Dr Amy Roberts
PhD Biosciences (ecological systematic reviews & statistics), macro & astro photo, maker, renewables (living off grid), natural history (esp. Lepidoptera & Odonata), collect real paper books & journals.
From 🏴 Live 🏴. She/her 🏳️⚧️
- I used to be a Coastal Ranger out of Leasowe Lighthouse covering this area back in 99/00. So glad that this habitat is being protected and the absolute minimum is being cleared. Great post here from Joshua
- My nett energy production has just clocked over the 4500kWh mark in 315 days since I began ownership of my property up in Angus region of Scotland, near the edge of the Cairngorms. This calculation is wind turbine production MINUS diesel generator usage. #windturbine #offgrid #mystats
- Best productive day was from 07:31 1st Jan 2026 to 08:09 2nd Jan 2026 with 95.5kWh wind production just over 24hr period (differing times as manually take the reading, after getting up and having 1st coffee)
- This is with a Proven 6kW nominal rated 3 blade turbine on a 9 meter mast. This turbine operates down wind and the blades are sprung to deform onwards in very high winds.
- Butterfly Conservation have just uploaded the full video of the UK Moth recorders' meeting that occurred on zoom 31 January 2026. #moths #lepidoptera #citizenscience youtu.be/DiZEWu4Fkuo?...
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsWow, UK moth recording really on the up. Nearly 900K records in 2025, probably reach over 1 million in due course. Well done everyone. National Moth Recording Scheme meeting online now @savebutterflies.bsky.social
- The river SouthEsk at Brechin, Angus, Scotland this afternoon. With all the rain and snow melt the river is at near flood levels and is running very fast
- Was on zoom conference for early parts of today, attending the UK Moth recorders' meeting. Was great to hear some excellent talks, and loads of lovely photos. CEH are doing some interesting work with machine learning on auto identification. Must do more recording this year. #moths #lepidoptera
- Forgot to post At 23:30 on 18th Jan 2026 = first butterfly record of the year, a Peacock butterfly found in my backup diesel generator. This was after a brief flight. Sadly wouldn't display. It is currently on a rug on the shed floor. #butterfly
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsDo you live close to Morton Lochs (Tayport), Flanders Moss (Stirling) or Gartcosh Local Nature Reserve and want to get involved in dragonfly surveys? Training will be provided. For more details, contact daniele.muir@british-dragonflies.org.uk
- Monday 12th January 2026 marks the day Russia has been fighting longer in Ukraine than its involvement in WW2 Good coverage of Ukraine from YouTube: Caolan Robertson, on the ground youtube.com/@caolanrepor... Wes O'Donnell, weapons youtube.com/@wesodonnell... Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the hero.
- Having a lovely fire tonight as my biopellet boiler doesn't seem to be liking all the snow and wind over the last 3 days and doesn't want to get the house warmer than 13oC (fine with the hot water but think that's the excess wind power into two immersions)
- So posted yesterday my off-grid 2025 energy stats, best of 67.8kW 14/12/2025 Well already 2026 has destroyed this best day for wind production Jan 1st 01/01/2026 = 95.5kW (24.5hr period of 07:31 on 01/01 until 08:09 on 02/01, manual readings of old school meters taken) #2026stats #EnergyStats
- So some #2025stats My 2025 off-grid #EnergyStats I moved to 🏴 in late March 2025, so some of these are from then until year end, others as dated. Total nett energy generation = 3593.5 kW (as calculated for FiTs, this is wind turbine total minus the diesel generator) 1/n
- I started keeping a detailed spreadsheet from 11th August till year end to give the following: Wind turbine generation = 2,462.8 kW Diesel generation = 431.3 kW Total generated = 2,894.1 kW FiTs Nett (wind - diesel) August to Year End = 2,031.5 kW #2025stats #EnergyStats 2/n
- Best day of wind was 14th December 2025 giving a 24hr generation of 67.8 kW total from my 6 kWh turbine. Worst week for wind was actually the Christmas period, across the 22nd to 28th I made a nett positive (wind-diesel) of 0.4 kW !! #2025stats #EnergyStats 3/n
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View full threadSo I was in the top 5% of Tesla drivers added 10,127kW to the car (all at superchargers). I also visited 36 different superchargers, as did far too many trips down to Oxfordshire and Herts. But it was Perth that was most used, even though not my closest charger. Next was Gretna Green.
