NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Banstead Downs sits just to the south of the Greater London boundary - in fact, if you cross the road at its northern limit you will be straying into the London Borough of Sutton. This relatively modest area of chalk downland has a decent record of natural history recording (no doubt due to the close proximity of London) and so for the local naturalist there is the pleasure of being able to browse historical species lists across several groups. Having lived in the general area for 55 years my ventures onto this particular downland were primarily in search of its birds, plants and butterflies, but recently that has shifted to dipping in-and-out of the wonderful array of invertebrates that it has to offer. This morning I had a small window of opportunity to go exploring. There is one small area on the eastern flank that I make a bee-line for, with low vegetation choked with Bramble, Stinging-nettle, Cow Parsley and Hogweed (with a dash of Horse-radish for good measure). It is next to a l...

Banstead Downs can be reached by foot within 10 minutes from home, yet it is a place that I strangely neglect. Ornithologically it doesn't have a lot going for it, although had I been there on May 21st 1956 I would have seen a Lesser Grey Shrike. However, botanically it has its highlights, and can boast a long and notable list of invertebrates. My three hours spent meandering across the area yesterday morning was most rewarding. I pointed the camera at whatever took my fancy and then attempted to identify the subject matter on returning home. The big drawback to this method is that an awful lot will remain unidentified - this doesn't bother me too much, as it can be highly educational whittling a species down to just its family level. Surprises abounded. A largish colony (1,000+ plants) of Betony. A clump of Bear's Breech a good mile or two away from the closest garden. Another Graphosoma italicum on the same stand of Hogweed as earlier in the week. The amount of Hemp ...

The Banstead Downs Conservators have obviously been busy recently, judging by the large area of scrub at the southern end of the site that has been cleared. Home to large colonies of both Small and Chalkhill Blue butterflies, this site management should do wonders for the spread of the butterflies food plants (Kidney and Horseshoe Vetch). When I first set foot on these downs in the mid-1970s it was an open area with light scrub, and still supported breeding Grasshopper Warbler and Tree Pipit. Both were gone by the 1990s, due to the scrubbing up on site and other factors away from the locality. Stirling efforts by work parties over recent years has opened up much of the area once again. I've always struggled to see much of ornithological interest here, but that has not been the case for all birders -  on 21st May 1956, W.P. Izzard had the good fortune to come across a Lesser Grey Shrike, and in addition, a Pratincole sp was observed by an unnamed observer flying over the downs ...

Late afternoon yesterday on Banstead Downs was one for the aesthete, not necessarily the birder. A beautiful, still and golden end to the day was ample reward enough and covered up the lack of birds - a small number of thrushes coming into roost was about it. A number of Hazel trees (below) were seemingly sculptured with golden thread, resplendent with catkins and a few remaining nuts. So, daydreams of owls, shrikes and other desirable finds were put on hold as I took in what was before me - a peaceful, if cold, wonderland.

Over the weekend I paid a brief visit to Banstead Downs. The amount of flower on show was terrific - locally we seem to be experiencing a great flowering at the moment, at least on our precious chalk downland. The most eye-catching was this Kidney Vetch, which will be good news for the Small Blue colony, as this is their food plant. There was plenty of Fairy Flax, Bird's-foot Trefoil and Dropwort also on show. The only slight downer was that the patch of Basil-Thyme (very local in Surrey) is much smaller this year. It seems to be getting crowded out by coarse grasses.

After two weeks of being housebound, the antibiotics and antivirals seem to have done the trick and I once more ventured into the great outdoors! An easy wander seemed the most sensible thing to embark upon, so I kept myself to this winding lane that meanders through Canons Farm: You can scan most of the farm from this road, with several vantage points that give the observer a good 360 degree panorama. I stood with scope on tripod for a couple of hours but it was very hard work, although 16 Skylarks, 100 Fieldfares and 20 Yellowhammers kept me company. I then went back (for the third time this year) to try and see the wintering Firecrests on Banstead Downs. They are but a couple of hundred metres from where you can park a car, so once again I wasn't overdoing it. On their chosen footpath all was ominously quiet, but seeing that the sun was shining and there was scarcely a breeze I ventured out onto the eastern (open) side of a substantial stand of holly and was soon watching...

The picture above was taken from the top of Box Hill, looking down onto the River Mole at the Burford Bridge. The last time that the river burst its banks to such a dramatic extent was back in the late 1960s, so this is a rare sight indeed. The water had receded since this morning as the A24 (you can just about make out a few cars in the image) was apparently closed due to surface water. When we drove along it this afternoon, all was OK. Yesterday was a carbon copy of December 22nd/23rd, with high winds and a constant, heavy rain. More is promised in the next few days. I do feel for those who live in areas that are threatened by rising water - it puts our bit of water coming in through a side bay roof into perspective. This morning I went to pay my respects to the wintering Firecrests on Banstead Downs. For the fifth winter running, between 1-3 birds have set up home west of the Banstead Downs Golf Club house, along a footpath with plenty of holly and ivy as cover. I saw two birds...