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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 16h

Be careful, squirrel. You may live in the grounds of a nice French chateau (I think it was Chenonceau in this case). But #itsajungleoutthere For #PalaceandGardens by @sabineshutterbug.bsky.social and @annalois36.bsky.social #photography

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 23h

Sometimes you get lucky with the light. Here's a Florida pelican in #black&white for today's #BirdoftheDay by @atlanticbirding.bsky.social #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'd been saving something nice for #BirdoftheDay and Rob's #BestoftheMonth but yesterday I went down to my favourite hide by the Rhone river ponds. Bingo. #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"Sorry Fabulous, it's that #BirdoftheDay crowd again. They want something beginning with F." "Is that why you're pointing your thing at my feet?" "No Fab, it's because you're a Flamingo". "But how will anyone guess that?" "Trust me on this one, Fab..." #EFG #Photography #Birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Oooh, #bokehbirds, my favourite. Here's an incoming Black-headed-gull cruising our local ponds, pursued by a bonus array of bokeh balls. For today's #BirdoftheDay by @helenbennett.bsky.social #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It's felt like a difficult year for #dragonflies with so many long droughts across Europe. Maybe I've just focused too much on #butterflies. So here to make up is a nicely backlit pair of blue damselflies doing their bit to spread the species. #macromonday #odonata #photography

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Very tempting to double up today on #airborne #seabirds for #BirdoftheDay by @atlanticbirding.bsky.social. But after that parched summer, we're looking forward to some winter action in our garden. Here's a Great Tit performing midair acrobatics earlier this year... #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

We've seen lots of Hummingbird Hawk-Moths in our garden this year, but last night as darkness fell, we were treated to a first ever visit from its amazing larger cousin. The arrival of the nocturnal #Convulvulus Hawk-Moth caused panic to find my flash. I set up just in time... #TeamMoth #Stunday

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I've also got an entry for the main #pairs theme of today's #BirdoftheDay by @robcrank68.bsky.social Here's a pair of Curlews shortly after take-off... #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

For #BirdoftheDay today I'm going with the alt theme of #green by @robcrank68.bsky.social - and doubling up for #smallbirdsaturday by @janesgallery.bsky.social Here's a first for me from my outing yesterday: a migrating Northern Wheatear taking a rest in an Alpine meadow. #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

For #InsectThursday I think it's time I moved on from the Alps, but no collection of Alpine #butterflies would be complete without the magnificent Apollo.

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

There's only one Passerine (perching bird) that counts among #TheDivers. Here's the unique Dipper swimming along a tumbling mountain stream for today's #BirdoftheDay by @helenbennett.bsky.social #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

With perfect timing, @atlanticbirding.bsky.social seeks #raptors for today's #BirdoftheDay. I'm struggling to ID the raptor I spotted in a French field yesterday. It's a Buzzard, but a migrating Long-legged or a Common pale morph? It took off before I could ask it... #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

It's hard to find #redheads redder-headed than the Crested Partridge. I wish I could say I'd found it in its natural forest habitat in Borneo, but no such luck. It's part of a French breeding programme for vulnerable species. For #BirdoftheDay by @robcrank68.bsky.social #birds #photography

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

There's not much snow left on the lower Alps after successive heatwaves this summer. But the nights are getting colder.... #MountainMonday #letitsnow

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

For #macromonday, here's one of my favourite pictures from my recent Alpine adventure: neither bird nor butterfly but Carpenter Bee, it's violet wings catching the light just so. #insect #photography

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

For today's #BirdoftheDay by @alan678.bsky.social here's another view of the egret pair I watched fighting (or courting) in the evening #LightandShadow of a French pond last week. #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Turkey 1: "Those #BirdoftheDay people are after us" Turkey2: "What have we done now?" Turkey 1: "They think we look funny". Turkey 2: "You ever see a naked human?" Turkeys 1&2: "gobblegobblegobblegobble" For #CaptionthatBird by @helenbennett.bsky.social #photography #birds

A pair of plump American wild turkeys out for a stroll, their black chest feathers puffed out and their brown tails displayed as fans behind them

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

It's late in the year to be finding Grebe chicks on our local lake, but here's one I spotted this week. That red mark is known as a crown patch - it gets redder in distress and alerts the parents that kiddo is hungry.... For #SmallBirdSaturday by @janesgallery.bsky.social #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I'm doubling up on today's #BirdoftheDay by @atlanticbirding.bsky.social I've got an #elegant Goliath heron (left) suddenly turned into a #scruffy monster (right). I almost dropped my camera. They call it "puffing up" to deter or impress. I call it #MAXIFLOOF #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Thrilled to have been included in this Bluesky-based celebration of the anything but ordinary. A terrific read with images you might never imagine could be beautiful.

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It's a tough day for #BirdoftheDay regular Graham Jones, aka @oldmanrambling.bsky.social. Rob thinks he'd like to see lots of Robins, his late wife's favourite bird. Luckily a Robin has returned to our garden for the first time in months. So my #Flyday post today is #ForJanet #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

An early autumn visitor to our garden this year was this Marsh Tit, which stops by most mornings for breakfast. Here he is half an hour ago, just in time for the #Paridae theme of #BirdoftheDay by @robcrank68.bsky.social #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

For today's #Birdoftheday the theme is #ODG and @alan678.bsky.social wants to see owls, ducks or geese. Here's a low-flying male Shelduck in a hurry. The red knob on his beak is activated for emergencies. #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

For #InsectThursday, an all-out #butterfly clearance sale from my summer Alpine sortie. See alt text for ID. All these species seen during a three day solo sprint up the mountains. Only another dozen or so to post! Is there anyone from #TeamMoth who can help me with that yellowy Crocota (see alt)?