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsJust published: a cross-taxon synthesis of how #non-native species spread: from dispersal and #invasion fronts to Allee effects, human pathways, and predictive models. Understanding spread is key to management & policy. 👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #bioinvasions #InvasiveSpecies 🧪🌍🌐
- Merry Christmas to you all from Scotland 🏴 This is the plan for next year create an colourful #entomology decorated tree. (This is AI pic but will be real next year)
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsInterested in moth trapping? Wondering which trap to use? Or if different bulbs collect different species? Using 100k samples from @gardenmothscheme.bsky.social our new paper looks at these questions and more! With with Bill Kunin and @katatrepsis.bsky.social #mothsmatter #teammoth
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsI think this post nails the actual problem, for researchers at least—AI hallucinations would simply not be a problem in academic work if we’d not normalized citation-as-signaling rather than actual engagement—you can only cite a fake paper if you’re not in the habit of reading the papers you cite
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsIf you missed @theabigailthorn.bsky.social reading "A Christmas Carol" last night, here's another chance. The fundraiser is still active, so there's still time to support WCK, a great organization feeding people in places like Gaza & Ukraine www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN6E...
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsDear businesses, If you get a threatening letter from anti-trans lobby group ‘Sex Matters’ trying to scare you into banning trans people under threat of legal action - ignore them! Time and again they get embarrassed in court while cos-playing at being ‘experts’! You don’t want to foot the bill!😬
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsMini thread on the ET decision in Peggie Top line: It says exactly what we have been saying for months. The decision of the Supreme Court was not to turn the Equality Act 2010 into a nationwide bathroom ban - regardless of how anti-trans organisations have sought to misrepresent the law. 🧵👇
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsIf the reporting on the Peggie decision tells us anything, it should be that the way news gets reported in this country has little to do with truth, and much more to do with narrative - as well as whose heavily spun press release lands on journos desks first.
- Reposted by Dr Amy Roberts[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsThis is a real disaster for those - pretty much the entirety of the British media - advancing a maximalist reading of the For (Some) Women Scotland decision.
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsAlso worth noting, the Tribunal found that Sandie Peggie had harassed Dr Beth Upton in a "hate incident".
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsOooft. Sandie Peggie shared highly offensive messages and was then "untruthful" in giving evidence to the Tribunal. This is the 'hero' Gender Critical campaigners have chosen.
- Reposted by Dr Amy Roberts[This post could not be retrieved]
- New UK wind power supply record and doesn't include my off grid 6KwH turbine which has been very productive this month #WindPower #Electric #NationalGrid news.sky.com/story/new-re...
- Please use the crowdsourced #UKSnowMap keep it updated, as helps everyone. Just use the hashtag and the first part of postcode and a rating no snow "1" all the way to "10" blizzard, heavy snow on ground uksnowmap.com In Scotland also check the webcams www.snowgatecameras.co.uk
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsGood to see that butterfly numbers have increased this year at Lauriston Farm, Edinburgh's Agroecology project, you can read their report here www.lauristonfarm.scot/news/results...
- I need this device in my life xkcd.com/2979/ #xkcd
- Well done the Python Foundation for rejecting the Trump administrations anti DEI policies and turning down this grant that banned equality programmes and has hideous claw back consequences. www.theregister.com/2025/10/27/p...
- After having two days of bumper wind power production and even after being woken up at 4am by the wind. Just 16.4kW produced in the last 24 hours.
- Woke up early due to the wind and just saw the International Space Station (ISS) brightly pass in the early sunrise sky. Always great to see.
- Blood donation 🩸 done, new sticker to add to the laptop.
