About

Hello, I'm Robyn (they/them) and I am a bird scientist turned artist and illustrator based in the UK.My main artistic influences are the natural world, fantasy stories, and 2D animation.

I mostly draw wildlife, and have contributed illustrations to the following organisations:

I also love circus and aerial arts, and when I'm not drawing or painting, you can usually find me hanging upside down...

Watercolour

Gouache

My background is in science, with a BSc (Hons) degree in Zoology from Aberystwyth University, and a PhD in Ecology and Environmental Biology from the University of Glasgow. My PhD research was on the topic of avian chronobiology, during which I investigated the behavioural patterns, genetics of a great tit population living in an ancient oak woodland in Loch Lomond, Scotland.I enjoy science communication and outreach, and have given talks at public events such as PubHD, Tetrapod Zoology Convention, and the Pint of Science Festival.I have also previously given talks about my PhD research at scientific conferences such as the International Ornithologists’ Union Congress, European Ornithologists’ Union, and the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Scientific Publications

  • PhD Thesis: (2020) Clocks in the wild: biological rhythms of great tits and the environment. University of Glasgow. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/75058/

  • Capilla-Lasheras P., Womack R. J., McGlade C. L. O., Branston C. J., Dominoni D. M., Helm B. (2025). It pays to sit tight: stable night-time incubation increases hatching success in urban and forest great tits, Parus major. Zoological Science 1:144-152.

  • McGlade C. L. O., Capilla-Lasheras P., Womack R. J., Helm B., Dominoni D. M. (2023). Experimental light at night explains differences in activity onset between urban and forest Great tits. Biology Letters 19, 20230194.

  • Womack R. J. * , Capilla-Lasheras P. *, McGlade C. L. O., Dominoni D. M., Helm B. (2023). Reproductive fitness is associated with female chronotype in a songbird. Animal Behaviour 205, 65-78. * shared first authorship.

  • Helm, B., Womack, R. J. (2018). Timing Matters: Allochronic Contributions to Population Divergence. In: Tietze, D. Bird Species. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91689-7_6.

  • Jacobs A., Womack R., Chen M., Gharbi K. & Elmer K.R. (2017). Significant synteny and co-localisation of ecologically relevant quantitative trait loci within and across species of salmonid fishes. Genetics 207(2), 741-754.