NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Sat hello to Cydalima perspectalis , otherwise known as the Boxworm Moth . It was first recorded in the UK some 10 years ago, but has only just started to spread out across the home counties and further afield. This Asian species was most probably imported with its foodplant, Box, but here lies the problem... it can be a pest on Box, which, when involving the cultivated specimens in people's gardens is merely an inconvenience... but let these moths loose on Box Hill and surrounds, then it could cause quite a problem for the truly wild, and local, Box. So when I found one nestled in the bottom of the garden MV this morning it was a mixture of delight (never seen one before) and horror (I'm not that far, as the moth flies from wild Box.)

Langley Vale Farm was awash with the colour red this morning, as a number of the fields that have been allowed to 'rewild' have found that the Common Poppy has taken a liking to them. In a few corners Opium Poppy is the dominant species, and in between this festival of poppies are huge numbers of Common Field Speedwell, Scarlet Pimpernel, Field Pansy, Black Bindweed... I could go on. Needless to say, it is a visual feast. Also on show (and carrying on the red theme) were a minimum of nine Red Hemp-nettles (below), freshly coming into flower. This is a screaming rarity in the county.

I recently mentioned that we have lived in our house for almost 30 years, and during that time have run a moth trap in the garden. It seems a good time to look back over those 'mothing years' and try and pick out any themes, trends, surprises, gains and losses. One post cannot do it justice, so thought I'd kick it all off with a look at the site itself. On August 14th 1987, Katrina and I moved into our three bedroomed house in Banstead, northern Surrey. It is an area that could best be described as 'leafy suburbia', positioned between Banstead Downs and Epsom Downs, relatively high on the chalk, and surrounded by 1930s housing. Most of the houses nearby had mature gardens, varying in sizes. Ours was well stocked with plants, had a 30ft front and 90ft back garden, which butted up to an area of 'wild' ground. A mature ash tree, a Lawson's Cypress and a small pond were further features. During the past thirty years there have been changes - the wild ...

Only the second record for the garden. Enjoy.

One of the fascinating aspects of running an MV at the same site over a number of years is to experience the changes of fortune across the species that are being recorded. This August will see the 30th anniversary of us moving to our house in Banstead, and I have run a trap in the garden throughout - plenty of bloggage material there! As a taster, here is a species that has seen a big increase in the incidence of it being recorded and the numbers of individuals trapped - Beautiful Hook-tip. Over the past 10 days I have recorded it daily, with up to three in a single night. Back in 1987, this was but a dream moth, not appearing in the garden until the mid-1990s and could only be regarded as annual these past five years. The data is full of winners and losers. It makes fascinating reading. I will post more later in the summer.

I visited Priest Hill SWT Reserve for the first time since early May this afternoon, which fortuitously coincided with a Surrey Botanical Society field trip. The society were there to survey the chalk scrapes, which are being steadily colonised by flowers - some plants by natural means, and other species by deliberate spreading of seed, such as the Broad-leaved Cudweed (above). This species is just clinging on at nearby Banstead Downs, but only just. Seed taken from here, by licence, and then spread at Priest Hill safeguards its future just in case the small colony nearby does succumb. More Broad-leaved Cudweed, with the leaves overtopping the heads, plus yellow-tipped bracts. The spread of Kidney Vetch (below) has been spectacular, which has resulted in the colonisation of the site by the Small Blue butterfly. None were seen today, although the dull and breezy conditions did not help in my search for them. It was good to catch up with the SBS team, and a pleasure to spend ...

The heatwave continues, with the Met Office suggesting that here in the south-east we might be hitting 34C today. This mornings check of the garden MV was disappointing. Before the weather conditions became too oppressive, I visited Juniper Bottom (to the NE of Box Hill) that offered a handful of Dark Green and Silver-washed Fritillaries, and then the Box Hill zig-zag, where up to 400 Marbled Whites (above) and 60+ Dark Green Fritillaries danced above the grassy slopes. I also came across 5 spikes of Musk Orchid (below) - without my DSLR, the bridge camera struggled to focus on the plant, as it blended in seamlessly with the grass stems in front, alongside and behind it! A single Marsh Tit was heard calling. Also present at both sites were a number of Banded Demoiselle (below), some way from water, the nearest source being the River Mole, some half mile away. This female can be told from the similar Beautiful Demoiselle by exhibiting a white (and not buff) spot near the tip o...

The MV was a bit livelier this morning, with higher numbers (and species composition) of moths. There was one clear highlight - a Scarlet Tiger - a garden first and county rarity to boot. This is the 554th species of moth recorded here, of which 397 are 'macros'. This exposes a few things - the fine cross section of larger moths that the garden has played host to; the length of recording (almost 30 years); and the low number of 'micros' on the list...

Argyresthia brookeela - a smart little micro When the temperature reaches 32C in the shade, it's not just us that start to melt and want a lie down, the birds, moths and butterflies do too. This afternoon saw me at Park Downs, unable to get much in the way of my hoped for pictures of Dark Green Fritillaries - they were skittish and fretful. In fact, there were few butterflies on the wing all round, and those that were didn't want to land. Checking the garden MV on very warm mornings becomes difficult, as the moths are restless and will bolt as soon as you peer into the trap or lift an egg box. A pristine Blackneck would have made a lovely picture, but it left me for dead as I reached for a pot - maybe a lesson to take in what is before me, rather than automatically reach for a container with photography on my mind. The VES lure came up trumps again in the garden yesterday, with an Orange-tailed Clearwing, that danced before me allowing close views, but didn't settle a...

