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Tim Blackburn

@mothyblackburn.bsky.social

3.8K followers 550 following 6.5K posts

Professor of Invasion Biology at UCL. Amateur father, birder, moth-er. Mainly post wildlife photos, occasionally science and politics. Author of The Jewel Box, winner of the ZSL Clarivate Award for Communicating Zoology.

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 8h

Bempton Cliffs apparently. Might turn north…

Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 16h

Ah. It's not getting any commoner it seems.

Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 16h

Sorry! (Not sorry 😈)

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 16h

Good numbers, Liz. (At least no wasps here.)

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 17h

Moth numbers down to just 11:8 in the Camden trap overnight, but one NFY with just my second ever Dusky-lemon Sallow. A scarce species locally it seems - the Herts & Middx website only has one record from 2024, the one I caught on 6th October. #TeamMoth

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 1d

It was a total pain to subdue. It may find itself chopped now for my troubles!

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 1d

Thoughts?!

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 1d

Large Ranunculus?

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 1d

Ah yes, thanks for reminding me. Especially as my chances of getting back into the lab this year are slim.

Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks! There's certainly no shortage of Plane trees near me. Also I suspect Uncertain just from previous relative numbers, but it's in the fridge...

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 1d

A few moths flying in London overnight, with 17:11 in the Camden trap this morning. Acleris sparsana was NFY, and the 700th species I've photographed this year (699 adults, 1 caterpillar). Also late Uncertain/Rustic and Phyllonorycter platani (opinions welcome on both). #TeamMoth

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 2d

Got to save some good material for the next book.

Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 2d

👏

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 2d

Lovely - and a different bird to the one we had on the Point a few days ago.

Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 2d

A few more lab idents from today. The Oegoconia is a male quadripuncta, and becomes my 700th moth species this year. The very worn Noctuid is a male Clancy's, and the sandy one a Flounced Rustic, as ObsId, @photography-aj.bsky.social and @sj84turner.bsky.social all got right. #TeamMoth

A male Oegoconia quadripuncta moth, according to its genitals.

My best guess at this tatty moth was a Pale Mottled Willow, but the highly distinctive genitalia nailed it as male Clancy's Rustic.

A sandy-coloured female Flounced Rustic moth. I did think a late Tawny Shears could be in the running, but Flounced it is.

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 2d

A day in the moth lab, and the results are in. This Phyllonorycter from my friend's Highgate garden in September appears to be male blancardella, as I suspected given all her apple trees. A lifer, if no one dissents... #TeamMoth

Male genitalia of P. blancardella - to quote Chris Lewis's British Lepidoptera site, "has a narrow R costa with a long apical spine (spine 2/5 length of costa - upper oval) and a very short L costa with a long spine (spine 2x length of costa - lower oval)."

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 2d

Looks good to me - that silvery dot in the corner of the kidney (here's the one I caught in Camden in 2023).

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 3d

That looks amazing.

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 3d

I hadn’t thought that optimistically!

Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 3d

I think that's one of the candidates.

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 3d

One more for #TeamMoth from Blakeney Point on 26th September. What do you think? (It's been retained for a (hopefully) definitive answer...)

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Reposted by Tim Blackburn

Lev Parikian @levparikian.bsky.social · 3d

A few weeks after everyone started sending me the link to Listers and telling me I had to watch it RIGHT NOW, I have at last got round to watching it, and quietly suggest you do too (whether birds are your thing or not). youtu.be/zl-wAqplQAo

LISTERS: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching

YouTube video by owen reiser

youtu.be

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 4d

Flouncing off.

Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 5d

That’s a real work of art Andy!

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Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 5d

Good question, something I’ll look at when I’ve had a shower and a rest… (There will be issues of different types and numbers of traps of course.)

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