2024-04-19 10:35
Mrs Sciencebase and I opted to follow the footpath from the RSPB Ouse Fen (Earith) car park to what we refer to as the “Clouded Yellow Field”, which is the patch where we saw tha… Read More
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David Bradley – Sciencebase Blog
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Journalist | Musician | Photographer
2024-04-18 09:14
Yesterday, I spotted a Sandwich Tern, Thalasseus sandvicensis, colloquially known as a Sarnie, patrolling the open river lock at Brownshill Staunch on the Great River Ouse. It flew back and… Read More
2024-04-12 10:00
If you have even a passing interest in the natural world, you will have most likely heard the phrase “invasive species”. By definition, a deliberate or accidental release of a sp… Read More
2024-04-05 17:03
I’m sure someone will tell me this has been done, but having come up with a silly meme idea on Twitter, I was thinking of a game that’s a hybrid between Six Degrees of Separation… Read More
2024-03-31 15:36
Having spent a couple of evenings watching Starling murmurations with hundreds of thousands of birds, it was time to seek out some Aves in smaller numbers. I had a quick look in at RSPB Ouse… Read More
2024-03-26 09:50
Back in February, DxO sent me a beta version of their PureRaw4 software to test drive ahead of the official launch in March. So, having used version 3 for years, I was keen to incorporate th… Read More
2024-03-19 08:47
UPDATE: My report of Orange Tip on 2024-03-17 may well have been the first reported nationally this year, according to our County Butterfly Recorder.
I saw my first Orange Tip (Anthocharis c… Read More
2024-03-14 10:37
The kind folks at DxO let me have a copy of the latest version of PureRaw ahead of launch last month and so I’ve been using that to process my RAW photos from my camera for a few weeks… Read More
2024-03-08 11:50
So much of what shows up on social media, Threads in particular, it seems, is what might be referred to as “engagement bait”. It’s often inane or perhaps an inflammatory co… Read More
2024-03-07 12:26
First Oak Beauty of the year seen in the garden last night (6th March 2024). It’s a quite stunning creature, isn’t it? Sharp-eyed readers will note this is a geometer moth. So-ca… Read More
2024-03-06 08:40
In a recent incident that caught the attention of billions of users, a major social media platform (Facebook) experienced a widespread outage, leaving users unable to access their accounts f… Read More
2024-03-04 21:44
At the end of February, I got wind of there being very large numbers of Common Starling murmurating at a local nature reserve – RSPB Ouse Fen (Earith). I got a few photos on an evening… Read More
2024-03-01 11:23
A skeuomorph, derived from the Greek skeuos, meaning container or tool, and morphe, meaning shape, refers to a design element retaining attributes of older structures that are redundant in t… Read More
2024-02-29 15:05
Rinsing food packaging before putting in your recycling bin is critical to making the process as efficient and as effective as possible. Efficient recycling processes can significantly reduc… Read More
2024-02-28 09:37
An analysis of the genomes of more than 200 butterfly and moth, Lepidoptera, species reveals that genetic framework of what is ostensibly a very diverse group of insects, has remained remark… Read More
2024-02-26 10:31
In the world of entomology, the naming conventions of moth species often reflect a fascinating interplay between scientific and vernacular language. While some moth species boast evocative c… Read More
2024-02-21 17:51
As with guitars, you can never have too many songs, surely? My modern period of writing and recording began around April 2012, although I’d done a lot of noodling guitar instrumentals… Read More
2024-02-21 11:23
My most recent song is out now for streaming and download via BandCamp. I’ve already talked about how it came to be and alluded to the origins of the title in the engraving on young En… Read More
2024-02-17 10:58
TL:DR – I’ve written a new song. It’s now on BandCamp and FREE to the first 200 people to download.
I came across the phrase his history was written on the water, something… Read More
2024-02-10 17:48
I’ve mentioned seeing unringed White Storks, Ciconia ciconia, in our neighbourhood previously. They are probably collection escapees, perhaps from Old Hurst Farm, although I think thei… Read More
2024-02-06 11:08
I posted a survey about the likelihood of users clicking a charity or fundraising link that had been shortened with a tool like tinyURL, bit.ly or j.mp, or buff.ly. To my surprise, there was… Read More
2024-02-05 14:36
I’ve mentioned Seedball a few times previously. The team has very generously sent me samples of their product, which offers a novel way to rewild your garden, or indeed, any outdoor sp… Read More
2024-02-05 14:00
FODMAPs are Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols.
