NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

My birding throughout February 2025 had more than a passing resemblance to my birding during February 2018 - both of these February's being dominated by mud and Hawfinches. For those unaware, the winter of 2017-18 - and particularly the months of February and March 2018 - was witness to an unprecedented irruption of Hawfinches from the continent (their origins being way, way eastwards most probably). I spent an unhealthy amount of time tracking them down across 'my' section of the Surrey North Downs and have written about that unforgettable period elsewhere (there is a tab somewhere up above where you can access that). I never thought that I would be able to witness its like again. I was to be proved semi-wrong... There had been hints at it being a decent Hawfinch winter already - I had recorded 150 at Ashurst Roughs last month but subsequent searches had not replicated those numbers, although counts of 20-30 were easily made at Dorking Wood over towards Ranmore, a tidy num...

It was the 18th-century French philosopher Voltaire who said that you must "cultivate your own garden" - in other words, if you conduct your life in a nurturing and productive way, and be able to ignore how others are looking after theirs, then you will be playing your part in trying to make the world a happier and more fulfilling place. I am increasingly trying to follow this ethos in the way that I conduct my natural history study. If I can try and act responsibly in the light of climate change then, even though my small efforts will make not a halfpenny of difference on their own, if everybody else followed suit then my actions would be part of a greater good - so, the car increasingly stays at home; I walk as much as I can; local birding is the number one choice; importance is attached to the sharing of my results as a way to encourage others to do likewise. I could do so much more to 'cultivate my garden' - we are a three car family; I still eat meat and dairy; I...

After a few months of being unable to upload images on Blogger I have finally found a solution and can now post with the addition of photographic excellence (or dodgy bridge camera efforts) to brighten up the dull wordage - just in time for the first monthly round-up of 2025. But before that, below are a few images that I was keen to share last year but found myself unable to do so. In September (22nd) I was staying at Dungeness Bird Observatory when word went out that Dave Bunney had discovered a Western Bonelli's Warbler in his garden. After a brief dash across the shingle we were soon watching this most subtle beauty, a concoction of silky white and lime-green. It remained in the garden for all-comers to see but was not present the following morning. The locals were right - any warbler in Dave's garden never stays for more than a day - and what a tremendous list of warblers this modest patch of greenery boasts. Beats the four species that I can claim! The Bonelli's Warbl...