Phil Bentley

Birder on a bike 🚴‍♂️ (@bikingbirder.bsky.social)

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

@PeterMo03067857 @ianballam @harbourbirds @DorsetBirdClub Really nice to bump into you too, Peter. Fabulous photos BTW 👌

[sarah murphy @13sarahmurphy]

Private Eye points out the humongous Brexit elephant in the room. While our governments stubbornly refuse to even acknowledge it. A country can’t make progress like this.

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

Originally found by a sharp-eyed lady visitor as a 'whats-that-small-bird-over-there'. I just had the easier job of putting a name to it 🙃

[Nicki T @WildOnTheRoad]

Wood sandpiper a first for me outside the Avocet Hide this afternoon. Thanks to @MartinAdams for the heads up 😊 #WildBrownsea @DWTBrownsea @DorsetWildlife @harbourbirds @DorsetBirdClub

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

Pretending they can't be seen...a nice fresh male Southern Hawker, and (I believe) an immature male Migrant Hawker at Swineham GPs, Dorset this morning. Also a probable Brown Hawker patrolling the reeds along the river Frome. @BDSdragonflies @DorsetWildlife

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

After the excitement of yesterday's Scarlet Darters, more darter-based fun was had today at Avon Causeway (Dorset, just!) where some 15+ Black Darters were the main attraction. Thanks to @BrownHawker for spot-on directions! 👍 @BDSdragonflies

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

And of course...many thanks to @ChrisRoly for finding them and putting the news out 👍👊

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

Made the short trip from Wareham to Silverlake today to see the stunning Scarlet Darters found a couple of days ago. At least 2 seen together, but perhaps 3-4 present. Possibly the smartest, certainly the rarest, dragon I've yet seen in the UK. @BDSdragonflies @DorsetWildlife

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

@harbourbirds @CareysSecret @ChrisGPackham @DorsetBirdClub It's been an absolute joy watching the CJ7-O22 family up close this spring and summer. It's made for totally compelling viewing. Big shout out to BoPH and Carey House for bringing it to our screens 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

I had a presumed family group of 4 circling fairly high over my home near Holton Heath at about the same time. Looked like 2 poss 3 juvs, but too high to be sure. Like you, Linda, I stepped out of the house to see what all the screeching was about! 🦅

[Linda Yarrow 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇪🇺 @LinYarrow]

@harbourbirds I saw two peregrines flying high above where I live, Slepe nr Bulbury Woods golf course. It was the noise one was making that alerted me, maybe a juvenile and the other an adult, unfortunately my bins are not powerful enough to get a good view.

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

Managed to avoid photo-bombing your picture by a couple of seconds 😄. The only notable avian addition that I clocked was a smart adult YL Gull from the middlebere hide. Also, a Brown Hawker near the pond + a Norfolk Hawker on nearby Hartland moor (both NFY). @BDSdragonflies

[Barbara Bisset 💙 @dougaldog]

Low tide on Coombe VP with @BrianChard4 2 spoonbill, 6 spotted redshank. On the heath, meadow pipit feeding juvenile cuckoo was a delight & special @harbourbirds @DorsetBirdClub @Davidturner1967 @SamRyde01
🤳visitors watching spoonbill

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

Guess I should probably quit playing this fun little Grauniad word game while I'm ahead! 😁

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

This is a universal truth! 🚴‍♂️☕️😃 #TDF2024 @cyclinguk @BritishCycling

[Ms P. @damedevelo]

#cyclists my morning, so far....

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

A few 🦋(+ Odonata) highlights from a breezy walk around Badbury Rings today. A nice fresh Gatekeeper, Essex Skipper (I think - short, straight scent gland, black underside to antenna tip), Silver-Y moth?, and Golden-ringed Dragonfly. @BC_Dorset @DorsetWildlife

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

Classy. And then some. 👊

[Emily Thornberry @EmilyThornberry]

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch asking about my own future in the new Labour government. Here is my statement 👇🏽

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

Awesome news!

[Cat Hobbs @CatHobbs]

This is AMAZING 🚄🎉🚄🎉🚄

The new Labour government will finally bring our railway into PUBLIC OWNERSHIP, backed by 67% of the public

Great British Railways will be publicly owned holding company for rail franchises as private sector contracts expire

https://t.co/WcSQTvu3YC

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

@alison_copland @harbourbirds Gorgeous family photo 😍

[Gordon Brown @GordonBrown]

Keir Starmer has summed it up "today we enter the sunlight of hope". Congratulations to Keir and all @UKLabour for a resounding election victory.  My best wishes to all the new Labour MPs and, above all, I congratulate the British people who have chosen not just change, but hope.

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

"A one man moral vacuum".

Indeed.

[Dr Rachel Clarke @doctor_oxford]

Tonight Sunak thought he’d wow the voters by bringing... this... to his rally.

Yes, the man who partied his way through a pandemic, who broke the laws he wrote, who culled the herd, who lied compulsively, who let the bodies pile high in their thousands.

A one-man moral vacuum.

[Phil Bentley @nul_points]

Holy cr*p! He only went and did it. What a total legend. MARK CAVENDISH 🚴‍♂️🔥🔥🔥 #TDF2024 #TourDeFrance

[Trevor Warner @trevorw1953]

“Be careful, when a democracy is sick, fascism comes to its bedside, but it is not to inquire about its health.”
Albert Camus
#FrenchElections