Surrey-by-the-sea


This image may not mean much to the majority of birders -  but to me and one or two other 'Surrey-ites' it is an image of hope. You see that sliver of silver in the middle of the picture? That is the English Channel at Shoreham, spied through a gap in the South Downs. And, get this, this photograph was taken from the top of Leith Hill tower, IN SURREY! Yes, we can, believe it or not, see the sea from this land-locked and most ornithologically deprived of counties. Just this small consolation prize can open up the mind to all sorts of possibilities. I am imagining a conveyor belt of migrants arriving over the sea, heading for that gap and making a bee-line for the Surrey Hills, and then spreading out across the high plateau that I haunt. Hirundines, chats, warblers, all waiting for the nod of Spring. And I'm here waiting for them... with the patience of a Saint and the hope of a chronic optimist. My plan is for a 100% on foot traipse around the mini-Uber patch tomorrow - and being the month of March I really should see one or two signs of movement. I will report back.

Comments

martinf said…
Mowed the lawn today, birds were singing and bumblebee queens were visiting daffs. Spring is on its way....
1 March 2020 at 15:34
Mick Lacey said…
Good luck for the season Steve, the arrival of spring is just the best feeling for a naturalist, incidentally here in Derbyshire once when doing some viz mig on Totley Moss we could see the towers of the Humber Bridge through our scopes, I have never seen it since.
2 March 2020 at 16:14
Steve Gale said…
Martin and Mick - May your Springs be sprung with joy! Cannot wait. First ‘true’ migrant today on an abridged walk. Will post about it tomorrow.
2 March 2020 at 18:08
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