Saturday morning at Botany Bay gave great views of initially one then two pallid swifts.

2 yrs now since I gave up purposeful birding, how long does it take to retrain my fusiform frontal cortex to look only at people/ places instead of picking out birds? And rewire my prefrontal cortex to stop caring? I must need electro-shock therapy. Form a queue to flick the switch.. 😜

There are now eight Boer goats at Samphire Hoe, the hope is they will eat the encroaching bramble and scrub.

Goose barnacles washed up at Samphire Hoe today.

Two wonderful moths in the garden trap, December moth like a miniature buffalo and the stunning Merveille du jour.

Circumzenithal arc over Samphire Hoe Dover, Kent, 29th of October. Caused by refraction through ice crystals. #weather

Top of the tide at Margate on the 26th of October. Sanderlings and turnstones on the accumulated seaweed. Redshanks and purple sandpipers on the outer edge of the sea wall. #kentbirding

If you have ever wondered how small is a buff breasted sandpiper is, here is the Lundy bird on the 19/9 next to a starling. #ukbirding

Toadflax brocade moth caterpillar in the garden today, feeding on purple toadflax. #mothsmatter

A different company emptying the cesspit at Samphire Hoe today. Someone has a good sense of humour.

We now have Kerry Hill and Soay sheep grazing at Samphire Hoe.

Lydden Spout rifle range near Abbots Cliff, Kent. Juvenile cuckoo, hobby, whinchat, lesser whitethroat 5, whitethroat 4, meadow pipit 18. #kentbirding

Convolvulus hawk moth attracted to the garden nicotiana this evening. #mothsmatter

Birding is not a new activity. Stone Age cave art at Cresswell Crags from 12,800 years ago. Described as an ibis, I wonder if it was a curlew. The beak accentuates a fossil worm burrow. #ukbirding

Sound up for this one, tree crickets calling at Samphire Hoe this afternoon.

4m in 6 weeks ! 😱 Absurd ice ablation rates on the tongue of Gepatschferner, Austria's (soon to be) largest glacier ! 🥵 Pic and data Giulia Bertolotti

A sunny blue sky Sunday at Samphire Hoe southern oak bush cricket and bordered straw moth. Saturday we had a good count of 6 wheatears and second whinchat of the autumn. #kentbirding #mothsmatter

Pale prominent looking remarkably like a flake of dead wood. #mothsmatter

Hornet robber fly on the Lydden Downs near Dover.

Saturday evening walk alongside the Swale from Faversham Creek to Castle Coote whimbrel 4, common sand 11, starling 300, pair of yellow wags, pinging beardies and a dusk hunting barn owl. #kentbirding

Tree crickets are working their way along the Kent coast. This is the first one I have actually managed to see at Samphire Hoe.

Great to see a Kent purple emperor feeding on an oak tree at Orlestone forest today.

Fascinating to see a common darter dragonfly emerge from the pond at Samphire Hoe.

Part of the circumhorizontal arc currently visible from Samphire Hoe created by refraction through ice crystals. A rare mid summer optical effect.

Very pleasant couple of hours up on the chalk slopes of Lydden at the north west end of Dover, with Paul Holt Plenty in flower like Dropwort and Chalk Fragrant Orchid which are Owen choices First Clouded Yellow plus first 2 male Chalkhill Blues of the year starts the ‘mid summer blues’

One of the school kids found this on Thursday afternoons minibeast safari at Samphire Hoe. A trapezium shield bug. The size of a match head! Very rare in the UK looks like it is a recent colonist and very likely to spread.

Fortunate to witness an astonishing spectacle at the beach tonight: tens of thousands of (mainly Small) white butterflies pouring in over the sea, as far as you could see. Pulses of butterflies swept in-off everywhere, an extraordinary sight. @linnetincley.bsky.social @norfolknats.bsky.social 1/2

Bordered straw and ruddy carpet in the moth trap this morning #teammoth

Spotted flycatcher, one of a pair feeding in an East Kent woodland. The dull green light filtering through the canopy gave it a real forest birding feel. @kentishplover.bsky.social

White Helliborines looking stunning in an East Kent woodland, 120 in one small area. #WildflowerHour

A different type of cloud over the Folkestone Downs today. Perhaps Altocumulus lacunosus? #clouds #weather @metoffice.bsky.social

Another woodland bird survey in east Kent, a pair of marsh tits but no sign of breeding. When wild garlic begins to go over it looks like a wave has swept across the woodland floor.

Sunday 18th May only the second wheatear I have seen this spring at Samphire Hoe was a very poor condition bird. In more positive news the first broods of stonechats are appearing across the site. #kentbirding

Woodland bird survey near Dover this morning, good to find marsh tit and a family of mistle thrush. Non avian highlight were two Alabonia geoffrella. #kentbirding #teammoth

A cloudier night increased the number and variety of moths in the trap the highlight was this stunning alder moth #teammoth

A brilliant few hours at Langdon cliffs Dover this morning. Red backed shrike a cracking male found by Jamie Partridge, a fly through female red footed falcon (JP pic), red kite and four red billed choughs, swallows, house martins and a swift all arriving. #kentbirding

A brilliant morning

It has been great to see adders at Samphire Hoe the last couple of days, including this female warming up in the morning sun.

Four green carpets and three May bugs in the moth trap this morning.

Though very common around Shetland, this smart looking Red-throated Diver is the only leucistic individual I've ever encountered. #SuperSeabirdSunday #YellBirding #Shetland

Hoopoe again present near to the water treatment works on B2011. Heard but not seen, very vocal

Great to see early season butterflies green hairstreak and dingy skipper on the Lydden Downs, in Kent today.

Coronal Mass Ejection tonight www.theargus.co.uk/news/2509285... Keep an eye on aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk

A pair of marsh tits calling in a woodland near Lydden, Kent this morning. #kentbirding #ukbirding

Amazingly Samphire Hoe hosted its second hoopoe of the year today, a much showier bird than the first. Also the first whitethroats but still no wheatears. #ukbirding #kentbirding

Sometimes the most unassuming artefacts are utterly incredible! This piece of wood for example, is a spear point worked from yew wood about 420,000 years ago! 🤯 Known as the Clacton Spear it is the oldest known preserved wooden spear in the world! Natural History Museum, London 📷 me #Archaeology

First bluebells in flower near Adisham East Kent #wildflowerhour

Bridge churchyard this afternoon, one vocal but elusive hawfinch and a singing firecrest. #kentbirding

An impressive tide at Samphire Hoe Kent today 0.4 low and 7.1 high. One of the biggest of the year. At least 7 dogfish were stranded in the rock pools. Part of the kelp beds were out of the water.

Great to see a hoopoe at Samphire Hoe today. It was super elusive only showing four times. It remained hidden even when trains passed by. Second record for the site. A pair of gadwall and a little grebe were also of note. #kentbirding