NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

In 1666, Green Hound's-tongue was first described by Christopher Merrett at Norbury Park in Surrey, and ever since then it has been a place where botanists have gone to pay their respects to this rare plant. I visit every year, walking the dark footpaths that cross the beech, yew and ash dominated slopes  And it's been a good year for Green Hound's-tongue at Norbury Park... a very good year indeed! This morning I walked along the lower, easternmost footpath, that runs vaguely parallel with the River Mole. I expected to find a few plants of Green Hound's-tongue (which has now largely gone over) but was surprised to find so much of it, plants on view throughout most of the walk and some in sizeable clumps. Because of these numbers I dedicated the following three hours to searching the area on this easternmost slope, going no further west than Druid's Grove (at the top of the slope), starting at the Mickleham entrance and stopping at Nicol's Field. The numb...

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...

The far side of the Uber-patch was visited this morning, as time was spent treading the steep eastern slopes of Norbury Park. This is a patchwork of habitats, with woodland, copse, meadow and farm being available for exploration - and at 1300 acres, there is plenty to explore. This eastern flank is characterised by beech, yew and box. Birdwise it was very quiet, and if I'm being honest my sole aim was attempting to locate Hawfinches, so my eyes were fixed up rather than down. The net result was a blank all round. However, in Blue Peter traditions, here is one that I prepared earlier (inset)... It is hard to resist the allure of Hawfinches. I know I bang on about them, but they are like precious jewels when they come along, and the fact that we are feasting on them at the moment does not diminish this in any way. They will soon be gone and their status will once again revert to being that of a prized sighting. By 08.30hrs I was up on Mickleham Downs and quickly located at le...

This morning found me at Norbury Park, an area of woodland and chalk downland between Mickleham and Bookham. I can't say that I really enjoyed myself. It was cool, not much was happening and I was in a fog of listlessness and despondency - I don't know why. Anyhow, the sign above always cheers me up. It is to be found well off the beaten track and mentions moths (which I like) and Druids (who I don't really have an opinion about). Close to this spot is Druids Grove, so I imagine that the Victorian gentleman quoted was wary of the 'goings on' there and wouldn't dare to search locally for moths so close to the witching hour. In these more enlightened times a bit of pagan worship taking place close to an MV or sugar rope would be seen as a 'Brucie Bonus'...