NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

The 'insert image' tool is still disabled regardless of my efforts to correct it, so until the fault rectifies itself (which apparently it can do) my blog posts will have to do without images to brighten up an otherwise unbroken sea of words. To be honest that doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would, as this blogging lark has always been more about the words to me - just as well with the current situation. So, where was I?... Ah yes, there was going to be a post about my recent long holiday in Cornwall. What started as a two-week family holiday became one of three-and-a-half weeks, due to a happy set of circumstances that you needn't be bothered with. It was very much a family holiday, but as usual I took along the optics (and the camera, which is being made largely redundant as far as blogging is concerned, although if you follow me on X, WhatsApp or even that quiet place for the more elderly - Facebook - you will still see the results of my automatic point-and...

A last dip into my recent stay in Cornwall, via the medium of photography... Beautiful Demoiselle - the name says it all Little Egret - the Ganel Estuary played host to several Ravens were present in good numbers along the clifftops between Porth and Mawgan Porth Corn Buntings were breeding in the fields at Whipsiderry There is something of the 'art installation' about this group of Wild Carrot plants

Sunshine, warmth and spectacular scenery does compensate somewhat for a lack of birds. The cliff top walk from Porth to Watergate Bay was quiet, with just the constant companionship of Ravens of note. Not one hirundine, Wheatear or warbler. Plenty of Thrift and Sea Campion coming into flower. Descending down into Watergate Bay was a mistake though, with hotels, restaurants, cafes, surf schools and miscellaneous other buildings falling over themselves like a collapsed game of Jenga. Horrible.

A strange day. I was out birding for most of it and for the majority of the time struggled to see very much at all - few thrushes, paltry numbers of finches, same old, same old. The woodland did have more song than of late, in particular Great and Marsh Tits, but it was hardly a cacophony. But having said that, there were some great moments... Best of all was a happy reconnection with my favourite bird, the Hawfinch. A flock of eight were being faithful to the treetops that run along the road between Headley Heath and High Ashurst. I last saw them moving towards Box Hill; a noisy Raven was hanging around the fields close to Nohome Farm on Walton Downs; and last but by no means least, two Barn Owls were hunting together over the fields of Canons Farm. One even landed on a fence post just 25m away from me. My fumbled attempt to take a photograph would have made the final cut of any Laurel and Hardy film. Botanical infusion came courtesy of a fair amount of Grey Field Speedwell (ab...

Quite literally... That merry band of Canons Farm and Banstead Woods patchworkers have a low-key competitive edge going on. The league table of 'species recorded' is one that generates a bit of good natured banter. To reach 100 species is no mean feat for this land-locked and dry site - in fact only five people have reached such dizzy heights. I currently stand on 102, (Raven being added today) some way behind the boy wonder David Campbell, who betrays the amount of time and effort that he has put into the site with a list of 125! Anyhow, he has had a number of commemorative mugs made to be presented to those birders lucky enough (foolish enough?) to become CFBW centurions. I was awarded mine at a simple and touching ceremony outside Canons Farmhouse this lunchtime (at the same time as two Hobbys were conducting aerial manoeuvres overhead). The catchline in red that you cannot quite read from the photograph says 'patch birding in the fast lane'. I might be tempted...

This is a very healthy Spurge-laurel at Juniper Bottom (between Box Hill and Mickleham Downs). Most early springs will see me posting an image of one (or several) of these plants ... and there I am cracking on about people posting images of Wheatears! Pots and kettles indeed... My wandering up the Juniper Bottom valley was rather good, with a fly-over flock of at least 12 calling Hawfinches, up to seven Marsh Tits, a few Siskins and, icing on the cake, a Raven flying over Juniper Top itself - a NDB uber patch tick no less. I think this is how I ought to approach my birding in the coming months - don't actually go out with the intention of doing so, but carry my binoculars just in case.