David Bradley – Page 2 – David Bradley

Wild canaries, volcanoes, and whales – Tenerife 2025

Our first ever week of winter sun and we headed for Los Gigantes, Tenerife, in the shadow of El Teide. A bit of walking, some birding, whale watching, and a sampling of sangria, paella and the local piscine delicacy, cherne. Oh, and there was music and cocktails (Mai Tai* for me).

Atlantic Canary, Serinus canaria — The Atlantic, or Wild, Canary, Serinus canaria, is a finch commonly found on the Canary Islands, related to Serins and Siskins. Of course, its name comes from the islands not vice versa. The Romans named the islands “Canariae Insulae”, meaning “Islands of the Dogs” because of the abundant “sea dogs” on the beaches, these creatures were Monk Seals, *Monachus monachus*

Monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus — It’s hard photographing Monarchs at the top of a palm tree

Southern Tenerife Lizard, Gallotia galloti galloti

We managed the boat trip to see dolphins and whales, not easy to get good shots from a moving boat. We were treated to Short-finned Pilot Wales (pod of 7 or 8 male Globicephala macrorhynchus, the big-nosed globe-head) that hunt for giant squid in the deep waters (600+ metres) between Tenerife and the neighbouring island of La Gomera (beyond it El Hierro). We also saw a pod of Atlantic Spotted Dolphin (Stenella frontalis, narrow-fronts). The swimming opportunity at Masca Bay was short as we’d apparently overstretched our time on the open water; neither of us felt like taking a dip, anyway, given our gastrointestinal status.

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin, Stenella frontalis

Short-finned Pilot Whale, Globicephala macrorhynchus

Red Rock Crab, Grapsus adscensionis, I prefer its other name: the East Atlantic Sally Lightfoot Crab

It was wonderful to have such long, sunny and warm days on Canary time. While sunrise was close to 8am, sunset was not until almost 7pm and the temperatures were in the low to mid-20s during daylight, so it was perfect in many ways. It’s certainly a tonic for one’s mental health to be able to bask in the sun at that time of the evening in swimming kit. Moreover, it is at a time of year just ahead of our birthdays when we might usually be braced against the Arctic northerlies on the Norfolk coast looking out for Snow Bunting and instead we were listening to Canary Island Chiffchaff and Atlantic Canary from our sun loungers while the countless Yellow-legged Gulls flew to roost among the 5-million-year old cliffs beyond the hotel.

Spectacled Warbler, Curruca conspicillata, on derelict banana plantation

Bertholet’s Pipit, Anthus berthelotii, saw on El Teide and then on derelict area along coast

(Feral) Rock Dove, Columba liva, aka Common Pigeon

Canary Islands Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus canariensis

There was always a chance of seeing either a fishing Osprey or a Sea Eagle (White-tailed Eagle) off those same cliffs, but we never did catch sight of either of those sadly rare and endangered species. I had also hoped for the iconic Blue Chaffinch among the pine glades en route to Mt. Teide, but no luck with that species either. Also failed to see Common Hoopoe on any scrubby, ant-ridden patches of bare land, but we did tick several other species and sub-species and a couple that we hadn’t seen anywhere before.

Avian sightings

Atlantic Canary, Serinus canaria (numerous)
Atlantic Yellow-legged Gull, Larus michahellis atlantis (many)
Barn Swallow, Hirundo rustica (on journey to hotel?)
Bertholet’s Pipit, Anthus berthelotii (Mt. Teide and then on derelict area along coast)
Canarian Common Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus canariensis (Mt, Teide and then several on airport return journey or maybe Lesser Kestrel sometimes, Falco naumanni)
Canary Islands Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus canariensis (lots, loud)
Eleonora’s Falcon, Falco eleonorae (to hotel and then at Playa de la Arena)
Eurasian Collared Dove, Streptopelia decaocto (loads)
Eurasian Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus (rocks before Playa de la Arena)
European Robin, Erithacus rubeculla (cafe with pines up to Mt. Teide)Feral Rock Dove, Columba livia (plentiful)
Lesser Black-backed Gull, Larus fuscus (according to ObsId)
Little Egret, Egretta garzetta (on rocks and once flying off Los Gigantes)
Pied Avocet, Recurvirostra avosetta, a pair, twice flying up the coast
Raven, Corvus corax 1x (cafe at bottom of Mt. Teide and 2x from bus back to airport)
Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres (rocky coast)
Spectacled Warbler, Curruca conspicillata (coastal derelict site)
Spanish Sparrow, Passer hispaniolensis (plentiful around hotel etc)
Sparrowhawk, Acipiter nisus, (possibly sub-species, from return bus)
White Wagtail, Motacilla alba (heard only, over hotel)

