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Stephen Roughley

@stephenroughle3.bsky.social
214 followers 362 following 627 posts

Coding chemist, Scouser, amateur cornet/trumpet player, @CSDBrass, moths, uses same handle on xwitter. For stuff about KNIME see @DrKnimeNode mastodon.world/@SawstonMoth

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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Pimpla rufipes (the Black Wood Wasp) - disturbed today by walking down the garden. Not the first I've seen but one the very few that's hung around for a photograph
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Passing, even. Not charging admission! 😂🤦
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
If you're paying near the south side of Cambridge (A11/A505/M11-ish) you're welcome to have a look at them yourself!
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Thanks Rob - I'll keep an eye on them and see what happens next!
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
They are generally very calm first thing in the morning. I'm less keen when they buzz you in the dark! (And even less keen when you wake up at 3 am and find one staring back at you from about 2 inches away in your pillow 😳 - very effective alarm clock!!!)
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Oh Joy! I'm on hornets at the moment in mine (only so far had a maximum of 3 - still in "looking carefully where I put my fingers territory") - situations like yours there are when the 12 inch tweezers come out!
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Sawston South Cambs #vc29moths - possible Ectoedemia rubivora mines on bramble in the garden yesterday afternoon? Thoughts @vc28nature.bsky.social @vc30moths.bsky.social ? #teammoth I could find lots of references to the egg being on the underside, but no photos - not sure my photos are the eggs?
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
They're so difficult. At one level, the ring flash on my Olympus TG-6 brings out so much amazing detail in the shades of black, and at another level just can't capture the sense of blackness without losing all detail - you've got the black without it looking featureless - great photo!
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Sorry, no tips - they're right @#£&@*s for not showing them for me. Fridge, or a blast of CO2 and you might get lucky. Our Red Underwing is equally diffident. Which Catocala is this?
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Err, yeah, lucky you! I don't know if I dare say that this year has been a quiet year so far for them
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Was thinking Small Mottled Willow were fading from the trap as I opened it this morning. 13 in a line round the rim of the underside of the lid made me wonder again - final total 91 - easily beating my previous 53... Here's 7.5 of them #teammoth #cambsmoths
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Thanks Rob. I left them on the East Bank, so sounds like that's the end of the road as far as identifying these go in that case. Case closed!
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Following yesterdays #norfolkmoths botanical blunder, here's another one. These I thought were all Sea Beet on the East Bank at Cley over the weekend, but I'm not sure they're even mines in the main. @vc28nature.bsky.social - have I now completely lost the plot?!
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Thanks Richard. I must admit I thought sawfly when I first saw them (and wasn't entirely convinced by resplendella), and Rob Edmunds has confirmed that somewhere above
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I'll bow to superior botanical knowledge. My mother-in-law still despairs at my approach to plant id which appears to be "oh, that's being mined by [x], so it must be [y]"...
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Wondering whether these are Heliozela resplendella mines on Alder at @rspbtitchwellsnett.bsky.social ? And no clues for the mine on Hazel from same location? #teammoth #norfolkmoths @vc28nature.bsky.social @norfolkmoths.bsky.social
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Phew! 😂
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
No - maybe just a bit of dodgy digiscoping!
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
20+ Spoonbills at Cley this morning #norfolkbirding
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Having a good year here in South Cambridgeshire
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Aren't they lovely?!
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
3 NFY this morning - Centre-barred Sallow, Beautiful China-mark, Tree-lichen Beauty. A 2nd Dewick's Plusia , a 2nd Dark Spectacle, 2 more Delicates, 2nd autumn batch of Clancy's Rustic, silly number of Epinotia nisella and Ancylosis oblitella #teammoth #cambsmoths - year list now 556 species
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Nice! L-Album has appeared in ones and twos in my garden in the last couple of years in South Cambridgeshire and I know others round about with similar experience. It's obviously slowly but surely on the move..
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I think most of us probably start with caddis - and probably because we start off mistaking them for moths? 😂
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Indeed - I seem to recall finding some when I did some open last autumn
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
And lastly, not a leaf-miner, but still larva - this one was on a bramble out on the shingle bank, but no obvious sign it had actually been feeding there... Any answers to any of the above much appreciated!
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Next.. Alder (Alnus sp.) - various galleries and blisters I've gone round in circles with and not convinced myself of an answer... 4/...
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
And then Common Reed (Phragmites australis) - I don't know if these can be pinned down to Cosmopterix scribaiella or C. lienigiella? 3/...
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Next we have Bramble out on the shingle bank - I think Stigmella aurella but the very red edging is putting me off... 2/
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Sat 22-Aug-2026 - @rspbminsmere.bsky.social A thread of leaf-mines (mainly!) I can't identify - 1 post per host species... #teammoth #suffolkmoths @vc28nature.bsky.social @vc30moths.bsky.social - first up ~Blackthorn (Prunus sp.)... blister close to the edge of a leaf, no obvious gallery... 1/
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Forgot to tag #teammoth and #cambsmoths
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Phyllonorycter oxyacanthae on one of the allotment pear trees earlier in the week was species #550 for the year
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Looks very plausible but I'd defer to @vc28nature.bsky.social or @vc30moths.bsky.social
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Goodness! The few that make it over to south cambs are still brown at best, often the stripe is barely visible!
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
They're lovely moths particularly when they're fresh like that one is. Come to the NI and Slender burnished brass lures too
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Nice one. Always good when you get a gen det back and have never heard of the result let alone seen one before
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Yep that's the one. Really annoying the first time I had one and could see it there on the front of the book and couldn't find it inside for ages!
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
And better in about 2047 for South Cambridgeshire? 😂
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Interesting - I think I tried one the first year I realised I had it on my Apple tree but didn't get anywhere with it. Will have to look now!
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Abundant yesterday at @rspb.bsky.social #minsmere in #Suffolk
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Visited @rspb.bsky.social #minsmere yesterday - sobering to look up to Dunwich - nothing really visible from Minsmere except possibly a charred picnic table but eerie quietness realising the car park up on the heath was completely empty. Hoping nature has a moment to recoup before visitors return
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Hummingbird hawk-moth on the dwarf buddleia at lunchtime today... #teammoth #cambsmoths
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
There are only "terrible pics" and extreme luck in capturing these in my experience
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Reposted by Stephen Roughley
John Walters @johnwalterswildife.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
The Pebble Hook-tips Drepana falcataria in my 'caterpillar zoo' are now ready to pupate. They first use silk to fold a living Birch leaf. The cocoon is formed within the fold. The leaf will fall into the leaf litter where the pupa will overwinter. Time lapse over 2 hours. Buckfastleigh, Devon
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
That's amazing to see
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Yep, you're on a roll with it!
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
It's very useful whenever I'm up in Scotland
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Spectacle
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Certainly not listed on eastscotland-butterflies.org.uk/scottishmicr... so unless very recent records exist then not previously recorded
eastscotland-butterflies.org.uk
Scottish Micros - East Scotland Branch - Butterfly ConservationE
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Stephen Roughley @stephenroughle3.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Looks good - nice one!
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