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I'm not sure I've got today's theme for #PalacesandGardens entirely right, but I'm going with the 'Color Twin' matching pairs of #PompandPatterns. If you are wondering what colour feathers to stick on the helmets of your palace guards, look no further than autumnal leaves...

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

No, those aren't Russian missiles heading our way. They're the pointy red tips of an Agave cactus. For #RedWed and #ColoraDay #macro #photography

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The lilac bush towering over our garden is full of berries - and birds. Here's a Song Thrush checking out the buffet for today's #BirdoftheDay theme of #BirdswithBerries by @helenbennett.bsky.social #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Those crosses come in very handy when you need an elevated perch... For the #silhouette theme of #BirdoftheDay by @atlanticbirding.bsky.social #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

A triple Alpine fritillary whammy from me for #MacroMonday. Gotta get these #butterflies posted somehow. They look very much alike, but those patterns on their wings reveal their secrets. From left to right: Glanville, High Brown and Knapweed.

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

A proud pair of White Stork parents-to-be guard their nest last Spring. I returned a few weeks later to find them taking it in turns to feed several chicks. For the #Mamas&Papas theme of today's #BirdoftheDay by @robcrank68.bsky.social #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I spent this morning at a medieval festival, one of the most popular autumn pastimes in my part of France. The locals parade around town in suits of armour, leper's rags, royal finery and whatnot. They are fabulous to photograph, but here for #Stunday is a quieter moment. #street #portrait #B&W

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I've got a slightly more conventional offering for #SmallBirdSaturday by @janesgallery.bsky.social. Here's a young French Starling perched on a cable a couple of days ago. #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

WAITING FOR GODWIT A new play by Samuel Peckitt (Plot abstract) Heron: “Let's go." Seagull: "We can't." Heron: "Why not?" Seagull: "We're waiting for Godwit.” For the #BirdsinAbstract theme of #BirdoftheDay by Helen Beckett, oops, that's @helenbennett.bsky.social. #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

For #Flyday, something I've never seen before. I was watching a Great White Heron fishing in the evening light yesterday when a second heron swooped across the pond and attacked. Was it territorial defense? A mating gambit? I just kept clicking and this was the result. #photography #birds #BIF

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I'm not entirely sure whether this Bald Ibis was building a nest or engaging in forest clearance for a new housing development. Either way, that's quite a #mouthful for today's #BirdoftheDay by @atlanticbirding.bsky.social #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

It's #FireHydrantFriday (again)! In the days before fire engines, of course, residents of medieval towns and villages put their fires out by passing buckets from the nearest water fountain. Here's an ancient hydrant from the northern Italian town of Cuneo... #aofoto

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

A second trawl through my Alpine #butterfly files produced this gem: two Silver-spotted Skippers close in on an unsuspecting Dark Green Fritillary. "OK skip, I'll distract him from the front, you bite his bum and we'll have this nice pink plant to ourselves" #insectThursday

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Their highnesses Sabine and Anna Lois are seeking "the tools of the (reading and writing) trade" for the #PagesandPalaces theme of #PalacesandGardens today. And what would Leonardo da Vinci have done without his biros and pencils? From the gift shop of the Chateau du Clos Lucé, LdV's French home.

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

For #insectThursday I've got yet another #butterfly from my Alpine adventures, this one a Southern White Admiral displaying the stunning difference in the patterns on its upper- and underwings. #lepidoptera #photography

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Here's a French Barn Swallow that passes for #black&white in flight but close-up displays a glossy blue #iridescence, thereby qualifying it for both themes by @robcrank68.bsky.social for today's #BirdoftheDay. Double points please, Rob! #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Once again I've been slow to notice a popular hashtag - in this case #RedWed for #ColorADay. I yield to no man (or woman) in my enthusiasm for #red. Here's a Six-spot Burnet #moth that posed nicely for me in the Alps last month. #lepidoptera #photography

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

For #BirdoftheDay today @alan678.bsky.social is looking for #ABCD birds. Here's a young B-l-AC-k Re-D-st-A-rt sitting up nicely last week. Bonus points, please! #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

For the #BirdBuddies theme of #BirdoftheDay by @helenbennett.bsky.social I've got a Lapwing and an Avocet enjoying a companionable wander in a shallow Mediterranean lagoon... #photography #birds

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I'm a mountain dweller these days but sometimes I miss those late evening strolls along the Atlantic shores... #TidesOutTuesday

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Tony Allen-Mills @taminf.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

It's nice when a new #butterfly turns up in your garden, right? Sadly, the beautiful Geranium Bronze is widely treated as a pest. The females deposit their eggs on #geranium stems and buds and the larvae then destroy the plant. How sad to have to shoo it away (more in alt.txt) #MacroMonday

The geranium Bronze is a South African butterfly accidentally imported to Europe on geranium plants in the late 1970s. It has since wrought havoc on the commercial plant business across western Europe. Euro scientists are still searching for a pesticide that kills the butterflies without killing the plants...

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