Andy Appleton

@andyappleton.bsky.social

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Kent Birder. Also orchids, butterflies, Odonata and more. Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Not very long after sunrise.
Striped Hawk-moth at Dungeness
A dead plant in Dunorlan Park at 7am this morning.
A rather fuzzy Long-tailed Shrike in the heat haze on Eastleach Downs - at this point it was in Gloucestershire.
Mermaid Street, Rye
Sussex Emerald
Peppered Moth
A dark morph Western Reef Heron (surely egret is better)
Vipers-bugloss
Sand Pansy, Braunton Burrows, Devon
Red Poplar Leaf Beetle, one of many.
A bog standard Bee Orchid, Ophrys apifera, Braunton Burrows, Devon
A pale pink Southern Marsh Orchid at Braunton Burrows, Devon.
A moth: Mother Shipton
Common Spotted Orchid in the rain 🌧️
Common Twayblades and Common Spotted Orchids (no shortage of either of these) and Greater Butterfly Orchid.
Bee-shaped orchid with late spider credentials
Late Spider Orchid with lime-green colour
Common Spotted Orchid, Dunorlan Park, #TunbridgeWells
I’d call this a flavescens type Late Spider Orchid but stand to corrected.
A single Fly Orchids at a location I don’t remember seeing them previously.
Early Purple Orchid in a church graveyard.
Blue Rock Thrush (that started singing about 4:30am today), Alpine Swift, Yelkouan and Scopoli’s Shearwater habitats
I only saw one Red Lite today and that was just over the border into in East Sussex.
A drake Wood Duck through the trees.
Common Crane, Norfolk
View over the fields from Dunorlan Park, Tunbridge Wells, this morning.
Wheatear, Haysden
My visit didn’t start well today. I don’t think this male Sparrowhawk will be resurrected on Sunday.
Half eaten fab chocolate cake ✔️😀
Early Purple Orchid - coming soon.
Ophrys mammosa, Rhodes, 2025
Crummock Water was my dad’s choice for a short walk along the road. Fleetwith Pike is, I believe, in the distance on the left and Great Gable even further away just visible behind Hay Stacks in the middle of the picture.
Goldeneye are easy to see around the Lake District in winter.
Sunrise
Triple Roe Deer
The sun rise with some blue sky - two days in a row! Dunorlan Park, Tunbridge Wells.
Rhubarb and custard flavoured Dark Red Helleborine on Hutton Roof, July 2025
Shore Lark, Tunbridge Wells tip in February 1991. I suspect this isn’t my photo’
Eastern Black Redstart, Sheringham, 17 January 2026
Red-flanked Bluetail habitat, Crockhamhill Common just up the hill from Crockham Hill.
A frozen Dunorlan Park lake. It was -5c at the top of the hill so hardly surprising.
Halls Hole Road car park, Dunorlan Park.
4 White-fronted Geese at Whetsted GP’s this morning.
Looking towards the bird observatory at Dungeness from Galloways in August. It seems the Power Station is slightly more obvious.
Moorhen: Dunorlan Park seems to be a good place for them.
One of the interesting Fly Orchids we found this year.
The best I could manage of a pair of Vagrant Emperors in Suffolk.
One of my highlights of 2025 - a Large Tortoiseshell, Kent.
Yellow Warbler, New Hythe, December 2024. I’ve managed to connect with 100% of the English records so far having successfully chanced reaching the Portland Bill bird from Brecon before dusk.
A frost start.
Looking south to that tree line. Buzzard the best here today.
Yellow-browed Warbler keeping itself to itself at the top of a tree this afternoon.
One of several dombrowski Yellow Wagtails which were associating with Black-headed Wagtails on the breach at very northern tip of Rhodes, April 2025
Eider x Mallard, Seahouses, 1 December 2025
Derwent Water from Kettlewell
The sun had risen as I left the park this morning.
Dunorlan Park, yesterday morning.