NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

You don't need to travel far to conjure up some interesting observations. Just by being around and about the garden throughout the day, and pausing now and again to glance up, I managed to record a second record for the garden (a Peregrine that circled high for a couple of minutes before being lost to view), my earliest ever Holly Blue and a steady dribble of Common Buzzards that headed south to south-westwards. I also paid my respects to a Peacock that alighted momentarily on a patch of earth (above) - I don't think that there is a butterfly that can beat it.

Since my return from Cornwall I've been a lost soul. The Surrey downs are just not hacking it for birding (they only ever do in short, sharp shocks). My time spent at Canons Farm and Priest Hill has been time wasted, so this afternoon I took myself off to Epsom and Walton Downs and - hey presto - things seem an awful lot better. The birding wasn't exactly a match for Spurn and Fair Isle, but there was enough (at a local level) to feel vindicated, with a Hobby, 2 Red Kite, a covey of eight Red-legged Partridge and a handful of Chiffchaffs. This area has potential, but there again I say that about almost everywhere. Non avian highlights were a robust, healthy plant of Red Hemp-nettle on Langley Bottom Farm (above), a Hornet dwarfing a bog-standard wasp on a fallen apple (below) and the magnificent stand of Blue Globe-thistle that was full of butterflies, including a few Holly Blue (bottom).

No, I haven't gone all Shakespearean on you... After walking the footpaths that cross Epsom and Walton Downs, and failing to tickle a single ornithological taste bud, it was a relief to come across this stand of Blue Globe-thistle, at the foot of the race course. I have known it here for several years, and it was a sturdy patch back then, no doubt the result of a dumping of earth. Some botanists dislike aliens with a passion, whereas I am quite fond of them. There is a very good second brood of Holly Blue here in Surrey. Wherever I wander I am coming across them, even over the past couple of days, which have been dark and dismal. To see one flitting along a hedgerow in a heavy drizzle can lift the moment instantly.

I wish I could tell you about the local flock of Bee-eaters that I found, regale you with tales of how I tracked down rare plants along the North Downs, and amaze you with my new found prowess with all things moss. But none of that came to pass. So, until these things actually come true, please accept my image of a Holly Blue, which sat out a dull spell at Canons Farm yesterday. So, it's the Europa League (and not the Champions League) for Tottenham... at least the Met Office are promising proper summer weather for later in the week. I ran the garden MV for the first time in weeks last night, but the catch was severely depressed in number. More like February than mid-May.

...like this Tawny Pinion. I gave up in the end as it would only settle when it was cosy in a pot. I don't like to hold on to a moth for too long, so I accepted that the photo would include vibrating wings. However, the neatness of the thoracic crest is still obvious. This is only the eighth to be trapped in the garden in over 25 years. This week I have been spending my lunchtimes walking the suburbia of the north Surrey sprawl trying to find a Holly Blue. I've not seen one in March before and what with the weather being perfect for early butterflies at the moment didn't want to miss my chance. Today the time spent peering into front gardens paid off as one of the little beauties fluttered down the middle of a road and made my day.