Head of Communications
Role and responsibilities
Mike is responsible for how the BTO communicates with a range of audiences, presenting the BTO's science and monitoring work and promoting the role of its volunteer fieldworkers in the provision of data that support conservation science and inform policy. He oversees the BTO's Communications Team, covering the BTO's press, website and publishing operations.
Interests
In addition to work on birds and other taxa within the garden environment (Mike was BTO's Head of Garden Ecology for many years), his research interest extends to encompass work on Barn Owl survey and monitoring methods, methods for monitoring mammal species and bird migration. He is a BTO ringer, a Nest Recorder and an active fieldworker. His interests are reflected in both his peer-reviewed papers and more popular books, the latter including Flight Lines (2017) and the New Naturalist volumes on Owls (2014) and Garden Birds (2019).
Recent BTO publications
- Plummer, K.E., Dadam, D., Brereton, T., Dennis, E.B., Massimino, D., Risely, K., Siriwardena, G.M. & Toms, M.P. 2023. Trends in butterfly populations in UK gardens – new evidence from citizen science monitoring. Insect Conservation and Diversity 17: 345-357 doi:10.1111/icad.12645
- Hanmer, H.J., Boothby, C., Toms, M.P., Noble, D.G. & Balmer, D.E. 2022. Large-scale citizen science survey of a common nocturnal raptor: urbanization and weather conditions influence the occupancy and detectability of the Tawny Owl Strix aluco. Bird Study doi:/10.1080/00063657.2021.2019188
- Jewitt, K. & Toms, M. 2022. Into the Red.
- Turner, R.K., Griffiths, R.A., Wilkinson, J.W., Julian, A., Toms, M.P. & Isaac, N.J.B. 2022. Diversity, fragmentation and connectivity in the UK amphibian and reptile data landscape. Biodiversity & Conservation doi:10.1007/s10531-022-02502-w
- Swallow, B., Buckland, S.T., King, R & Toms, M.P. 2019. Assessing factors associated with changes in the numbers of birds visiting gardens in winter: Are predators partly to blame?. Ecology and Evolution doi:10.1002/ece3.5702
- Mike Toms & Stuart Newson 2019. Animals of the Brecks: Mammals, Reptiles and Amphibians.
- Plummer, K.E., Risely, K., Toms, M.P. & Siriwardena, G.M. 2019. The composition of British bird communities is associated with long-term garden bird feeding. Nature Communications doi:10.1038/s41467-019-10111-5
- Lawson, B., Robinson, R. A., Toms, M. P., Risely, R., MacDonald, S., Cunningham, A. A. 2018. Health hazards to wild birds and risk factors associated with anthropogenic food provisioning. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B doi:/10.1098/rstb.2017.0091
- Lawson, B., Robinson, R.A., Rodriquez-Ramos Fernandez, J., John, S.K., Benitez, L., Tolf, C., Risely, K., Toms, M., Cunnigham, A.A. & William, R.A.J 2018. Spatio-temporal dynamics and aetiology of proliferative leg skin lesions in wild British finches. Scientific Reports 8: doi:10.1038/s41598-018-32255-y
- Pringle, H., Siriwardena, G.M. & Toms, M.P. 2017. Informing best practice for mitigation and enhancement measures for Barn Owls. BTO Research Report 692:
- Mike Toms 2017. Flight Lines: Tracking the wonders of bird migration.