NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Even here in the normally sedate south-east of England the weather is kicking off. An unusually blustery west to south-westerly wind is making itself felt and, looking at the weather forecast for the next few days, will continue to be a nuisance. What it must be like to the north and west of us I can only imagine and sympathise with. Roof tiles, fence panels, tree boughs, garden furniture and moth-traps all going on unscheduled journeys into the air...  Now Christmas is over (in my book that is when Boxing Day finishes) I normally start to tidy up in readiness for the new year and look back at the past 12-months. 2023 has been a bit of a roller-coaster for me, some great highs and some nasty lows. As I'm fond of saying, if you experience the privilege of reaching an 'older' age then you need to accept that things will not always run smoothly - unless you are very lucky indeed. It goes with the territory. Enough said. I didn't travel far this year. Most of my birding was...

When I first started to take an interest in moths over 40 years ago, there were certain species that appeared to me wrapped in myth and awe - I would stare at the colour plates in my two volumes of 'South' and wonder if I would ever be fortunate enough to see them - the pairing of Dark Crimson and Light Crimson Underwings were amongst them. Both of these species were large beasts, whose hidden underwings displayed shocks of red. Part of their allure rested in the fact that they were rare residents, the only chance of discovery being if you visited the New Forest after dark, and even then only if you were privy to local knowledge. They seemed to come more readily to tree trunks that had been 'sugared', a dark art that involved the lepidopterist painting a strip of liquid concocted with all sorts of wondrous provisions - black treacle, beer, brown sugar - with such recipes being closely guarded secrets. I had visions of being lead blindfold down a forest clearing at midni...