Digestive discomfort – excessive flatulence, “bloating”, loose stool, or constipation… Read More
2024-02-04 21:21
We didn’t make it to the north Norfolk coast for our usual new year yomp through the area, but we did make it to Titchwell for a couple of nights a month later. We had packed and depar… Read More
2024-01-31 08:51
I was discussing, with my photographer friend, Andy, the endless and inevitably futile task of chasing likes and shares for one’s creative output online. He’s a relative newbie t… Read More
2024-01-30 13:59
John Barry famously wrote the classic James Bond movie scores. But, the “James Bond Theme”, the guitar-led main signature, which has featured in every Bond film since Dr. No… Read More
2024-01-30 13:26
We’ve recently added Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush’s song Don’t Give Up from PG’s So album to our choir repertoire. Bizarrely, aside from the tempo of the scored arrang… Read More
2024-01-29 20:01
You will know by now just how fascinated I have been these last 5+ years by the the section of the Lepidoptera we know here as moths…and also the moths we call butterflies. One of the… Read More
2024-01-26 14:39
Looking forward to seeing this Sundance documentary:
Nocturnes (India, USA) directed and produced by Anirban Dutta and co-directed by Anupama Srinivasan. From the Sundance Festival website:… Read More
2024-01-23 11:20
I see a lot of wildlife photography from both amateurs and professionals. At the highest level in both domains, there are perfectly composed, pin-sharp, exquisitely exposed photos of the nat… Read More
2024-01-16 19:05
What names we give the flora and fauna. Names are critical for scientific discourse and general conversation alike. They can be weird and wonderful, informative, confusing, hilarious even, a… Read More
2024-01-15 10:20
In our pursuit of nature’s wonders, we do sometimes leave the county of Cambridgeshire and head into Norfolk, that’s our usual modus operandi. Occasionally though we head east in… Read More
2024-01-08 14:16
The UK has six species of deer living wild.
Red Deer, Cervus elaphus – true native species found in Scotland, the Lake District, and on Exmoor, as well as Northern Ireland, much larger… Read More
2024-01-02 14:22
First Waxwings of the New Year.
Two of around 11 Waxwings glowering at birders from high perchesThere is an ongoing Bohemian Waxwing irruption in the UK with hundreds, if not thousands, of t… Read More
2023-12-31 23:59
A few natural highlights from another year of trying to get a perfect wildlife snap! You can find the photos I took of these highlights littered around the Sciencebase website, in my Im… Read More
2023-12-21 17:20
My sister sent me some photos she took of pearlescent clouds that appeared at dusk over her house today. I took a look outside myself soon after and could see a couple of small patches of th… Read More
2023-12-18 20:00
Chuffed to bits to catch up with these delightful winter visitors not 20 minutes from home. There were just 4 of the 20+ that had been showing an hour or so before I arrived #waxwings.
Ther… Read More
2023-12-17 09:51
Just received this rather charming Christmas Round Robin from a distant friend…
Dear Esteemed Recipients of our Distinguished Christmas Card,
Greetings and salutations from the heart… Read More
2023-12-14 13:02
I have run a lot of websites over the years. First one was December 1995. I built up various topic hubs under specific names. However, things change, people move on. I am now selling some of… Read More
2023-12-12 21:12
As I’ve mentioned before. The Cottenham Theatre Workshop’s (CTW) longstanding Musical Director, the inimitable Barbara D, recruited me as guitarist for the pit band back in 2013… Read More
2023-12-12 17:36
Word on the birding street is that this winter is going to be bright for lovers of one of our winter visitors – the Waxwing, Bombycilla garrulus. This bird is more formally known as th… Read More
2023-12-12 10:04
Collagen is a protein that plays a crucial role in maintaining the structure, firmness, and elasticity of the skin. As we age, several changes occur in the collagen of our skin, contributing… Read More
2023-12-11 15:01
Benzimidazole opioids, also commonly known as nitazenes, were first synthesised by CIBA Pharmaceuticals in the 1950s as putative alternatives to morphine and heroin for use as strong painkil… Read More
2023-12-10 10:10
The antivax brigade has a lot to answer for, not least the rise and rise of measles, which can be lethal, but is so easily staved off with vaccination. Even if it is not lethal for many, it… Read More
2023-12-09 09:56
Where is the best place to catch sight of one of the most beautiful of winter visitors, when it comes to birds? The Waxwing, Bombycilla garrulus.
