Mike Toms

Head of Communications

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 & Responsibilities

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 Link to publication View at journal website (DOI: 10.1111/icad.12645)

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 Link to publication View at journal website (DOI: 10.1007/s10531-022-02502-w)

Jewitt, K. & Toms, M. 2022. Into the Red. British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford, Norfolk ISBN: 978-1-912642-38-0 176pp

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 Link to publication View at journal website (DOI: /10.1080/00063657.2021.2019188)

Mike Toms & Stuart Newson 2019. Animals of the Brecks: Mammals, Reptiles & Amphibians. Link to publication ISBN: 978-1-908581-98-3

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 View at journal website (DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5702)

View all BTO publications for this author

Other Publications

Toms, M.P. 1996. Project Barn Owl: the first full year of this three-year study. The Raptor 23 : 32-36 Edit link: edit

Content Related to Mike Toms

Publication

Butterflies find safe haven in UK gardens

Data from 7,971 gardens between 2007 and 2020 have been used to produce garden-specific abundance trends for 22 widespread butterfly species.

Publication

Diversity, fragmentation and connectivity in the UK amphibian and reptile data landscape

This paper sets out to fill this knowledge gap for UK reptiles and amphibians, identifying existing sources of biodiversity data for these taxa and then characterising the nature of the data management network within

Blog

The Making of Into the Red

When 140 artists and writers come together, united by a common goal: to raise funds for the UK’s most vulnerable birds.