- First time I have back2back days of over 50kW wind power produced off the Proven 6kW turbine. Total for last 24hrs = 50.8kW Which also means a new record for 2 consecutive days total 56.4+50.8 = 107.2kW (previous best = 101.2kW) #Offgrid #WindPower #OffgridStats #OGS25
- Not expecting much wind today so not sure it will beat the 3 day Storm Amy total.
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsUK NATURE'S RIGHTS BILL LAUNCHED IN PARLIAMENT TODAY The bill reclassifies nature as a SUBJECT of law, with legal personhood. It recognises that neither humans or economies can exist without nature. This profound but positive disruption is needed NOW. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsMore and more women are calling out the small faction of ‘gender critical’ transphobes as the fauxminists they are! Obvs the moment they do that, they attract the JKR flying monkeys! Bravo to Kirstie Allsop for standing firm in her trans-allyship 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
- While waiting for new front tyres to be fitted. I walked into Montrose for 1st time Ink and Quill bookshop is awesome www.facebook.com/share/1BfYCe... purchased a couple of books, as always want to keep indie bookshops open. Also Montrose has a great vinyl record shop
- The last 24 hours have been my best wind generation since moving to Scotland in April. I have produced 56.4kW off my little 6kW turbine. The overnight winds were strong, I needed to rescue bins and full pots into sheds at 3am
- "The latest European Red List assessments reveal serious challenges, with threats mounting for butterflies and crucial wild bee species" Dr Grethel Aguilar, IUCN director general #Butterfly #Lepidoptera #RedList op.europa.eu/en/publicati...
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsIts time the NHS stopped lying to trans people seeking help. Wait times listed on GIC websites are how long people have already waited. They do not estimated wait times, and you can see why..
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsOpen Data Camp 10: Edinburgh is done! Until next time (maybe 😉 ). In the meantime. do check out @drawnalism.com's output from the afternoon sessions - www.odcamp.uk/open-data-ca... “That’s all folks!” #opendata #odcamp
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsOutput from @drawnalism.com from this morning's sessions are now up on our blog. www.odcamp.uk/open-data-ca... #opendata #odcamp
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsThat's a warp for day one of Open Data Camp 10: Edinburgh. We're off down the pub, see everyone 09:30 tomorrow for another day of open data fun. In the meantime. do check out @drawnalism.com's output from the afternoon sessions - www.odcamp.uk/open-data-ca... #opendata #odcamp
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsThe #odcamp session grid. Digital version via bit.ly/ODC_SessionG...
- Another #TipsFromLocals for #ODCamp attendees is Black Lion Games, a board game shop on the walk down to the pub this evening. Just make sure you get there before they shut at 6pm www.facebook.com/blacklionedi...
- Attendees of #odcamp if you arrive early get a coffee at Press Cafe on the corner of Buccleuch Place. If you have time over the lunch period do visit Lighthouse Radical Bookshop @lighthousebks.bsky.social on West Nicolson Street literally a 5 minute walk away from the venue. Tips from local
- It is #odcamp in Edinburgh tomorrow. The 10th Open Data Camp. Think this will be my 3rd. I wonder if I will ever have to travel north for one, definitely less of a chance now I'm based in Scotland.
- The new Viking invasion of Scotland started very differently to the last. Firstly they came to Aberdeen on the ferry and next posed for photos.
- Later they went for ice-creams
- Just trying out Gemini image generation model have put the query in the Alt text. Some nice creations of Martian lepidoptera, asked for butterflies and it's labelled up moths.