Waxwing feeding on berries in a tree next to… Read More
2023-12-07 16:20
Birds have incredible visual systems. This is especially true of the birds of prey, the raptors, which includes the hawks, falcons, eagles, buzzards, harriers, owls, and others.
Red Kite sta… Read More
2023-12-04 10:09
I’ve written a short poem to use with my video montage of a few of my photos from the 2023 Cottenham Theatre Workshop production – Peter Panto!
Tickets on sale here.
https://www… Read More
2023-12-04 08:52
My annual view from the pit as guitarist with the band and as “assistant musical director” alongside our proper Musical Director Barbara Duckworth on piano. What a show it’… Read More
2023-11-29 19:33
Having collaborated with two of my very good, musical friends this month on two distinct songs, I assumed that would be the end of my musical inspiration, at least until 2024. But, then I wa… Read More
2023-11-24 15:41
Just packaging up six of my most recent songs and musical collaborations that cross over some diverse styles. I’m releasing them as a maxi-EP or a mini-LP, depending on whether you&rsq&hell…Read More
2023-11-21 17:47
Andrea T from C5 the band, mentioned in passing that she’d had a dream where she wrote a song, but she could only remember the following line – “She said, it’s not my… Read More
2023-11-18 10:52
Broadly speaking, birders are avian enthusiasts, people interesting in seeing birds. Sometimes birders are twitchers, they like to see a bird so they can “tick” that species off… Read More
2023-11-17 15:57
I realise there’s a lot of ongoing debate regarding generative AI tools, especially those that have putatively been trained on copyright material without permission from the creators… Read More
2023-11-16 18:22
TL:DR – Latest song from David Bradley out now on BandCamp, original lyrical inspiration from Clive-upon-Sea: My Light, My Sky.
I’ve worked with Simon Oliver (Clive-upon-Sea) on… Read More
2023-11-11 10:22
I’m usually as early an adopter as I can be with the various tools and apps that come online in the world of social media and social networking. For instance, I was one of the very ear… Read More
2023-11-10 21:12
I have lots of songs that have been with me for many, many years. Beatles stuff, Bacharach and David covers, Bowie, Queen, Chic, and on and on. But, three songs written and recorded in the l… Read More
2023-11-10 14:34
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2023-11-09 12:24
This unassuming little moth has a suitably unassuming little name. It is known as the Winter Moth. It is one of the geometers, or what is referred to as inchworms in North America, because t… Read More
2023-11-08 16:36
At this time of year, you might spot Snow Buntings pecking about the shingle and driftwood on a remote windswept beach, perhaps in north Norfolk or Dorset. One Studland birder tweeted earlie… Read More
2023-11-04 16:01
Back in the day, I ran a series of Classic Chords for Lifeson, Hendrix, The Manics, Oasis, and many others. I attempted to emulate the various guitars of the artists highlighted so I could d… Read More
2023-11-02 14:09
What makes the death cap fungus (toadstool or mushroom), Amanita phalloides, so poisonous?
Well, the primary toxin present in this fungus is alpha-amanitin. This chemical goes by the followi… Read More
2023-10-31 17:31
This is a November Moth…or a Pale November Moth…or maybe an Autumnal Moth…it’s definitely one of the Epirrita species of moth, but I, and almost nobody else could… Read More
2023-10-30 15:47
The Bearded Reedling, Panurus biarmicus, is the only known avian species in its genus. It was originally named the Bearded Tit because of its superficial resemblance to the Long-tailed Tit p… Read More
2023-10-28 20:12
The current Top Ten of my songs streamed from my BandCamp page
1 Ticking Clocks
2 No Footprints in the Sand
3 Easy come, easy go
4 Festival Friends (Cool as Folk)
5 No symphony for lovers
6… Read More
2023-10-27 20:12
During the original covid lockdown, you might recall I mentioned an activity known as “noc migging“. Essentially, it’s birding at night with a microphone and a sound record… Read More
2023-10-25 15:16
A quick glance at the moon in the night sky and you might imagine the surface is fifty shades of grey. But, take a photo, preferably with a telescope or a big zoom lens and you can process t… Read More
2023-10-23 08:49
Every single thing I tweet these days gets a like from a scam account on twitter. Commonly these accounts purport to be young women seeking a partner. There is usually an attractive photo of… Read More
2023-10-11 07:57
As a child, I remember my mother telling me something she learned when she was an eye nurse – dogs are colourblind. Now, if I remember rightly, she didn’t mean they could only se… Read More
2023-10-09 11:07
I saw my first Merveille du Jour (Griposia aprilina) in the autumn of 2019, a year after I started mothing. A couple have turned up to my 20W actinic Skinner trap in October 2023. I photogra… Read More