Non-avian animals list

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin, Stenella frontalis
Short-finned Pilot Whale, Globicephala macrorhynchus
Mullet (fish)
Honey Bee feeding on palm trees
Emperor Dragonfly x2 (one at pine cafe one in Los Gigantes
Other dragonfly, brown, smaller darter type
Southern Tenerife Lizard, Gallotia galloti galloti (rocky wall after the arena and elsewhere)
Red Admiral x2 (pines cafe)
Female Canarian Cleopatra butterfly (above arena)
Small Tortoiseshell (hotel)
Some big-ish bees, honeybees, grey bees
Monarch, Danaus plexippus (Route 66 cafe near hotel)
Large White (en route back to airport)

That reference to gastrointestinal status? We’d had quite a grim start to our first ever winter sun holiday. I woke on flight day with what I assumed was food poisoning. I was pretty much over it by our first morning on Tenerife. But Mrs Sciencebase succumbed after a short walk to the harbour below the huge cliffs of Los Gigantes, so it wasn’t food poisoning, has to have been viral, whoops. We did our best with the trip, but Mrs Sb wasn’t up to much walking and had to miss out on the trip to the otherworldly volcanic peaks of El Teide.

*Mai Tai – White and dark rum, lime juice, orange liqueur, orgeat (almond syrup), Angostura bitters, ice, and a cinnamon stick.

Acemannan from aloe vera

While I was chasing the Monarch on Tenerife, I grabbed some photos of some intriguing yellow, spike-like flowers growing from a succulent. I should’ve known, they were Aloe vera flowers. Aloe vera is well known as one of those plants that have been used in topical remedies for centuries and for which modern claims have associated with them a whole host of hyperbole. Indeed, there are Aloe vera tetrahedral sales systems the world over. Mostly BS, of course.

Nevertheless, gel from the leaves of the plant is supposed to be an immunostimulant, antiviral, antineoplastic, and have gastrointestinal properties. The gel-forming polysaccharide, a mucopolysaccharide, acemannan is claimed to be the active ingredient. It’s worth noting that the plant’s leaves also contain a toxin, aloin.

Acemannan has the luxurious IUPAC name:

(2S,3S,4R,5S,6S)-6-[(2R,3R,4R,5S,6R)-6-[(2R,3S,4R,5S,6R)-5-acetamido-6-[(2R,3R,4R,5S,6R)-4-acetyloxy-6-[(2R,3R,4R,5S,6R)-4-acetyloxy-6-[(2R,3R,4R,5S,6S)-4-acetyloxy-5-hydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)-6-methoxyoxan-3-yl]oxy-5-hydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-3-yl]oxy-5-hydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-3-yl]oxy-4-hydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-3-yl]oxy-4-acetyloxy-5-hydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-3-yl]oxy-4-acetyloxy-3-[(2R,3S,4R,5R,6R)-4-acetyloxy-5-[(2R,3S,4R,5R,6R)-4-acetyloxy-3-hydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)-5-methoxyoxan-2-yl]oxy-3-hydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-2-yl]oxy-5-hydroxyoxane-2-carboxylate.

2D structure of the chemical acemannan from Aloe vera leaves (PubChem)

Canaries go to bed later in the winter

Having spent a week in February in Tenerife and enjoyed the much later sunsets and warmer weather than the UK, I thought I’d add a footnote to my blog post about our trip to explain those later sunsets.

There are two factors at play, first the Canary Islands are much further west than the UK but are in the same time zone (GMT at this time of year). The islands being about 1500 km west of the UK, or 15 degrees of longitude, means that as the earth rotates and the sun goes down there the islands lag behind by about an hour 60 minutes. So if sunset in London is 5pm, it will be about 6pm in the Canaries. However…

The Canary Islands are located around 28–29° N, while the UK is at a much higher latitude (around 51–59° N). The closer you are to the Equator the less difference there is between the number of daylight hours in the summer and winter. The sun essentially rises and sets at roughly the same time year-round, whereas it varies so much more in the UK. In the UK, the days are much shorter in February due to the tilt of the Earth. The difference in latitude accounts for another hour.

