NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

I had the birding-bit between my teeth this morning and was standing on Box Hill shortly after dawn. The weather forecast from the previous evening had intimated that this part of Surrey might get clipped by the odd, short, wintery shower. The large bank of low cloud that I could see quickly arriving from the west suggested a bit more than just a few minutes of sleet, and so it proved... A benign dawn, just about to give way to that bank of cloud arriving from the right... Incoming! Little visibility and certainly no birds on the move I huddled underneath a Yew tree that was able to still afford me good panoramic views, but these views waxed and waned, as did the snow fall. I stuck it out for 90 minutes, but the sky to the west remained resolutely hidden behind a low, grey, snow-filled murk. Tail between my legs, I trudged back to the car. Steve 0 Birding fail 1. The sun came out late morning, the snow did one, and even if the air temperature was still decidedly chilly, it felt spring-...

With lockdown partially eased, I felt confident enough to visit Box Hill for my first 'visible-migration' watch of the year. I took up position at my normal spot, below and to the west of the public viewpoint. This allows clear sight of birds arriving along the scarp, and also those a that are coming out of, or going into, the Mole Gap. The image above is what can be seen if you look straight ahead from my 'vis-mig' spot - the town of Dorking, with the Greensand Ridge in the far background. A small knoll, 'The Nower', is on the left-hand side (in the middle-ground), with the Mole Gap on the far right, in front of the rising hills that go up to Denbies and Ranmore. It was not a seismic migration session, as can be seen. For those of you not familiar with the migration site Trektellen, an asterisk against a species name denotes a differing direction of travel other than that which is specified. Most of my birds were, in fact, going north up the Mole Gap. Afterwar...

Dawn at Box Hill was characterised by low, misty cloud. I descended through the murk, and walked the tree-lined banks of the River Mole, eastwards as far as the garden centre bridge. There were pockets of birds to work through, best being a mixed tit and Chiffchaff flock that also held a couple of Spotted Flycatchers. Two Crossbill moved eastwards and up to four Kingfishers were noisily obvious. By 08.00hrs it started to rain in earnest and by the time I returned to the hill top I was very wet indeed. Back home a check of the moth trap revealed two of the migrant pyralid Palpita vitrealis (pictured). My first for the site was only last week.

The picture above was taken yesterday morning by Mark Davis, looking northwards from the parapet of Leith Hill Tower. It is an arresting image. In the middle ground is Box Hill, and you can clearly make out the viewpoint where a combination of the feet of thousands of visitors, and the driest May on record, have worn down the grass to a pale creamy buff. The wooded ridge behind that, all smoky blue and mysterious, is where the bulk of the 2017-18 Hawfinch irruption took up temporary residence. And looming up in the distance is the London skyline, one that, even ten years ago, would have looked very different. The tallest, needle-like structure on the right-hand side is The Shard. It is 26.5 miles - as the Hawfinch flies - from Leith Hill Tower. And beyond the structures of London you can make out the Chilterns as they run through Hertfordshire. If you do not know the area you could be forgiven for thinking that those of us who live on the capital’s fringes are looked down upon by ...

This morning found me perched on the upper slope of Box Hill, scope on tripod, by 05.45hrs. For the next four hours the first 'autumn' skywatch was made, with little real visible migration on offer, although two Little Egrets flew purposefully south at height, and a noisy flock of four Crossbills headed west. One of life's pleasures is to just wander. Pick a track, or footpath, and follow your instinct. I did this after the vis mig session, taking a minor road on the northern side of Denbies Vineyard and coming back to Westhumble via Chapel Farm Fields. I came across this... ... the remnants of Westhumble Chapel, constructed at the end of the 12th Century and desecrated by the henchmen of Henry the Eighth some 350 years later. Although I am far from a religious person, I can claim to be a spiritual one, and stood on the grassy floor of the ruin imagining the simple folk who came in to worship. What did they pray for? Who were they? Where once they knelt, there I stoo...

A fairly brief visit was made to Box Hill, primarily to go and see some Ground-pine that had come up on a small scrape (above). This is the sixth location that I have recorded this rare species from across the Uberpatch, the others sites being Langley Vale, Chipstead Bottom, Colley Hill, Juniper Hill and White Downs. There is just the one plant, but it is a good specimen, with plenty of Viper's-bugloss for company. I also went to take a look at a nearby slope that holds a good colony of Wild Liquorice (below). I last visited in 2018, and was disappointed to find that the area has scrubbed up since then, with fewer plants obvious, although one particular specimen was large and looked to be in rude health. I attempted to search (unsuccessfully) for Grapholita pallifrontana , a rare and decreasing micro moth that has Wild Liquorice as its food plant. Assumed to be extinct in Surrey, it was a long-shot anyway. The chalk downland was lively with butterflies, the dull and mu...

