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Shimmering bronze beauty – Dewick ’ s Plusia
This beautiful, shimmering bronze creature with the creamy markings on its wings is Dewick’s Plusia, Macdunnoughia confusa. It’s one of the many “Noctuid” moths sometimes known as “owlets” and was a rare visitor from the Continent where it is fairly widespread. Related to the Burnished Brass, Silver Y, and Ni Moth. Dewick’s Plusia It was first seen in Essex (Bradwell-on-Sea) in 1951 and the total number recorded in the 20th Century was just 40. There are almost 500 records now. There is some evidence that this continental vagrant has become established in the South-east and elsewhe...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - October 2, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Lepidoptera Source Type: blogs

Dorset 2023
Our Dorset 2023 holiday snaps in no particular order. Scroll down for my four new moths from the week’s mothing and for a ChatGPT “writeup”! Selfie in The Square and Compass Worth Matravers waiting for live music Viewpoint looking out over RSPB Arne and Poole Hay bales east of Kimmeridge Bay, Swyre Head – 5-mile clifftop hike Brownsea Castle, originally known as Branksea Castle Our boat bound for an afternoon on a very wet Brownsea Island Harbour-front properties, Sandbanks, the prices of some of these are in the millions Red Squirrel, Brownsea Island. We saw at least half a dozen Chain Ferry betwee...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - September 26, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Birds Lepidoptera Photography Vertebrates Source Type: blogs

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Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - September 26, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Birds Lepidoptera Photography Vertebrates Source Type: blogs

Prize-winning butterfly
I rarely enter competitions these days, although I’ve got a few science writing awards under my belt going back more years than I care to admit. However, back in the summer, a local wildlife charity was touting for entries for a photo competition themed around its New Life on the Old West remit… Green Hairstreak The charity is involved in wildlife habitat enhancements in green spaces and surrounding countryside within areas close to the Old West River in the Cambridgeshire Fens. So, I thought I’d enter a butterfly photo, specifically a snap I took locally of a rare Green Hairstreak in a local woodland. I ...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - September 20, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Lepidoptera Photography Source Type: blogs

Swammerdamia or Pseudoswammerdamia micro moth
This is one of those moths that could be any of half a dozen different species. You cannot know for sure unless you’ve raised it from larvae, done DNA testing, or what the lepidopterists call “gen det”, which is where you dissect the male’s genitalia, which are different across the species…and I’m really not going there! Gen det is short for determination by genitalia examination. One of the various Ermel micro moths So, we have to record it as a generic member of its genus, or actually in this case two geni: Swammerdamia/Pseudoswammerdamia sp. The vernacular name for the various species...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - September 5, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Lepidoptera Source Type: blogs

Scorched Carpet moth
Despite its name, the Scorched Carpet moth does not eat carpets, its larvae feed on spindle Euonymus europaeus. There are in fact just a handful of moths, of the 180,000 or so species of moth worldwide, that eat wool and other textiles. Scorched Carpet moth Indeed, this species has nothing to do with carpets. Many of the geometer (inchworm) moths are so named because the early Lepidopterists thought they resembled the patterns of luxury carpets. They were honouring the moths by naming them carpets. The Scorched Carpet species is mainly creamy with brown splodges the edges of which have a hue as if they have been slightly b...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - September 3, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Lepidoptera Source Type: blogs

Hopping to the island of Menorca
We took a quick and easy flight to Menorca with an offsetting airline, first visit there since 2000 and first flight since our trip to Greece in the autumn before COVID… Anyway, we half-planned a lazy week of traditional sun, sea, and sand, and maybe some sangria. Temperatures were high – well into the 30s – the sky was blue and clear every day and at dusk full of Common Swifts, and at least one or two Alpine Swifts as well as quartering Booted Eagles. Swallowtail nectaring on Lantana camara We spent some time by the pool, but the town of Cala’n Porter which overlooks a beautiful bay and is backed...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - August 29, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Birds Lepidoptera Photography Source Type: blogs

Dave Bradley ’ s Music
TL:DR – I have dozens of songs and instrumentals for you to download or stream through my BandCamp page right now. Although, I’m probably best known as a professional science writer and an amateur wildlife photographer, when I’m not involved in those you might catch me singing and playing live with my band, C5 Website/Facebook, or in our community a choir (TyrannoChorus). You can hear my latest solo and collaborative recorded music on BandCamp and SoundCloud. Some of my stuff is on Spotify and iTunes too, including a few cover songs. As of 30th July 2023, Mrs Sciencebase and myself are also now veterans ...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - August 14, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Music Source Type: blogs

