NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

On arrival at Denbigh's Hillside at 06.30hrs I was confronted by a most arresting sight. The lower valleys were all fog bound, giving off the illusion of a vast inland sea. The video above, and the images below, really do not do it justice. Birding wise a pleasant morning and early afternoon, with a Goshawk, three Red Kites, 12+ Common Buzzards, three Stonechats, 20+ Chiffchaffs and four Ravens. To the sound of cranking Ravens and mewing Buzzards and Kites I was delighted to watch at least 10 Clouded Yellows patrolling the slopes, with the odd butterfly stopping to nectar (below). And last, but not least, a weedy strip in one of the fields beneath the hills held Broad-leaved Spurge, with the fruits exhibiting the tell-tale warts (below). My luck was in as I checked just the one plant!

It has hardly got light here in Banstead today, a stygian gloom more reminiscent of mid-winter. But, after an almost full day spent decorating (well 'full' as far as I'm concerned), I hot-footed it up onto Langley Vale Farm for a spot of botanising. I chose to check the fields at the base of the slope close to Nohome Farm. It was all quite pleasant. The Wild Carrot was wonderful, as the two images above show. This field has been chosen by the Woodland Trust as a 'wildflower' meadow, and what pops up here is a mixture of species that were here before and those courtesy of seeding. I'm sure the Wild Carrot is a mixture of both sources. Although cloudy, it was muggy, so a few butterflies were on the wing. Highlight - by a country mile - was a single Clouded Yellow (top image), my first this year. I was also pleased to find a robust Round-leaved Fluellen (above and below), a brute of a plant, nothing like the weedy stems I usually find. Last but...

Lepidoptera to the rescue! The birding was ordinary (putting a spin on it) or disappointing (to be perfectly honest). However, one of the many joys of Dungeness is that it is not just about the birds. Barry B arrived mid-morning with a Radford's Flame Shoulder, a five-star rarity of a moth that is having something of an exceptional Autumn, so those five stars may well be downgraded to four. Also, there was an helice form Clouded Yellow butterfly, found along the front of the power station, visiting flowers in an increasingly warm sunshine. The intense yellow underwing, complete with burning white orb, was a reminder of the fast fading season, a late burst of visual warmth before the Autumn fades into early winter. Sad and happy at the same time. Bittersweet butterfly watching.

It's been a clear three months since I've birded at Canons Farm. Lured out by the (imagined) promise of passerine migrants, I toiled under a hot sun for close to six hours, and was scantly rewarded with a Wheatear, a Willow Warbler and low level counts of Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Whitethroats and Swallows. Just as well I don't wear 'birding blinkers'... Butterflies to the rescue? Well, yes and no. Numbers were pants. However, two Clouded Yellows (Reeds Rest Bottom and Fames Rough) were a delight, especially as these were fully coloured-up individuals, unlike my previous two records from here, which were both of the pale helice form. A briefly showy Brown Hairstreak presented itself along a hedgerow by Woodpecker Meadow, and a tatty Silver-washed Fritillary was just about flying at Fames Rough. None of those to be sniffed at. Botanical highlight was, without doubt, a mass-flowering of Devil's-bit Scabious. The whole of Sheep Brow seems to be covered in lit...

After a week away, it was back to the orchid fields of Park Downs this morning. From a distance it looked as if the vegetation had been delicately washed with a giant paintbrush, the colour being so subtle - yet at the same time strikingly beautiful. The photo cannot do it justice. Up close, the flowers that were responsible for the colouring could be discerned. The pinks and purples came courtesy of Marjoram (with a little dab of Knapweed), the yellows were largely Common Ragwort (plus subtle hints from Wild Parsnip) and the splashes of white being Wild Carrot. On the slopes a combination of the sun and the increasing warmth ensured that a number of Chalkhill Blues were on the wing, together with a few Marbled Whites. Prize butterfly though was awarded to a helice form of Clouded Yellow, which flew around me for several minutes, alighting briefly before heading up high, crossing the road and onto the Holly Lane Meadow. I had some success with a couple of rare plants nearb...

Clouded Yellow of the form helice, a welcome surprise this morning. The first CFBW Bird Group ‘Butterfly and Plant’ walk was held today, which I co-lead with Paul Goodman. Our group comprised 20 in total, with familiar faces such as Peter Wakeham, Peter Alfrey, Neil Stocks, Ian Jones and his wife, Ian Magness and, of course, David Campbell (who ensured that there were at least one pair of eyes trained onto the sky). We basically walked along Chipstead Bottom and then looped through Banstead Woods before retracing our steps back to the Holly Lane car park. It was a great success, with a total of 23 species of butterfly being seen, including a magnificent helice form of Clouded Yellow, which performed immaculately for the cameras. Also seen were a Painted Lady, 3 Silver-washed Fritillary, 50+ Chalkhill Blue and 5 Purple Hairstreak. Plants were not to be outdone, with a single (unflowering) Cut-leaved Germander, a new White Mullein plant being found at a new site, Pale St.J...