden chafer, 7spot ladybird larvae and 7spot adult)
Otters the size of wolves and wolverines the size of leopards, the ancient ecosystems of Africa sound both incredible and terrifying! #MustelidMonday
phys.org/news/2020-06-gigant… via @physorg_com
Put my #spider ID skills to the test for week 3 of #30DaysWild here are a few I got good pics of:
(clockwise from top right) Pisaura mirabilis (nursery web spider), Zygiella x-notata (maybe?), Pholcus phalangioides (daddy long legs) & Lepthyphantes (money spider)🕷
Week 2 of #30DaysWild focussed on garden plants: marigold, Snapdragon, nemisea, fuchsia, black elder, maiden pink Dianthus & heuchera (clockwise from top right)
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In Japanese folklore, badgers are one of a few species said to possess magical abilities, allowing them to shape-shift and deceive humans. The term for such badgers is mujina, although this can also refer to racoon dogs and civets 🦡🎆🕺 #MustelidMonday
Round up of week 1 of #30DaysWild - this week I decided to focus on birds visiting my garden. I live in a new build house in a city so don’t get the most exciting birds: blackbird, magpie, wood pigeon, collard dove, house sparrow, starling, pied wagtail and house Martin
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I’ve particularly enjoyed watching the magpies ingenious ways of getting seeds from the bird feeder #30DaysWild
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Here's my team @Otter_Project post for #WorldOtterDay discussing why I like otter whiskers 🦦
PhD student @Mini_Drakey chose the whiskers, when water is too dark or murky, #otters use their whiskers to find prey. These act as a second set of eyes, allowing otters to find prey by touch or even sense vibrations from a fish’s tail! #WorldOtterDay #FavOtterBodyPart
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Happy #WorldOtterDay 🦦 I'm celebrating by (attempting) to write my #PhD all about otter diet 😅 before I started my PhD I took this picture of a Eurasian otter chomping away on a bit of meat, must have been a sign for my future work 😜
This Wednesday is #WorldOtterDay & to celebrate the @Otter_Project team are going to tweet about their favourite parts of an otter. Here's a sneak preview of mine #MustelidMonday
@theowlstrust I volunteered at are running a competition to raise funds to look after the owls during lockdown. Suggest a name for their new owl (£5 entry) & if you win you'll get an original drawing by Quentin Blake! Why not suggest a name? 🦉theowlstrust.org/competition…