So, on our trip, the Tenerife sunset was a little before 7pm whereas it was about 5pm in the UK, which made for some balmy early evenings watching the Atlantic roll across the rocks and the sun go down behind La Gomera.

Bearded Reedlings showing well at RSPB Ouse Fen

This species, Panurus biarmicus, used to be known as the Bearded Tit, because of the black facial markings on the male and perhaps its resemblance to the Long-tailed Tit. But, it’s not closely related to and of the birds we call tits and is the only living (extant) species in the Panurus genus.

Male Bearded Reedling, Panurus biarmicus, feeding on seed head

It lives among the wetland reeds, feeding on their seeds and those of the reed mace/bulrushes. There are lots of them flocking about on our local converted gravel pits.

These days they’re more properly known as Bearded Reedlings, although if they’d wanted to correct the obvious error, they could’ve called them Moustached or Mutton Chop Reedlings. Either, they’re almost always known simply as Beardies among birders.

Male Bearded Reedling, Panurus biarmicus, feeding on seed head — Male Bearded Reedling on seed head, tail pointing skyward

If you’re wandering about the reed beds of our local reserves, listen out for a pinging sound, that’s the bird’s contact call. You can almost imagine it as being the sound effect for a miniature sci-fi laser gun – peww, peww, peww…

Specific site they’ve been showing well recently is the Earith side of RSPB Ouse Fen (you may recall I’ve mentioned the patch before with reference to starling murmurations and various rarities, including Purple Heron. There are lots all over the fen, but they have been particularly visible, vocal, and close on the shortcut that cuts through the centre between Lockspit’s Mere and Crane’s Fen.

The male pictured above spent a good ten minutes right in front of us shredding and feasting on this seed head and in his messy haste helping spread the plant’s seed. Most of the seed heads nearby had been ravaged by the flock.

For anyone planning a visit. There are three places to park to visit RSPB Ouse Fen. Needingworth, Over, or Earith. The Needingworth end of the reserve is a long way from the reedbeds, so not the place for the Beardies. Over is accessible via a very rough largely unmade road. There are Beardies there among the reeds in the “canal”. But, Earith, which is disconnected from the other patches is the best place to see them at the moment. The main spot I mentioned earlier is across the middle of that area, but you might hear and see Beardies anywhere among the reeds there.

Best time to visit is when it’s sunny and not too windy. Beardies will hunker down in bad weather, but if it’s calm they will flit about between patches of reeds and hop up and down the steps to feed and drink and interact.

Incidentally, a Eurasian Penduline Tit, Remiz pendulinus, was present on the site recently, this too is also not a “tit”.

Striving for something more than the half-decent record shot

Photography, as with any other visual art form, hinges on a blend of technical skill and creative vision. While perfection can be elusive and subjective, achieving a “half-decent” photo that captures attention and tells a story is almost always an attainable goal whatever your skill level and with whatever equipment you have. Remember, if you want a photo, any camera is better than no camera (we’ve all been there and done that!). Meanwhile, here are a few thoughts on how to lift the passable snapshot to the inspiring image.

You can take a look at some of my photographic work and decide whether I live up to my own standards here.

Understanding light – Light is the fundamental of photography. Whether you’re working with natural or artificial light, how you harness it can define your photo. For instance, the magical Golden Hour: Early morning just before sunrise and late afternoon just before sunset offer soft, warm light that flatters most subjects. Shadows are gentle, and the light’s directionality adds depth.

Contrast that with the serenity of Blue Hour: The moments before sunrise and those after sunset provide cool, moody tones ideal for atmospheric shots. It’s also worth adding that darkness and shadows are not the enemy of the photographer, indeed they help you create drama, texture, and contrast. Timing the shadows in a landscape or even a portrait lets you leap from flat to dynamic.

Correct exposure – A well-exposed photograph is the foundation of visual appeal. Proper exposure ensures that details in both highlights and shadows are visible without appearing bleached out or overly dark. While modern editing tools allow some latitude for correcting exposure, it’s always best to get it right in-camera. Understanding your camera’s metering modes and how they interact with the scene’s light levels is the key. Also, shoot in RAW every time if that’s an option it then gives you the chance to retrieve detail from seemingly over-exposed or under-exposed areas in your photo and balance once against the other.

