General wildlife stuff, mainly birds, plants including bryophytes, fungi in season! unfollows political tweeters
Joined June 2019
- Tweets 5,399
- Following 714
- Followers 2,312
- Likes 79,381
2,088 Photos and videos
Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth and Hummingbird Hawk-moth, both foraging on Viper's bugloss on Salisbury Plain this afternoon, towards the end of season for the Bee Hawk.
25
367
Scarce Forester, E Sussex - not the best angle, but first two images of a male, showing pointed (not club -ended) antennae and (feathered to near tip. barely visible here), third image of smaller female with very long antennae of even width; just these 2 seen in 6 hours today:
1
1
29
631
Antennae of female Forester and Scarce Forester from above:
3
193
Forester on Salisbury Plain this afternoon - a female (lacking feathered antennae), but still showing the club shaped antennae (albeit less pronounced than in males), compared to the pointed tip of the female Scarce Forster:
21
329
African Red-rumped Swallow - a cracking bird, but I struggle to keep up with the taxonomy of this group! This one was perched by the track in Nairobi NP on our last day:
4
7
89
1,206
Whydahs from Kenya - the common Pin-tailed, Straw-tailed (frequent Tsavo East), Long-tailed Paradise-whydah (a few scattered throughout) and the very skittish Steel-blue Whydah - just one seen, a new bird and surprisingly, found in the far west - close to the Ugandan border:
3
39
595
A few other things while searching for Scarce Forester on the chalk in E Sussex today: Marbled White, Orange-legged Furrow-bee, Eupeodes luniger ('Lunuled Aphideater'!) and the very local Bastard Toadflax:
2
30
475
Four Bee-eater species from the Kenya trip - the scarce Somali Bee-eater was a new bird (just 2 seen, at Shaba), also White-throated Bee-eater (common in dry zone), Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater (a few seen, this one at Kakamega) and Blue-headed Bee-eater (a few at Kakamega):
1
5
70
1,051
Down the front for @bandmaid at @electricbrixton last night; the first UK gig since 2019. Excellent night, thanks to all - @miku_bandmaid
11
488
Kenya was obviously great for mammals! Here are three great monkeys from Kakamega forest: Red-tailed Monkey, Blue Monkey and Mantled Guereza (=Eastern Black-and-white Colobus). The primates were quite tame here so presumably not too much hunting:
1
1
52
1,082
Toro Olive Greenbul and Plain Greenbul, both from Kakamega, Kenya. There are many stunning birds in Kenya and then there are these two! The Toro Olive is particularly skulking but has a very distinctive call - a good job really:
4
49
841
Beautiful Sunbird at the Cheploch Gorge, west of Kabarnet, Kenya. A total stunner:
2
14
93
1,002
Northern Red Bishop - glowing in a crop field at Lake Baringo, Kenya:
2
25
158
1,558
A quartet of stunning weavers from Kenya - the very local Northern Masked from Baringo, Lesser Masked (Baringo), Black-headed (Kissamu) and Golden-backed (Lake Bogoria). All of the male weavers were in full breeding plumage during our April-May visit in the rains:
1
10
85
1,355
Four hornbills from Kenya - Jackson's (a very local species and new to me on this trip), Eastern Yellow-billed, Hemprich's and Northern Red-billed - all at Baringo other than the Eastern Yellow-billed at Samburu:
5
62
788
A trio of cracking waders from Kenya - the mega Heuglin's Courser at Baringo, a heat hazy Somali Courser at Tsavo East and a Water Thick-knee at Narobi NP:
2
3
120
1,511
A pleasant morning back on the Hampshire coast today with a pair of Ringed Plovers with 3 chicks and a pair of Little Terns feeding along the shoreline @chrisbutton1
3
37
612
Kenya was great for Eagle-owls with this trio seen well: Verreaux's (adult, juvenile - check out the pink eyelids!), Greyish and Cape ('Mackinder's'). I'd seen them before but always a privilege to see these big owls:
2
71
908
alan lewis wildlife stuff retweeted
Jun 6
Bee Orchid var bicolor 😍 #GlosOrchids #wildflowerhour
2
5
41
1,239
Western Reef Heron at Foryd Bay this afternoon. A long predicted British first which showed well on the falling tide. It feels like a long stayer, but time will tell!
3
4
121
2,739