The Apple Leaf Miner, Lyonetia clerkella
The Apple Leaf Miner Moth, Lyonetia clerkella, is a tiny insect with a wingspan of just 7-9 millimetres. It is widely distributed across the UK. Its larvae burrow under the surface of the leaves of apple trees (Malus) and Prunus species. Leaving a trail through the leaf known as a leaf mine. Apple Leaf Miner, Lyonetia clerkella This species of moth is double brooded. The second or a subsequent brood will hibernate/overwinter and reappear in the spring. The adults are night flyers and attracted to light, hence my photo of one drawn to my 20W actinic Skinner moth trap last night. Closer view of Apple Leaf Miner, Lyonetia cle...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - August 4, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Sciencebase Source Type: blogs

Festival Friends added to Four Missing Keys EP
I wrote an instrumental inspired by attending the Cambridge Folk Festival at the end of July and not only taking in a lot of great acts, but taking part in a Nigel Wearne guitar workshop and performing with the Festival Choir. The track is called Festival Friends and is the incidental music to my video montage from the festival. The final mix is also now part of my Four Missing Keys EP, which was originally a triple A-side of three songs, written September 2022, January this year, and then March. The latest tune uses open-G tuning, the sound of which you might recognise from various artists and songs, not least the Rolling...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - July 31, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Classic Chords Music Photography Source Type: blogs

Cambridge Folk Festival 2023
Mrs Sciencebase and myself once again headed for Cherry Hinton Hall for this year’s Cambridge Folk Festival (27-30 July 2023). This time around, I didn’t take any camera equipment other than my phone. Still ended up taking almost 300 photos and videos nevertheless… Home from home at Cherry Hinton Hall Grand Entrance to Cambridge Folk Festival 2023 The obligatory festival wristband Stage 2 audience, first night Camping kettle courtesy of Liz Day two essentials Guitar workshop with Aussie Nigel Wearne Audience member red boots Audience member bag Random hat Lady Blackbird Lady Blackbird Flyte Julian Taylor ...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - July 31, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Music Source Type: blogs

One of the tiniest moths I ’ ve ever seen
Yesterday, I was tidying up egg cartons and the moth trap when I noticed a Least Carpet roosting on a window frame, I stepped up with a pot to catch it so I could release it into the back garden but spotted another tiny moth next to it. At this point, I wasn’t even sure it was a moth. It looked orange with what seemed to be white stripes. I grabbed a quick phone macro shot, before potting it. It wasn’t a species I’d noticed or recorded before, but the ObsIdentify app ticked it as the Horse-chestnut Leafminer, Cameraria ohridella. This was confirmed by a quick look at the species page on UK Moths. I set u...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - July 20, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Lepidoptera Source Type: blogs

Mothematics – Some moth stats
A quick blog post as I approach my fifth anniversary of garden mothing. That’s six summers of lighting up! You’ll recall how it started. I have recorded 457 species of moth in my garden as of 19th July 2023. Hopefully, there will be a few more this season. I have photographs of most of those species, with the exception of the marvellous Hornet Clearwing moth which I saw but didn’t net. I have also seen and recorded 37 other species on campsites, nature reserves and in holiday house gardens (New Forest, Dorset, Anglesey). My first season began late, 24th July 2018 and I didn’t keep proper logs, but s...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - July 19, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Lepidoptera Source Type: blogs

Butterflies sleeping in the garden
A few days ago, I noticed a Holly Blue on a plant stem on the lawn at dusk. Actually, there have been hundreds of this species in the garden this year. But, this one was settled, it was at roost, in its nocturnal torpor state. Asleep, in other words. Holly Blue at roost in the middle of the lawn I put a metal basket over the top of it so that nobody would tread on it if they were mothing around the garden or counting frogs. Once it got properly dark, I took a short stroll around the garden (the only thing possible with a short garden) and shone a torch up at the overhanging ivy, ostensibly I was looking for moths, but ther...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - July 19, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Lepidoptera Source Type: blogs

A bridge camera for troubled authors
Back in August 2019, before our last trip abroad (a wildlife and yoga holiday organised and run by friends), I bought a bridge camera. Much lighter in the luggage and easier to handle when trekking about in the Greek heat. Well, that was the plan. In the end, I couldn’t bear not having a decent camera and lens for all the birds – Eleanora’s Falcon, Bee-eater, Sardinian Warbler, Blue Rock Thrush, Red-rumped Swallow, Lesser Kestrel, Honey Buzzard, Black Stork, and many others. So, I took my old Canon 6D and the Sigma 150-600mm. I wouldn’t have realistically got the shots I did even with the so-called ...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - July 16, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Lepidoptera Photography Source Type: blogs