Sharp focus – A blurry subject can ruin an otherwise excellent composition. Ensuring your subject is in sharp focus is non-negotiable, unless the blur is the artistic choice. Autofocus systems have become highly advanced, but their capabilities must be matched with a keen eye for detail. For portraits, focus on the eyes. For landscapes, ensure the desired depth of field is achieved. The sharpness guides the viewer’s attention to what you want them to see. Of course, depth-of-field is like any commodity. You may want a short depth of field for a portrait so that the background is blurred, but for a macro shot you may want the whole frame to be sharp. This comes at the cost of how much light reaches your sensor or film. Smaller aperture means less light getting in, but a bigger depth of field.

De-noising grainy images – Noise, especially in low-light conditions or at high ISO settings, can detract from a photo’s quality. While some genres, such as street photography or film emulation, embrace a certain level of grain for artistic purposes, overly noisy images in genres like wildlife or portraiture can feel distracting. Post-processing can sometimes help you clawback the clarity, working best with RAW files.

Artistic cropping – Cropping is a powerful tool that allows photographers to refine their composition post-capture. A thoughtful crop can eliminate distractions, emphasize the subject, and create visual harmony. Whether filling the frame with an intimate close-up or leaving negative space or background for context, the crop should complement the story you’re telling. Remember the rule of thirds but don’t be afraid to break it if the composition feels stronger with different angles and different space.

Animal photography: The leading eye – When photographing animals, the leading eye must be pin-sharp. This draws the viewer’s attention and conveys emotion and personality. The leading eye acts as a visual anchor, guiding the viewer through the frame. Shots where the animal is looking away don’t often work, unless the context justifies it. For example, a distant gaze that matches a dramatic landscape or tells a broader story about the animal’s environment.

Catchlights: Breathing life into eyes – Catchlights, the reflections of light in a subject’s eyes, add depth and vitality, particularly in animal or human portraits. Without catchlights, eyes can appear flat and lifeless. Photographers often use natural light or controlled artificial light to introduce this subtle yet critical element. Catchlights don’t just reveal the light source; they transform the image by infusing character and emotion.

Photography, like any art, is about emotion. You need patience to get that perfect light, expression, or moment, but that patience can be rewarded with the shot you’re really after rather than the record shot you’d quickly snap just to make do.

Learn the rules so you can use them to best effect when they’re needed, but also so you can break those same rules when it means a better photo. You can ditch the rule of thirds, the golden ratio, you can try unusual angles or play with unconventional perspectives. Focus on that unusual aspect of the subject, not the obvious. Observe and try to see things from a different angle to help you tell a unique story with your photos.

My older photos online

Before my current penchant for avian and Lepidoptera photography, I took a lot of photos of bands at festivals, masses of landscape shots, and a stack of architecture. If you fancy digging deep into roughly a quarter of a century of photography, check out my 500px, GuruShots, and Flickr galleries. I used sciencebase as its own link shortener to get you there quickly:

GuruShots

500px

Flickr

Bird ID apps

I’ve been using the Merlin bird ID app for several years and often recommend it to friends. It listens to the nature sounds around you and uses AI to identify the tweets, chirps, and whistles of the birds calling and singing. I have a garden ticklist to which I add the IDs the app records in a separate list. Merlin includes a bird photo ID component, which works a bit like iNaturalist’s Seek or Google Lens, but just for birds and better. The app works for birds anywhere in the world and is simple to use…but…

Since the app’s last major redesign and update I’ve noticed it seems to ignore some birdsong even though I can very clearly hear them and later on the recording the app saves. So, that’s become rather annoying. I also find that if I let Merlin run past its usual 10 minutes, a much longer recording will usually crash the app when trying to load and analyse the sound file.

I’m not sure what’s going on, Cornell Uni, the creators of the app need to get these issues sorted. Until then, I have sought a replacement and found BirdUp. BirdUp does the same kind of sonogram analysis as Merlin, but seems to pick up more in the tests I’ve run this morning in the garden. Unlike Merlin, it lists in sequence what it hears and doesn’t collate the soundings into a shortlist, which makes the timeline seem fussy.

