Stephen Roughley

The Moderately Skilled Person’s Guide to Making a Bluesky Feed In this post, I’ll lay out the basics of how to create a curated Bluesky feed–that is, a feed for a list of approved posters, like the Polisky feed. With a couple of deletions, this is …

Wel, it _looks_ like the instructions I found here - paulmusgrave.info/the-moderate... worked... probably!

Spurred on by feeds for #norfolkmoths, #norfolkbirds I decided to experiment creating a feed for #cambsmoths - post with hashtags #cambsmoths #cambridgeshiremoths or #vc29moths should be included (except - I've never done this before, so... #teammoths #mothmatters)

See bsky.app/profile/did:...

#cambsmoths

😆🤦‍♂️

Would love to be there too but with a concert to play in the next day and, a (probably) nervous (but hopefully a bit less feral at 20!) soloist son to entertain too...

First butterfly of the year @bc-cambs-essex.bsky.social around with Adonis and Pine ladybirds today

That's early!

Hmm, I could go off people 😆

Crazy February numbers!

Oh that's lovely! Were still very much in shades of brown in the UK at the moment

Black-spotted Chestnut - first since 12th January

Second Tortricodes alternalla of the year - the last one looked like it had been through several rinse and spin cycles in the washing machine!

Strikingly marked Acleris crisatana

NFY Acleris hastiana

21-Feb-2026 Sawston (VC29) - Easily busiest night of the yearwith 33/11 recorded.
Highest scorers:
March Moth - 11, Common Quaker - 6, Hebrew Character - 6
Highlights:
Acleris cristana
NFY A. hastiana
Well-marked Tortricodes alternella
Black-spotted Chestnut
Photos for more details
#teammoth

Went to see my son play in a concert there a few years ago. My late dad then told me afterwards that when he went youth hostelling in Devon in his late teens they arrived there early morning and slept in the cathedral grounds in the sun during the day

I was quietly glad I didn't come in for it and stuck to the zoom version when I saw just how many people were squeezed in!

A look inside - a mix of photos and RL's amazing illustrations. QR code to xeno canto recording. The first half of the book is introduction and regional guide

Well there we go - "and allies" is more than just crickets!! I guess Mantids and Stick-insects are obvious and mildly obvious without too much, but earwigs and cockroaches were definitely in "curve ball" territory to me!

Here it is!!!

It's nearly 2 years ago that I saw @rlewington2.bsky.social mention this upcoming book on (ex-)X and ordered it. Finally arrived this afternoon and wow! The illustrations are, as ever exquisite. Don't think I thought beyond 'crickets' when I read "and allies" in the title - learnt something already!

Dropped you an email (I hope!!!) with what I could dig out for VC29. I know of one other site from Facebook on southern edge of Cambridge but that doesn't push either your North or West bounds (and it's just possible it's actually in one of the 10km squares and I'm not registering it in my head!)

Maybe no moth lessons for the students but perhaps more important life lessons instead for them #mothmatters #shithappens !

Yeah, often better than a plain clear night

Yep, a good one, also only seen once in my garden

Ah yes, he's the source of quite a few of them! For a minute I thought that handle might be our CMR

Let me see what I can dig off the website...

I can tell you all the places I've tried for it and failed, despite it being seemingly quite common to the north and to the east of Cambridge... 😕

Should add for the sake of clarity, both books cover all 12 months of the year, page per species account with photographs and key features to distinguish from other species likely in same host at a similar time - here's an example

Micro-moth Field Tips, Volume 2 A Guide to Finding the Early Stages in Lancashire and Cheshire. Following on from the enormous success of his Micro-moth Field Tips published in 2017 and by popular demand, Ben Smart has compiled a se...

If you want to try this sort of thing and haven't got them already then this book and part 1 are a great pair for your as what you look for when - They're ordered by month of the year

www.atroposbooks.co.uk/micro-moth-f...

Wing tips look quite pointy leaning a bit towards a pale Dark Chestnut? But I do agree they are a complete pain of a pair

Unfortunately won't stop the hanging their plastic bags in bushes at head height... 🤬

Nice! I had a Chestnut a few days back that when I took the photo Obsi came back 50/50 Chestnut/Brick. From the photos I could see what it was getting at, but there was no way whatsoever in the hand

Well if those two photos were two moths, I'd be inclined to say "one of each"... I know, I'm not helping much...

Bath time...

Looks very believable. Nice

Photograph from 1911 taken by Herbert Ponting whilst with Scott's Antarctic Expedition The monochrome photo is taken from within a cave. The walls of the cave are made of ice. The cave entrance is in the mid distance with two figures standing looking out towards a distant ship. Between them and the ship there is first a 'beach' of ice before the sea itself. The ship could be up to 800 metres away What makes the photo so special is that where the figures are at the cave entrance there is a band of very white snow and ice (contrasting with the comparatively dark inside of the cave) that creates a stark framework in which the men and the ship are captured. It is made even more dramatic by the fact that the cave entrance is at least 30 metres high and is in the shape of a distorted elipse with the tail sloping off to the right at the top of the elipse The photo being in monochrome in a largely white environment makes the photographers skill all the more laudable

This photo was taken in 1911 using glass plate technology by Herbert Ponting who was part of Scott's Antarctic expedition,

The composition and detail are exquisite with the band of white snow/ice creating a perfect frame around the two people and the ship in the distance

Iconic imo

Obsid seems to lean towards P. argyrana for P. suspectana specimens too so not sure how reliable it is for that pair. Assuming it is Pammene, then the hind wings can help get to species - lepiforum.org/wiki/taxonom... shows the set