- Digging the turf off my driveway and spotted this caterpillar which was in the root layer near white clover, vetch and yellow rattle. Help needed to identify species, think it's a moth species, thanks. #caterpillar #lepidoptera #teammoth #IDneeded
- Been a week since "Dragons on the Bog" training @britishdragonflies.bsky.social photos using Canon R6 and TTARTISAN 100mm F2.8 Macro 2X life size manual lens for 1st time Got some great close ups of diagnostic features of the Azure Hawker (Aeshna caerulea) larvae unedited #dragonfly #odonata #macro
- Here is the larvae of a Common Hawker (Aeshna juncea) again double life size. This was actually a tiny 6mm in body length. Clearly see the "striped pyjamas" diagnostic feature even when this small. #dragonflies #odonata #macro
- Taking a lunch break from the @britishdragonflies.bsky.social training at Corrour and the station house café has done a special menu for us with a damselfly printed on it. #corrour #bds #dragonfly
- Corrour train station is the highest railway station in the UK, on the stunning West Highland Line. The Station House is accessible only by train or a twenty-mile walk. #TrainSpotting #Corrour
- Up at Corrour on the blanket bog with @britishdragonflies.bsky.social training course larvae surveying for White Faced Darter, Azure Hawker (and other species)
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsFinal post for #insectweek! We have 23 species of resident #dragonflies & #damselflies (Odonata) in Scotland. Azure Hawker, Northern Damselfly & Northern Emerald only breed in Scotland within the UK. Find out more at british-dragonflies.org.uk @britishdragonflies.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsMake sure you turn up to the Mass Lobby tomorrow - 1-4pm.
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsSo many people have taken part in our lobby today, including Abigail Thorn who came by to green card her MP.
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsWe served our claim form on the EHRC yesterday and it has just changed its interim statement. Snip one is what its statement was. Snip two is what its statement now is. *They now accept there is no need for employers to provide single sex toilets.*
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsI just got an email saying the embargo is lifted, so here's the full @vrubinobs.bsky.social press release: noirlab.edu/public/news/...
- Made a moth trap over the weekend out of an old bucket, funnel, tall bedside lamp. Did about an hours mothing 21-06-25 results 15 micro moths plus macros were Map-winged swift (x2), The clay, Bee moth and Silver-grounded carpet (x2). Still haven't ID'ed number 2 on the pic #moth #teammoth
- Don't forget on lightning filled days and nights the awesome resource of www.lightningmaps.org #lightning #mapping
- Lightning on the horizon striking out at sea, about 40 miles from me.
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsArable land has been flattened by history of ploughing. In restoring such sites it is important to introduce variation. Here I look at butterfly banks and enthuse over the experimental testing. youtu.be/5kgAXVFo610?...
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsCelebrating #SmallBlueWeek with some BIG news! 💙 Scotland has seen a boom in Small Blue numbers following the warm spring weather this year, with one volunteer counting a staggering 523 of these tiny butterflies in just an hour-and-a-half 👉 buff.ly/a3J34UB 📹: Tracy Munro #VolunteersWeek
- Reposted by Dr Amy Roberts
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsWoohoo! Publication Day! It’s finally hitting the streets, just like the plants it features. From walls to pavements, fallow waste ground, the grassy bits and street trees, it’s a celebration of urban botany and I really hope you enjoy it! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/urban-pla...
- Woke up this morning thinking I would be able to get two coats of my kitchen living area done. Has taken all day and only completed the first coat. Hopefully only needs one more coat and hopefully can get it done tomorrow. 🤞
- So have painted 3 coats of 'Toronto' beige over the last 3 days and my body is totally broken. Nearly 10 litres of paint applied to the walls. Can celebrate that the dusty pink has gone and the space looks so much bigger. In fact just this room is bigger than my first studio flat when lived in Brum
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsIt's #WorldBeeDay 🐝 But how can you help bees to flourish in your own garden, balcony, or outside space? An initiative led by our @davegoulson.bsky.social encouraged people to build 'solitary bee hotels', providing practical tips on how to do so. Why not give it a go? The guidance is below 👇
- www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... Looking forward to this soon to be released episode (expected 30th May 2025). #insects #ecology #biodiversity
- This week's new additions to the collection, found in various charity shops and online. Butterfly, Dragonfly and Moth altas / guides and also some old Naturalist journals
- Reposted by Dr Amy RobertsOne month ago, the Supreme Court made a ruling that rolled back trans rights in the UK It made this decision without listening to a single trans voice Today, to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, we’re bringing those voices somewhere they can't miss them 🏳️⚧️
- Wish I was this brave. Total respect to all who took part ✊