The first peer into the garden MV this morning was rewarded with a single Bordered Straw sitting on top of an egg box - my first Banstead record since the 1996 invasion - but things got better... This is Phtheochroa sodaliana , a scarce and very local resident of chalk downland. In the 'Smaller Moths of Surrey' (published in 2012) there are only four recent records, the latest being in 2005. A brief search on other county websites suggest that this species really is hard to come across. Luckily for me it is a distinctive moth, as my micro identification abilities are not the best.

I spent all of yesterday wandering the slopes of Pewsey Downs in Wiltshire, a return to my ancestral roots. From the top of Milk, Walker's and Knapp Hill, you can look southwards across the fertile plains towards Salisbury Plain or north through farmland peppered with burial mounds and standing stones. It is a world of big skies and lay lines, a place with one foot still firmly in the past. From a distance it appears an unbroken green. But if you venture into the steep-sided valleys, or contour you way around a hill, you will soon come across the chalk downland flowers, in places a riot of colour. Orchids carpet the ground, with Common Spotted numbering well into six figures. Apart from the ubiquitous Common Spotted I also recorded Frog (two individuals showing the variation in colour above), Lesser Butterfly (below, just going over), Bee, Chalk Fragrant and Pyramidal. I have seen Burnt here, but they are a late flowerer at this site. Although the day was sunny...

Elegant Tern at Pagham Harbour? Red-footed Falcon at Frensham Common? Squacco Heron at Dungeness? Nah... why not be perverse and stay local, you never know what you might find. And find I did - maybe not headline grabbing birds like those above, but species that got my juices flowing... Scarlet Pimpernel (blue form and maybe the ssp foemina) This is a 'normal' blue form, overlapping 'full' petals, shortish sepals Putative foemina, showing petals that do not overlap, are not as 'full', with seemingly longer sepals ssp foemina is meant to be smaller and slighter - these do look it to me compared to the red Pimpernels I have posted these images on a couple of botanical Facebook groups and emailed my trusted Surrey botanical contacts, but so far nobody has commented. Feel free to do so if you have any thoughts! Seen on farmland at Langley Vale, Surrey. Yellow-legged Clearwing The lawn was mowed, the sun was out and I thought "Why not put ...

The garden MV has not been switched on for several weeks, the longest period of idleness for many a year. Last night, at dusk, and not without a touch of ceremony, the bulb was lit and I wandered up to the trap to make sure that all was well. OUCH! I looked down at my foot to see the bee that had stung me - it looked like a Buff-tailed to me. This morning I peered in the trap to see a fair number of moths, at least 20+ bees and also the beast that is pictured above - a male Stag Beetle. I have only seen a single female in 30 years of living here, but used to come across them regularly in Cheam Village when I resided there. I understand that they are still doing well there this summer. As for the bee numbers, I now notice a hole in the ground close to a Lawson's Cypress stump that is being used by them, just inches away from the MV. The trap will need to be re-sited... This afternoon, elder daughter Rebecca and I visited Park Downs - (it was a choice between that or Bluewa...

Part 11 - April 1976   I had booked onto an RSPB/YOC course to be held at Dungeness Bird Observatory, in Kent, along with my birding friends Mark and Neil Greenway. Being one of the places that was dear to HG Alexander's heart, I was more than a little excited about being there, but my first impressions as we drove onto the peninsula were not favourable.  It appeared an open waste of shingle, strewn with ramshackle dwellings and set against the backdrop of a vast nuclear power station that had squeezed perspective to such an extent that it appeared two-dimensional, as if it were merely an enormous theatrical backdrop. Peering from the car as it made its way along the single road towards the peninsula’s point, I wondered what on earth I have let myself in for.  I had tenuous links to Dungeness from family trips taken at Camber Sands a few years earlier.   From there I had stared at the lines of pylons disappearing eastwards to converge menacingly at some distant...

A final trawl through my late-Spring fortnight at Dungeness, by the simple medium of captioned photographs. Keeping it simple... Four-spotted Chasers were common throughout my stay, although towards the end up to 400 were present Sea Kale was at its best, strewn across the open shingle and beach looking like giant cauliflowers Marsh Cinquefoil vanished from the DBO recording area in 1984, but has recently returned The pale yellow and orange patches is Common Dodder - a parasitic plant that is having a very good year Sea Clover at Camber. A plant that I rarely come across

I was delighted to welcome a car-load of Dungeness naturalists to the Box Hill area today, as Dave Walker, Gill Hollamby and Owen Leyshon made the trip north to sample some of the delights to be found on the chalk. We started off by visiting the Wild Candytuft (below) that can be found on the slopes of Mickleham Downs. Although numbers seem to have dropped off recently, several robust specimens where found in fine flower. A few Stinking Hellebores were nearby. After parking at the top of Box Hill, we slowly walked eastwards along the ridge as far as Brockham, where we paid our respects to the large colony of Green Hound's-tongue, mostly over, although several were still exhibiting some flower. We retraced our steps, zig-zagging across the open chalk downland, finding Man Orchid, Bee Orchid, Common Spotted Orchid, Chalk Fragrant Orchid, Common Twayblades, Pyramidal Orchid and, under beech woodland, Bird's-nest Orchid. The orchid numbers were not as high as previous yea...