Tim Blackburn
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mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn
@mothyblackburn.bsky.social
4K followers 570 following 6.8K 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.

Videos
Environmental science 63%
Geography 16%
Posts Replies Media Videos

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 1h
The anniversary of the best photo I’ve ever taken… #catsofbluesky #cats

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 6h
Strong shortlist there!

Reposted by Tim M. Blackburn

ipbes.net
IPBES @ipbes.net · 9h
A comprehensive review building on the IPBES #InvasiveAlienSpecies Assessment reveals that numbers of alien species are increasing for all taxonomic groups and regions, and that this trend is likely to continue.

Read more: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.70058
an image of a lionfish

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 1d
Merry Christmoth everyone! #TeamMoth

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 1d
Merry Christmas Kev!

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 1d
I live in hope… And happy Christmas to you and your family - here’s to a moth-filled 2026.

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 2d
Yep, the bookies stopped taking bets in October.

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 2d
Great to be able to share the moment with #TeamMoth!

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 2d
Moth Advent 24. No question of the moth of 2025, by a county mile. I’ll never forget seeing this land on the sheet at Kenfig NNR. After a lot of swearing and input from BlueSky, ID was confirmed as The Sorcerer, just the 4th British record and a 1st for Wales. I’m still buzzing now! #TeamMoth
The Sorcerer, a black and white moth, and a dream catch for a British moth-er. A white sheet hanging between two hawthorn bushes, with an actinic light on either side, and the water of Kenfig Pool just visible in the background. The Sorcerer landed on the other side of this sheet.

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 3d
Green Banana Cockroach? (Google Lens-ed it)

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 3d
Thanks! And next year is 2026...

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 3d
Danai is one of our fantastic M.Res. BEC alumni. Check out her feed for one example what the degree could lead to... (She also knows that next year is 2026...!)
danai-kontou.bsky.social Danai Kontou @danai-kontou.bsky.social · 3d
If you are a bio grad and the child inside of you can't decide between the NHM (aka dinosaurs) and the Zoo, that's the MRes for you 😁🦒🦖
mothyblackburn.bsky.social Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 3d
Applications are open for UCL's M.Res. in Biodiversity, Evolution & Conservation, 2024 intake. Learn the latest scientific techniques for studying biodiversity jointly with UCL, the Natural History Museum, and ZSL. Details here: www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...

Reposted by Tim M. Blackburn

danai-kontou.bsky.social
Danai Kontou @danai-kontou.bsky.social · 3d
If you are a bio grad and the child inside of you can't decide between the NHM (aka dinosaurs) and the Zoo, that's the MRes for you 😁🦒🦖
mothyblackburn.bsky.social Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 3d
Applications are open for UCL's M.Res. in Biodiversity, Evolution & Conservation, 2024 intake. Learn the latest scientific techniques for studying biodiversity jointly with UCL, the Natural History Museum, and ZSL. Details here: www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
The UCL bunk house at Blakeney Point, Norfolk, on a misty golden morning. We take our M.Res. BEC students here in the first week of their degree. They spend some time in the field, get to know the course-mates, and get to know some of their tutors. They also join a century-long lineage of UCL students doing field studies on the Point.

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 3d
I’m clearly living in the past. 2026 intake!
mothyblackburn.bsky.social Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 3d
Applications are open for UCL's M.Res. in Biodiversity, Evolution & Conservation, 2024 intake. Learn the latest scientific techniques for studying biodiversity jointly with UCL, the Natural History Museum, and ZSL. Details here: www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
The UCL bunk house at Blakeney Point, Norfolk, on a misty golden morning. We take our M.Res. BEC students here in the first week of their degree. They spend some time in the field, get to know the course-mates, and get to know some of their tutors. They also join a century-long lineage of UCL students doing field studies on the Point.

Reposted by Tim M. Blackburn

richardfoxbc.bsky.social
Richard Fox @richardfoxbc.bsky.social · 3d
We know that the role of nocturnal moths as pollinators has been greatly underestimated in Europe, but this impressive new study shows that tiger moths (Arctiinae) are important generalist pollinators in a lowland rainforest in Ecuador #teammoth 🌎
royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Reposted by Julie L. Lockwood

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 3d
Applications are open for UCL's M.Res. in Biodiversity, Evolution & Conservation, 2024 intake. Learn the latest scientific techniques for studying biodiversity jointly with UCL, the Natural History Museum, and ZSL. Details here: www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
The UCL bunk house at Blakeney Point, Norfolk, on a misty golden morning. We take our M.Res. BEC students here in the first week of their degree. They spend some time in the field, get to know the course-mates, and get to know some of their tutors. They also join a century-long lineage of UCL students doing field studies on the Point.

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 3d
Moth Advent 23. A field trip in November with @wjrpb.bsky.social to look for the scarce and late-flying Plumed Prominent. Rapid success as the first individuals were in within an hour of dusk, but we had to wait longer to get the elaborately antennaed males. Lifer 109/110 for the year. #TeamMoth
Male Plumed Prominent moth on a tree trunk. Check out those big, feathery antennae!

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 4d
😍

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 4d
That’s a stunner!

Reposted by Tim M. Blackburn

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 4d
Moth Advent 22. October in Devon and the possibility of some migration took me to the south coast path. Too windy alas, but set up the trap in the car park instead and the first moth in was a lifer – this Feathered Brindle. Not unexpected as mainly a species of southern coastal areas. #TeamMoth

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 4d
Tinea pellionella?

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 5d
Moth Advent 21. I start each academic year now by taking the new @ucl.ac.uk Biodiversity Masters students to Blakeney Point, with migrants uppermost in mind. Not a great week for them this year unfortunately, but there's always moths. This year produced my first Pink-barred Sallow. #TeamMoth
Pink-barred Sallow moth, a yellow and pinky-brown moth on a red and green leaf.

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 5d
I’ve always wondered where you lived…

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 5d
Well done though!

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 5d
Jeez, my timeline's like 100% Portugal right now...

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 6d
Moth Advent 20. Mid-September and back to the Surrey heath with @photography-aj.bsky.social. I had at least one target species in mind, as I’d never seen Heath Rustic. By the end of the session, dozens – probably the commonest moth of the evening. Location, location, location. #TeamMoth

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 7d
Gives a whole different perspective to #TeamMoth.

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 7d
#TeamMoth
richardfoxbc.bsky.social Richard Fox @richardfoxbc.bsky.social · 7d
Nice time at the annual British Ecological Society meeting in Edinburgh this week - great chance to catch up with people & research from another year in ecology

mothyblackburn.bsky.social
Tim Blackburn @mothyblackburn.bsky.social · 7d
Moth Advent 19. It’s rare when the highlight of an evening isn’t a lifer, but so it was on the late August evening on the Norfolk fen. To be fair it’s hard for almost any moth to top a Clifden Nonpareil, especially when you’ve never previously had one in the trap. Just a monster! #TeamMoth
Clifden Nonpareil or Blue Underwing moth on a white sheet. My head was down when it appeared at the trap but I heard the "whomp" as it hit the vertical sheet. It blundered around for a bit, then went into the MV trap. I thought I'd have leisure to photograph it but it then flew out of the trap and spiralled vertically into the night sky until beyond the beam of the head torch. Five manic but magical minutes with one of Britain's largest and most beautiful moth species.