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You can find previous “By The Numbers” posts here: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013. I didn’t do one in 2021.

5

Years I’ve been in this job as the curator in charge of birds at the Natural History Museum. It’s going well! Though to be honest, I still feel like the “new kid” sometimes.

9

Papers published this year. Not a huge output compared to previous years, and certainly a lot of what some might call “smaller” papers or collaborative work where I wasn’t the lead. Given my role isn’t research-focused, though, I’ll take it. Albatross, diving petrels, gulls, penguins, COVID PPE, shearwaters (of course), and curlews! And a paper I’m really proud of pushing back against the idea that plastic pollution is a “distraction”, and a brilliant review on seabirds transporting all sorts of things from the sea back to land.

2

Trips back to Australia! It was lovely to get back to see the lovely shearwaters on Lord Howe, and to spend time with amazing friends and colleagues on Lord Howe, and in Sydney, Hobart, and Albury.

30

Years between my time spent in Labrador. I grew up there, but moved south in 1992. In 2022 I returned and made my first visit to Nunatsiavut where we’re doing some really exciting work on plastics in country foods (which I assure you are all delicious!).

1

Tattoos! I’ve wanted one for ages, and a couple of years ago a good friend designed a Joy Division-esque topo map of Qisxa/Kiska, the island where I did my PhD. It sits very nicely on my right forearm. Plans for a second are under development!

Too little

Time off this year. I struggled to use my 27 days of annual leave, and accrued an obscene amount of TOIL this year. I’m generally rubbish at taking time off and that’s going to change in 2023.

715

The number of days The Lab and Field has been in dormancy. Brought out by being locked out of twitter, and with an increasingly awful environment there, I remembered that I had a blog! And could post things! That people could read! And I could block TERFs with literally no consequences! How novel! It feels like 2012 all over again. Still unsure how I’ll operate in 2023.

If you’re the goal-setting type, tune in tomorrow for what I hope 2023 will have in store.

Thanks for reading, friends. It’s kind of nice to be back.