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David Bradley

@sciencebase.com

690 followers 320 following 2.6K posts

Wildlife photographer, moth-er, birder, singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, chorister, author, allotmenteer, pondlifer, wild gardener, husband, father, oh and 36y+ a science writer #music #science #teamMoth #UKBirding Nature Matters

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David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 1d

It's amazing, isn't it?

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 1d

Here's a closer closeup of the back of the moth's thorax...

Upper thorax of the Convolvulus Hawk-moth looks like a painted hairy face. Such astonishing markings that presumably ward off predators

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 2d

My best year yet for diversity. And, overall per sessions average numbers for the summer have been up massively on previous years...

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 2d

Connie is the 378th species of moth I've recorded in the garden this year

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 2d

I think I put the Nic in too early, so they'd blossomed well before the chance of a Connie here...

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 2d

I've added a photo of Connie next to a Eudonia sp. for size comparison on my website

www.sciencebase.com/science-blog...

Convolvulus Hawk-moth for 2025 – David Bradley Science Writer

www.sciencebase.com

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 2d

Just 22 of 13 in Cambs for me #teamMoth BUT one of them was Connie! Always lovely to see Convolvulus Hawk-moth. The tobacco plants are well past their sell-by-date, but Connie turned up nevertheless

Convolvulus Hawk-moth, overhead view, with wings almost fully wide

Closeup of head, showing antenna and compound eye of Convolvulus Hawk-moth

Closeup of the "face" on the back of the head of a Convolvulus Hawk-moth, presumably evolved to ward off predation by mimicking an animal staring back at a predator

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 2d

So I phoned at the time they told me to and got bollocked for calling at that time because it's for urgent cases only. Twts

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 2d

Redid the artwork to add a waterfall effect, which was what my original concept was meant to be...with the sea pouring into the heart of the guitar

Written on the Water album art shows a guitar blended into the surface of the sea, with water pouring into the soundhole and into the heart of the guitar. The strings are laid across the sea. The pegs and bridge are blended with the rocky shoreline to make them look like sea-weathered mooring posts. It's all very clever, clever, it was meant to be in the style of Hipgnosis and Hugh Syme

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

20 of 10 in VC29. First Mallow of the year though, which is always nice #teamMoth

The Mallow, a brown, barred moth, subtle tones, but beautiful nevertheless. You expect to see the adults on the wing from August to November. They usually turn up mid-October in my garden. This one from 2024

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

Hah, yes, I was thinking

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

I don't get a lot of anything...with the exception of Jerseys back in August and maybe Yponomeuta sp.

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

Aha! Okay, well that's in there too for me

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

I remember getting hold of the press release before the official announcement one year because they were silly with their URLs, hahaha. I didn't break the embargo, of course, but I was published within a nanosecond of the official time.

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

And, after I'd done all that discarding...I made sure my BandCamp settings were updated per their instructions so any dosh I earn from my music can go straight into my Coke and Caribbean yacht fund

davebradley.bandcamp.com/album/writte...

Written on the Water, by David Bradley

davebradley.bandcamp.com

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

We're about to have some maintenance work done, so I've just dumped masses of junk from an adopted sideboard, including our late pooch's collars and claw clippers and blankets and stuff :-( They've been festering in the drawers for almost four years

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

I used to be so on the ball with the Nobels, I think I interviewed Omar years ago when I was actually still writing about chemistry, hahah. I'm more about Moths than Mofs now

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

ObsID always seems to call any photos of Spruce that I test Thera sp. if I remember rightly

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

Spruce for me

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

I forgot to say, some of the Coxcomb Prominent larvae I was raising from eggs laid in the trap before our hols in September, pupated while we were away #teamMoth Some just died, but I could only see one or two carcasses, but more brown pupae half way into the compost

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

Never thought about it before, but I've had quite a few Wainscot species this year: Common, Smoky, Mere, Twin-spotted, Bulrush, Southern, Webb's, L-album, Large.

But, I do miss out on some of the star moths that other people mention a lot, although I can't think of any off the top of my head

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

Did it say that? I thought it was claiming most species-rich site overall. They certainly haven't had 10,000 moth species, hahahah, maybe 800+ at a push?

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

To top it off, calling the surgery to ask to discuss with a GP, they tell me I have to phone at 08h30. Why didn't they say that in the text message?

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

I checked, I had switched it off. How do we switch it off for all of my content, books, articles, blogs, social media that has been pirated and assimilated by those scurrilous companies?

David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 3d

Absolutely awful statin questionnaire from GP surgery. Leading, passive-aggressive answer options to questions that don't simply let you ask for more information and guidance, but imply that you're stupid or unaccepting of what they're pushing