2023-10-03 17:12
Is this a Northern Deep-brown Dart, Aporophyla lueneburgensis or just a Deep-brown Dart, A. lutulenta? Nobody seems to be able to decide definitively, there’s a taxonomic debate raging… Read More
2023-10-03 10:19
The Blair’s Shoulder-knot moth, Lithophane leautieri, is another noctuid (owlet) moth that was first recorded in the UK in 1951. In its case, it was first reported on the Isle of Wight… Read More
2023-10-02 11:56
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 somet… Read More
2023-09-26 13:41
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2023-09-20 15:46
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 wi… Read More
2023-09-05 09:01
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 lepidopteris… Read More
2023-09-03 09:46
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 mot… Read More
2023-08-29 20:12
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… Read More
2023-08-14 11:53
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 wri… Read More
2023-08-04 10:33
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 le… Read More
2023-07-31 20:11
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… Read More
2023-07-31 17:29
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 equipmen… Read More
2023-07-20 16:20
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 ga… Read More
2023-07-19 17:24
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… Read More
2023-07-19 12:43
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 r… Read More
2023-07-16 11:43
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 t… Read More
2023-07-14 08:50
While we were standing on the ditch-bridge beyond the old, stilted Rothschild’s Bungalow at Woodwalton Fen National Nature Reserve trying to catch a glimpse of the Purple Emperors whee… Read More
2023-07-10 22:00
The rate at which I’m seeing new moth species in the garden has been somewhat slow this year. Obviously, in my first couple of years mothing, I saw dozens and dozens I’d never se… Read More
2023-07-07 20:12
We took our first camping trip to Stiffkey for several years. Torrential rain and wind during the first night, but better, brighter, hotter days to follow, mostly. Mrs Sciencebase spotted Sp… Read More
2023-07-03 12:42
I visited Chippenham Fen NNR. Hoping to see Purple Emperor and seeing a solitary White Admiral instead. Also saw the nationally rare, fenland Silver-barred moth, and lots of Scarlet Tiger mo… Read More
2023-07-02 15:59
Having spent Saturday morning with the Coton Orchard mothing team, I missed out on a Butterfly Conservation mothing and butterflying event at Chippenham Fen NNR, which overlapped. So, I head… Read More
2023-07-02 07:38
I helped out at my first public moth event and bioblitz on 1st July at the wonderfully serene Coton Orchard, a couple of clicks west of central Cambridge.
It’s a mature and well-establ… Read More
2023-06-30 16:47
If you’ve been here a while, you will know that in July 2018, I acquired a moth trap, became quickly fixated on this other world of nocturnal Lepidoptera, and have logged and photograp… Read More
2023-06-28 10:02
Food for the garden birds is rather pricey. Certainly not the tuppence-a-bag of the song from Mary Poppins. Admittedly, the bags you buy are a lot more heavily laden with various seeds and g… Read More
2023-06-26 17:13
I spotted something moving very slowly along a wall in the house this morning and took a close look. I thought maybe it was a bagworm at first, but a couple of experts on Twitter, Colin Foot… Read More
2023-06-20 10:16
As I approach my fifth anniversary as a mother, my tally shows that I have recorded and photographed almost 500 species. The most recent was new to my garden – The Leopard Moth, Zeuzer… Read More
2023-06-18 14:23
I don’t often take photographs of hoverflies, first off, they rarely sit still long enough for me to get a shot. Anyway, I was trying to find butterflies* to photograph at Trumpington… Read More
2023-06-17 15:44
I often refer to the various file formats used in digital photography and image editing and thought some Sciencebase readers might be interested in a very brief summary of what those formats… Read More
2023-06-16 14:52
This is a female Box-tree Moth. They were inadvertently brought into the UK in 2007 on imported, exotic Box plants. They are spreading rapidly and I see lots in Cottenham. I don’t thin… Read More
2023-06-14 13:37
I only occasionally photograph dragonflies and damselflies, the Odonata. My big zoom doesn’t give me the best results with these insects for some reason. However, I was at Brampton Woo… Read More
2023-06-06 07:36
I acquired yet another moth trap to go alongside my old second-hand, home-made Robinson with the 40W actinic UV fluorescent U-tube, the portable 20W UV fluorescent Heath, the LepiLED, and, o… Read More
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