However, with each sound it picks up you get more immediate details (sound volume, likelihood of that bird being the one it reports, and also details about the sound itseld and the frequencies the birds call or sing at). Speaing of which, unlike Merlin, BirdUp defines the bird sound as call or song and in some cases even offers a description. On one of my long test recordings from a previous Merlin session, it was picking up Robins and labelled the first few sounds as the call, but then a subsequent sound was flagged as a Robin’s alarm call. It picked up the “ping” call of Chaffinch, the “wheezy song” of Greenfinch, and “rattle call” of Great Tit, as opposed to the other types of call and song these birds produce.

Additionally, I’ve been able to run some of those over-long sound files from Merlin using BirdUp and getting a decent list of what was around at the time. Some of those files were from our ~~biology field trip~~ holiday to northern Greece and Lake Kerkini in 2024, so it’s nice to be able to pluck out the Cirl Bunting, Golden Oriole, and Nightingales from those files.

The bottom line is that Merlin doesn’t seem to work as well for me as it had over the years and while I still recommend it, I’m going to switch to BirdUp for regular use and check back in with Merlin periodically to see if there has been a major update to improve the issues I’m experiencing.

Why I am not using REDNote

REDNote, also known as Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), is a Chinese social media platform. It was launched in 2013. It has hundreds of millions of users. REDNote is a bit like Instagram and focuses on lifestyle topics such as travel, fashion, and beauty. Well used and well liked by young women in China, apparently.

When the US looked like it was about to ban TikTok, American users signed up for REDNote in huge numbers. Interestingly, for a brief moment before TikTok was reinstated in the US, there were some cross-cultural revelations as many Americans interacted and encountered people from China online, perhaps for the first time. Indeed, given that unlike TikTok, REDNote prioritizes content tailored to user interests over follower-based algorithms, it has fostered those cultural exchanges as Chinese users welcome American newcomers, helping them adapt to the platform.

I was curious about the app’s safety credentials and asked a security expert friend of the blog, Adam Stewart, whether I should sign up for REDNote and see what all the fuss is about and he simply said “Avoid!”

Now, despite my usual eagerness to try any new social media outlet, I was on Plurk even before Twittr [sic], I have taken Adam’s advice and not downloaded the REDNote app and not signed up for an account; the T&Cs are in Mandarin so that was something of a barrier anyway as my Mandarin is not as good as my Cantonese, and that’s non-existent. Meanwhile. Adam, being a security expert did install the app, but on a burner phone, and ran some network and security test to see exactly what this app is doing.

“REDnote connects out to various China servers,” Adam told me.” Also, some streams are not encrypted and some don’t do proper certification checks.”

This sounds worrying, to say the least. All those new American users perhaps unwittingly sharing data from their phones with servers unknown in China. Given the political landscape of that country, I’d also want to know whether the Chinese government or other agents have hooks in those third-party servers. Indeed, given that all technology there is potentially monitored and subject to governmental oversight under China’s cybersecurity laws, it is reasonable to assume that the government could indeed have access to any of your harvested data via those third-party servers if it needed to get hold of it. At the very least, there is the potential for any data on any app in China to be accessible to the government.

Perhaps the warning signs were already there. In December 2022, the government of Taiwan banned public sector employees from using Xiaohongshu on official devices due to national security concerns. But, REDNote is yet to face the same scrutiny as TikTok from privacy advocates and security experts. It has to be said that its data policies and transparency may not align with what those e outside China would consider acceptable. If you must use the app, I’d advise reviewing all the permissions and avoid sharing sensitive information on the platform.

Of course, it’s worth adding that TikTok and REDNote are not particularly special in collecting data, hundreds of the apps we all use every day collect data, sometimes without us really knowing. Moreover, if that data is not end-to-end encrypted and you’re based in a rogue state or even the land of the free, governments can easily compel companies to hand over their users’ data. Your privacy could be compromised in an instant by almost any app.

You might think that using a Virtual Private Network on your phone would offer some protection. VPNs are useful in many contexts such as connecting to public Wi-Fi hotspots. But, as Adam points out, apps like REDNote and others tend to link to your phone number and use it for registration so having a VPN won’t help with where that data ends up and how it is linked to you individually.

