NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

The latest Government suggestion is that we behave as if we ‘have the virus’, which would mean that none of us leave home for any reason at all - no shopping, no going to work, no exercise. The GOV.UK website is, however, suggesting that we can still exercise, once a day and locally. There is no definition of ‘local’ nor of any time constraint. And does exercise mean that we can birdwatch during said exercise? From a personal point of view, seeing that the government have announced that fishing and rough shooting can be considered as exercise, I’m taking that as a green light to carry my binoculars without guilt. As for the vague definition of what is local, I’ve decided to only birdwatch from home, on foot. In effect this has confined my birding radius to Canons Farm, Epsom and Walton Downs, Epsom Common and the watery Ewell sites (plus the dry Priest Hill). Of course we may get further directives which are more detailed, and these may alter my take on it, but for the time being this ...

 ... of birds and men, often go awry. There was I, back in December, spouting on about my plans and targets for the uberpatch - but, if I'm being honest, in the back of my mind I knew that another Lockdown was a strong possibility. And tonight, that lockdown has been nationally declared. There are positives for those of us that have so far escaped the negatives. The two vaccines that are being rolled out and delivered to arms will, God willing, start to suppress the virus. There was suggestion that, everybody who fell within the government's definition of the most urgent cases for the jab, would receive their first of two by mid-February. As somebody that is considered to be 'clinically vulnerable' this is positive stuff. Another positive is that there is recognition of the need to get out into the fresh air for exercise. I've just been on the governments website which states: exercise with your household (or support bubble) or one other person, this should be limit...

Yesterday evening I had written a lengthy post on the subject of birding behaviour during the second lockdown, but then deleted it rather than publish it - this after a bit of soul-searching when I thought better of it, and decided that it might ruffle a few feathers That wasn't something that I wished to happen.  So I tweeted this instead: As can be seen, it has gathered a lot of interest, with over 58,000 views, 40 Retweets and getting on for 950 likes. But what about the 'not likes'? Even though I do put out the odd contentious tweet from time to time I am still a sensitive soul and do not like to think that anybody would be upset by what I post. I felt happy that the above post would be taken as a pat-on-the-back to those birders who have stuck to the government lockdown recommendations. Plenty haven't - or at least have played loose with the nitty-gritty of lockdown - and this has annoyed me somewhat. I could go into a bit more detail, but really don't want to....

The east coast of Britain, plus a rash of Scottish Isles, is/are playing host to a stellar cast of rare vagrants - Masked Shrike, Tennessee Warbler, Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler, Siberian Thrush, White’s Thrush, Eye-browed Thrush, Two-barred Greenish Warbler - I could go on... plus a mouthwatering back-up courtesy of multiple Red-flanked Bluetails, Radde’s Warblers and more Yellow-browed Warblers than it is possible to accurately count. For many birders the knee-jerk reaction is to head straight to the hot-spots where the rarity - and the action - is taking place. And who can blame them. But, things are different now. Joining the ‘to be expected’ moral conundrums that usually accompany such a birding scrum (trespass, toggers and carbon foot-print) there is a new concern in town, that of the COVID-19 virus. A rare bird = a birding crowd. When something as modest as a scarce migrant can gather 20-30 birders within minutes, what chance do we stand of conforming to health guidelines? There...

Social distancing and the birder. Should be simple, shouldn't it? The government have asked us to not leave home unless undertaking one of a small number of permitted essential tasks, which includes daily exercise. The suggestion seems to be that we exercise for no more than an hour and take that exercise, from home, on foot or by bike. I decided from the off that I would not feel comfortable with walking to one of my patches and then birding. The walking bit would be fine, but could I really claim that the birding bit would count as essential? Of course not. So my daily exercise became a 45-60 minute walk around the streets, with the odd visit to Priest Hill SWT reserve, just a 12 minute walk from home, where I walk a circular track. I have seen Cattle Egret, Ring Ouzel, Black Redstart and Grasshopper Warbler here, so it has a birding pedigree. I decided not to take my binoculars with me, as to do so would mean that I would birdwatch. I would stand still. My visits would go bey...