Looking back eastwards from White Downs earlier this week and already this autumn's birding was on my mind. Set out before us are the three 'peaks' on the North Downs that are within my uber patch. I have vis-migged from all three, but not often enough to be able to have a firm idea as to where is best. Obviously the time of year and the weather conditions play a part in which one demands my attention. Last autumn I spent more time at Box Hill and had some success (with thrushes) whereas Colley Hill fared better for finches. Ranmore didn't perform well at all. I plotted the main flight lines at the time and repeat them below. October 2019 - Box Hill migrant flight lines (mainly thrushes) October 2019 - Colley Hill migrant flight lines  The questions that are really taxing me at the moment are these. Colley Hill is further east than Box Hill. Have all (or at least most) of the birds that pass Box Hill westwards along the scarp passed Colley Hill on the way? ...

This afternoon I attended the Surrey Botanical Society AGM at Box Hill Village Hall. This was sitting in a tree outside:

To the west of Box Hill you will find a narrow river valley, formed tens of thousands of years ago by the River Mole. It must have once been a mighty river, not the shallow, sluggish water course that it is today. In recent posts you will find maps of the Box Hill area with identified flight lines of migrating birds. I have marked such flight lines along the Mole Gap, but in recent weeks the birds had not been using them - until today. I arrived at my favoured Box Hill vantage point at 06.30 hrs. It is a small area of flat ground on the scarp slope with views eastwards and, most crucially today, westwards, across the Mole Gap and on towards Ranmore. Thrushes were on the move quickly afterwards, a mixture of Redwings and Fieldfares. After approximately 75 minutes I had recorded at least a thousand of both species. By 09.00hrs the Fieldfares had tailed off, with the stream of Redwings more or less coming to a halt by 10.30hrs. An hour later I called it a day. The final totals were:...

When I stepped out of the house at 07.00hrs the air was laden with moisture. The weather forecast was that of a nagging band of rain stretched across the south-east of England, and unlikely to clear until the afternoon - but it's proposed edge was tantalisingly close to Dorking (according to one satellite image that I had looked at.) So, instead of heading to Colley Hill as intended, I made my way to Box Hill, hoping that the extra few miles west might make a difference in the weather. Arriving at Box Hill made clear that it hadn't. The roads were awash with standing water, although the headlights did pick out a few Song Thrushes having a bathe. The hill top was shrouded in mist, but walking a third of the way down the scarp allowed some semblance of visibility across Dorking and on towards the Greensand Ridge. Looking south-east I could also just about see aircraft taking off and landing at Gatwick Airport, so I was ready for action. The only problem was the persistence in t...

I knew I wouldn't be away too long... We are at the height of the visible migration season, or vis-mig if you prefer. Ed Stubbs, over at Thorncombe Street, is having a storming time this week and, apart from basking in the glory of finding a Red-throated Pipit, has written a bit about the recent history of this form of skywatching in Surrey. You can read it here. I have been having a far more modest time, but enjoyable all the same. This morning I went over to Box Hill, and stood on the slopes between 07.15 - 10.45 hrs. My reward was a steady, if unspectacular watch, with Woodpigeons on the move (1,927 south-west), my first three Brambling of the autumn, and back-up from an assortment of thrushes, finches, Starlings, and buntings. It was time well spent. What was educational were the flight-lines that the birds took. They are crudely marked out, in yellow, above. Firstly were the birds that flew from the north and headed south / south-west over and away from the scarp....

* hat doffed to one J. Lydon Esq, Flowers of Romance, PiL And that is exactly how I found myself at 06.20hrs this morning, ready for a morning of scintillating visible migration watching. By 08.20hrs I came to the belated conclusion that the birds had not read the script. A force two westerly wind, with 7/8 cloud cover, was never going to be the recipe for a memorable movement, and this was not helped by a 0/8 sky just to the north. Four House Martins heading south and two Swallows west was it as far as 'true' movement went, a pitiful return. And here are the views that were on offer from my vantage point, a third of the way down from the peak, just west of the viewpoint. Looking east, along the line of the North Downs. Gatwick Airport is out on that flat bit somewhere. Looking due south across Dorking (cue guffaws from our American friends). The River Mole is just before the closest housing. The Greensand ridge is in the distance - and here be dragons the Le...

The National Trust have recently - well, maybe three years ago now -  opened up a footpath along the northern bank of the River Mole between the Stepping Stones and Box Hill Bridge. Until this morning I had not trodden along this rather delightful stretch of prime Surrey habitat. Meandering along the flood plain at the base of the North Downs, it looks as though regular coverage would pay off. There are shallow sections of the river, deeper pools, a few small vegetated islands, copses, hedgerows running back up the hill and livestock inhabited farmland. A handful of singing Chiffchaffs announced that Spring was truly here, and a pair of Grey Wagtails gave the impression of scouting the area for possible nest sites. It was, however, a pair of Kingfishers that stole the show, with one bird, a female, giving close and prolonged views perched up in the dark tangle of waterside vegetation (above and below.) Crossing the A24 I strolled along the southern bank of the River Mo...