If you feel you can’t live without REDNote at least consider the following security advice when installing:

Review the permissions it requests – Block or disable any with which you’re not comfortable, such as microphone, contacts, location.

Use a burner phone – Because the app hooks into your phone number, perhaps use a secondary non-mission-critical phone or a secondary SIM.

Use a disposable or non-critical email account – Don’t link the app to your other social media or main email account(s), especially not mission-critical ones or work accounts.

Consider carefully the things you share on the app – If you don’t want it on the internet, don’t put it on the internet. Something us ancient net users have been saying for decades, long before the web, social media, and apps.

Stay up to date with developments – Keep up with the tech news and especially any stories about data breaches or hacks, it might be too late once an app is breached or there is an issue, but you might be able to salvage some privacy or security, if you’re aware of what’s happening.

Oh, and one more thing. People often ask “why are you worried about privacy, if you’ve got nothing to hide?” A good response is to ask them why they have frosted glass for their bathroom windows!

This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal nor formal cybersecurity advice. Readers are encouraged to consult with experts for specific guidance.

Paxton Pits Nature Reserve

It’s quite some time since we last visited Paxton Pits Nature Reserve in Cambridgeshire, well before the covid pandemic, March 2019, in fact, if my photo archive dates are to be believed and before that January 2018. Tempus fugit, as they say. And, speaking of things that fly and sound a bit Latin, there were plenty of Regulus regulus among the fir trees not far from the site’s visitor centre.

The nature reserve is, like so many of our local sites gravel pits that have been turned over in whole or in part to nature. It saves the aggregate companies having to back-fill once they have excavated all the millions of tons of sand and gravel they need and gives nature a chance to thrive in areas that would otherwise be turned back into unused flatland. The Paxton reserve was, until World War II, largely farmland on the edge of the village of Little Paxton. The gravel excavations were started during the war. There is still activity, but a large area is now lakes for wildlife, trails, and some lakes for fishing and boating activities.

Goldcrest taking flight at Paxton Pits Nature Reserve — Goldcrest taking flight

Not far from the visitor centre was the site of the former farmhouse. The historical sign there tells visitors about the farmhouse that once stood on this spot and about the provenance of the row of quite tall fir trees that stand in front of where the farmhouse once was. Apparently, they were Christmas trees! They have now grown so tall that you’d need the longest of long ladders to put the fairy on the top and hang your baubles.

Anyway, it was among these fir trees that numerous R. regulus were darting about. Readers that are regulus as clockwork will know that this species is the UK’s joint smallest bird, the Goldcrest, as I’ve mentioned it before. Its equally diminutive partner is the slightly less common but equally tiny Firecrest.

A fellow photographer, who turned out to be on the reserve’s bird-ringing team, pointed out that the Goldcrests we were photographing were probably winter visitors from Scandinavia enjoying the slightly warmer climate of East Anglia and the rich pickings to be had on a sunny January day among the fir trees. She wasn’t entirely certain, but seemed to imply that there aren’t usually any in this location during the summer months although she had witnessed nesting in one of the Xmas trees previously.

Goldcrest are so small, so fast moving, and often spend their time in the depths of the needles of fir trees, that it is commonly rather difficult to get a good snap in sunlight. If you’re hearing isn’t shot, you can usually pick up their very high-pitched hissy tweets. However, the Scandinavians were rather obliging today and at least I got a couple of nice shots of these delightful creatures with their golden crests.

A Kestrel for a Knave

A Kestrel for a Knave was a book by Barry Hines published in 1968. It was adapted for the Ken Loach film Kes.

Kestrel perched on a solitary, vertical branch

The protagonist, Billy Casper, was played by actor David Bradley who later had to adopt the stage name Dai Bradley, because there was already an EQUITY member, the RSC actor David Bradley. You may know the latter from many a TV drama, as unintelligible Arthur Webley in Hot Fuzz, as Filch in the Harry Potter films, as the first Doctor in Doctor Who and as William Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time, and Walder Frey from Game of Thrones, etc…I met him once, I mentioned it before.

As for Dai Bradley, he was also in the film Zulu Dawn, a couple of other films and various TV parts.

When the book was reprinted after Kes the film, they used the infamous scene of Billy sticking two fingers up for the cover…I grew up with this book…I was infamous by proxy as a child.