Andrew Lipczyński

Ah yes - the dulcet tones of the Black Francolin 😬

Dear Shabana, I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank. You said: “A party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to make a perilous crossing on small boats.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division. When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney. As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I filled water tanks and picked up litter. What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country. Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it. It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and croissants to refugees and food parcels. When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She said “we have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers whilst risking death on the seas.” She said “maybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …

Dear Shabana,

Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.

....and another trip down memory lane while dusting off the cobwebs in the archives at Sandwich Bay....

#KentBirding

...and just in case you are ever thinking of tucking into a nice plato de mariscos for lunch (with a bottle of chilled Albariño obviously - or Vinho Verde at a pinch) - you had better check those clams!! They don't mess about on Fuerteventura! 😱

Thanks to wet spring on Fuerteventura, a running stream in Barranco de Las Penitas. We came across this male Epaulet Skimmer, Orthetrum chryostigma. Confused for a while due to golden immature mid-abdominal segments - not illustrated in various guides cf. a typical more mature male nearby #odonata

Really sorry to hear that Roger.

While on Fuerteventura kept an eye out for day-flyers. Masses of Banded Sable (Spoladea recurvalis) plus Silver-Y, Scarce Bordered Straw, Striped Hawkmoth & Crimson Speckled. Best find were eggs & larvae of Polytela cliens making short work of the bloom of Brown Bells, Dipcadi serotinum. #teammoth

Amen to that!

#KentBirding

A pair of Sahara Bluetails, Ischnura saharensis, in tandem. But it wasn't just the inverts making merry. We saw Spectacled Warblers, Fuerteventura Stonechats and Cream-coloured Coursers with young on the @mariposanature.bsky.social tour - as well as these Spanish Sparrows - mamá y los dos niños.😀

Another pierid from Africa that colonised Fuerteventura & Lanzarote is Greenish Black-tip, Euchloe charlonia. Previous @mariposanature.bsky.social tours struggled to see it but no worries this spring. They were 'everywhere' although as wind picked up they favoured sheltered areas - they're not daft!

Last year I thought was lucky to see a single Corsican Dappled White, Euchloe insularis, on Sardinia. This year with @mariposanature.bsky.social we've been knee-deep (almost) in the related (same genus) endemic Fuerteventura Green-striped White, E. hesperidum. Very active so a challenge for the 📷.

Another Island, another Bluetail. This time it's Fuerteventura with @mariposanature.bsky.social. A once-in-a-decade green spring has resulted in an explosion of invertebrates - first up the Sahara Bluetail, Ischnura saharensis, an African species that has colonised most of the Canaries. Espléndido!

Lucky you!😀

A charming family party on Worth Marshes in Kent in January - we call 'em Granada Geese down here...

A young person is holding a bird in their hand. Wording below reads: young bird observatory visitors programme. bto.org/ybov.

Apply for our Young Bird Observatory Visitors Programme grant ➡️ www.bto.org/ybov

Each year the BTO provide a number of grants of up to £250, to support young people looking to visit one of the accredited British and Irish Bird Observatories.

Closing date: Sunday 1 March. #UKBirding

I don't think it definitive/diagnostic but any photos / video grabs of the spread tail Martin? - t6 looks very clean and white

Thank you - appreciated!

@britishdragonflies.bsky.social #KentNature

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, Ischnura pumilio, immature female ‘aurantiaca’, Dragonfly Pond, Sandwich Bay, 16th May, 2025. First breeding record for Kent

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, Ischnura pumilio, immature female ‘aurantiaca’, Dragonfly Pond, Sandwich Bay, 17th July 2025. Second wave emergence.

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, Ischnura pumilio, mature female, Sandwich Bay, 11th August 2025.

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, Ischnura pumilio, mature male, Sandwich Bay, last of the year, 19th September 2025

Bad weather so cracking on with 2025 Sandwich Bay Dragonfly report. 30 sp & Zygoptera section done. Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly breeding confirmed; a surreal experience of surveying pumilio thru 'swarms' of Dainty Damselflies - a scenario inconceivable 2 years ago. 🤯@britishdragonflies.bsky.social

KOS Site of the month – February
The Ancient Highway running between Deal and Sandwich Bay allows viewing over Worth Marsh which has been a goose hot spot this winter with at least six species there. Look out as well for partridge and wintering wildfowl and waders. #kentbirding

3rd time lucky? Another trip down to Scotney and thanks to directions from @dungenessowen.bsky.social a distant view of the baldpate aka ♂️American Wigeon in torrential rain and gloom and then lost. Perhaps time to revisit (yet again) the i.d. of this ♀️on Worth Marshes 04/03/24 #KentBirding

Please don't tell me that was yesterday / Monday morning Nige? I've only dipped twice so far 😬

Sedge Warbler ringed at Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory on 10/08/2025 was recovered 163 days later and 2603 miles away in Djoudj National Bird Park, Senegal. See...

www.facebook.com/share/r/1bQb...

Hi Paul, best to see attached..

Christmas came a little late this year but came it did. Volume I of Vadim Tshikolovets' Butterflies of the Western Palaearctic.

To misquote Captain Oates, "I am just going inside and may be some time"

©Lan Grayling, many thanks. 👍🏻

This 1st winter was present for seven days at Gorie, Bressay, Shetland from the 4th - 10th October 2023 - ©Penny Clarke - many thanks. 👍🏻

January 24th: UK FIRST RECORDS: 🥇

GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER
Vermivora chrysoptera
An adult male from January 24th to April 10th 1989 at Larkfield, Maidstone, Kent.

WHITE'S THRUSH
Zoothera aurea
January 24th 1828 at Heron Court, Christchurch, Dorset.

#UKrares
#rarebirdsUK
#UKbirding

Full: PM Mark Carney speaks at World Economic Forum in Davos YouTube video by FactPointVideo

‪I tend to steer well clear of politics on this feed but if you need to see true leadership and an alternative more positive view away from Trump's/Putin's/Xi Jinping's 'new world order' listen/watch Mark Carney's speech at Davos. Go Canada / Allez Canada. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDMy...

Worth (west side) WeBS: yet to compare results from the guys working the east side but certainly all go this morning on the marshes. c6000 Lapwing, c2500 Wigeon, 250+ White-fronted with 8 Pink-footed Geese all over the shop this morning. Cream-crackered & feeling my age by the end 😮‍💨🥵. #Kentbirding

Yep Adrian, I met dear Dennis when I first visited the Bay after moving down to Sandwich. I learned a lot - birds, butterflies, dragonflies, etc - record everything / write it down. We used to have a commemorative 'Dennis Day' when we all went out birding in jacket, tie and brogues. Happy days!