Another visit to the 'Mole Gap' this morning, concentrating on Box Hill. Very poor return as far as vismig was concerned, with just 60 Swallows and 15 each of House Martins and Meadow Pipits (all dribbling south). A Wheatear was on the lower slope very early on, and additional back-up was provided by a Little Egret, a Red Kite, 3 Common Buzzards, 2 Sparrowhawks, a Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaffs, a Marsh Tit and 3 Ravens.

I like counting things - birds, plants, moths, butterflies, it doesn't matter. I'll even count my books, CDs, fingers and toes if there is nothing else on offer. So when confronted with a fine show of Man Orchids on one of the lower slopes of Box Hill this morning, I started counting... a minimum of 350 spikes was the not to shabby total. I was also pleased to find my earliest ever Meadow Brown. Afterwards a quick visit was made to the eastern-end of Denbigh's Hillside where I was able to count more stuff - Adonis Blues - with at least 45 being present, but only a small part of the slope was searched. Quite a few were resting on bare ground, but a stiff breeze made photography a little challenging. Only a couple of Bee Orchids (bottom) were found.

I arrived at Bramblehall Wood shortly after dawn and had to wait for a good 15 minutes before the first two Hawfinches arrived. It then went very quiet again and, whilst wondering whether or not the flock had finally broken up, a number of birds arrived high from the top of Ashurst Rough. All the subsequent morning's action - over the course of 90 minutes - took place at the northern end of the wood, where a 100m long bank of Yew trees were being favoured. As with previous visits, the birds helped me no end with obtaining an accurate count by slowly, bird by bird, small flock by small flock, fly from the Yews, across the field, and into the opposite woodland at the base of the footpath. 275 was the 'not to shabby' final total, but undoubtably down on my two previous counts here of 600 and 550 (on March 13th and 20th respectively). There was little in the way of additional bundles of Hawfinches flying in to join the main flock and calling was much subdued - it felt like w...

Maybe the Hawfinch bubble is starting to leak air, if not actually burst yet. This morning saw a check of sites west of the Mole Gap, and although I had many encounters with the 'big-bills', they were fewer in number, with the actual bird counts down as well. It is about time that the flocks should start to disperse, although the historical record does show that large flocks can be recorded well into April. My totals were: Dorking Wood (22), Chapelhill Wood (20), Bagden Wood (2), Freehold Wood (1), Polesden Lacey (1), Ranmore Common (6). I did pop onto the top of Box Hill for a crafty look but this could only muster two Hawfinches - again, down on recent days. This is nature's kind way of weaning me off of them...

It had been a week since I last visited Bramblehall Wood to count the Hawfinches, although visits had been made to outlying areas in the past few days that suggested good numbers would still be present. On arrival at 06.15hrs three Hawfinches flew over Whitehill car park and by the time I reached my viewpoint overlooking the wood quite a few were already perched up in the bare tree tops, favouring the northern end (taster video above - the BBC Natural History Film Unit has nothing to worry about). At least 270 were counted, and when these birds moved along the tree-line in a northerly direction I carried on southwards. More birds soon arrived, coming from the south and also off the top of Ashurst Rough, mainly heading to where the earlier birds had been - as in recent visits a steady passage helped me to obtain an accurate count. When I reached an additional total of 280, a mass of 300 birds came back along the woodland edge, swirling in front of me before bursting through the treet...

A brief but successful undercover 'tea-and-cake' outing to the Box Hill Visitor Centre. There was a side-show of course - that of the Hawfinches. Due west of the cafeteria the steep slopes are generously clothed in Yew, and a couple of flocks (28 and 9) were seen to emerge from the plateau woodland and spill down into their favoured trees. A nearby bench was used as a handy hide, as birds flew in and out, one group of five being seen to fly out high and depart westwards. Much calling and much fun was had by all. 300m to the north a pair were perched up on prominent beech trees with a further bird calling from stunted Yews nearby. According to one of the NT volunteers, birds are being seen throughout the day in the vicinity of the car parks. Over the past two days I have seen birds easily (between 10.45 - 15.15hrs). Seeing as this necessitates little walking, they are probably the easiest Hawfinches to see locally, with the timing of the visit not being much of a factor.

The forecast of a very wet dawn had postponed my planned visit to Bramblehall Wood, but the rain had abated by 08.00hrs so the decision was made to check on Juniper Bottom. This was mainly due to my having seen at least 115 birds there two days ago and the suspicion that the enormous flock from Bramblehall Wood, (once it has headed up the slope and onto Ashurst Rough and Juniper Top) was then spreading out into Juniper Bottom (and beyond). And so it proved. By 08.45hrs I had taken up my position allowing clear views of the banks of Yew, and the bare deciduous tree-tops, on the eastern flank. Hawfinches were already on show. For the next hour flocks were largely spilling over into the valley from the high ground to the south-east (Juniper Top). They were making their way either northwards along the eastern ridge, or flying across the valley and up onto the western ridge (Box Hill and Lodge Hill). In between frequent showers I was able to witness a number of sizeable flocks on the mo...