NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

This is the first in an occasional series of posts that will visit some of the least travelled footpaths that are out there and waiting to be explored. Many of them will have no obvious merit to the naturalist, but, with a lit bit of time being spent along them, all will open up and reveal their treasure! So, as a starter, let us walk along Freedown Lane in Banstead... The Freedown is an area of Banstead Downs that was selected by a group of worthy late-Victorians to build, what they called, a lunatic asylum. Banstead Mental Hospital closed in the late 20th century, with the land being sold to the Home Office. Two high security prisons were then constructed on site - incarceration of a different kind. Freedown Lane (FL) is accessed from the B2218 that runs from Banstead to Belmont. FL is a narrow road that soon becomes an unmade track, the very few houses that are present sharing their space with horse paddocks. If arriving by car, it is best not to park along the lane, with the closes...

Ring Ouzels are one of those birds that can make a patchworker's day - they are unusual enough, and good-looking enough, to warrant giving you a feeling of satisfied pleasure - especially if the bird before you is a male. Here in northern Surrey I am lucky enough to be able call this thrush an almost annual passage migrant. If I don't see one locally during a calendar year it will be more because of my lack of effort rather than the birds not having been there. Within the uberpatch they are most likely to be found on scrubby downland, farmland or within horse paddocks, but they can pop up anywhere. The most unlikely location was a suburban back garden in Cheam one April afternoon. The map below illustrates where, across the uberpatch, I have recorded them, broken down into spring and autumn passage birds. I have not plotted every sighting, as both Beddington and Canons Farm have hosted multiple encounters, but the spring/autumn breakdown is reflected. My local extreme dates are...

Yesterday's Ring Ouzel got me looking back at my past Uberpatch records for this charming thrush. First recorded at Beddington SF (1976), Seears Park, Cheam (1984), Holmethorpe (1991), Headley Heath (2005), Canons Farm, Banstead (2011), Priest Hill, Ewell (2017), Colley Hill (2018),  Box Hill (2019), Little Woodcote (2020), Epsom Downs and Walton Downs (2021). Extreme dates: Spring passage; 29 March 2017 (Priest Hill, Ewell) – 1 May 2017 (Canons Farm, Banstead); Autumn passage; 13 October 2012 (Canons Farm, Banstead) - 7 November 1976 (Beddington SF). Highest counts: eight on 21 October 2019 at Box Hill; three on 13 October 2012 at Canons Farm, Banstead. And here are the sighting locations marked on the Uberpatch map (I didn't feel up to drawing a mini-Ouzel so a star will have to do.) I need to spend more time down in that south-westerly corner - there are no Ouzel stars there!

Since I swore off birding locally I have been birding locally (apart from the escape to the South Downs on Tuesday). That is quite typical of me, full of declarations, plans and ideas that somehow go to pot within the blink of an eye. And how quiet these sessions have been! Scarcely a migrant to be had, even after hours of scouring the fields, hedges and copses of Epsom and Walton Downs, full of hope, topped up with patience and a resolve not to go home empty handed. And to a lesser degree it has been a success. Each session has ended with at least a handful of Wheatear, once a male Common Redstart and on three occasions a male Ring Ouzel (all different birds). This afternoon I was near the end of a sunny, breezy, and birdless session (not even a Wheatear), when this popped up in front of me... I will never tire of Ring Ouzels. For us southerners they are just passage migrants, and you've had a good day when you are graced with their presence. So, the lesson is clear. Keep on ploug...

With lockdown partially eased, I felt confident enough to visit Box Hill for my first 'visible-migration' watch of the year. I took up position at my normal spot, below and to the west of the public viewpoint. This allows clear sight of birds arriving along the scarp, and also those a that are coming out of, or going into, the Mole Gap. The image above is what can be seen if you look straight ahead from my 'vis-mig' spot - the town of Dorking, with the Greensand Ridge in the far background. A small knoll, 'The Nower', is on the left-hand side (in the middle-ground), with the Mole Gap on the far right, in front of the rising hills that go up to Denbies and Ranmore. It was not a seismic migration session, as can be seen. For those of you not familiar with the migration site Trektellen, an asterisk against a species name denotes a differing direction of travel other than that which is specified. Most of my birds were, in fact, going north up the Mole Gap. Afterwar...

The past couple of days has seen me mooching about the place locally, counting thrushes, hunting chats and just being content with my lot. I did nip over to Beddington SF this afternoon to pay my respects to White Stork GB35, a Knepp release. I cannot get too excited about this project and I really don't know why it was started in the first place - my loss. The bird was loafing on the 'wet grassland', more mud and water than vegetation, but hopefully the area will develop into something special. Also present was a Great White Egret, not unexpected these days, even up here on the edge of London. Yesterday (and today) I finally got around to visiting Little Woodcote, an area of horse paddocks, small holdings, nurseries, hedges, copses and rough grassland. It has an ornithological history and is currently being checked regularly by a number of birders, including Peter Alfrey, Ian Jones and Arjun Dutta. Considering that it is only three miles from my home, and I like to think o...

Sometimes it pays to just wander off the beaten track, search areas that just don't get looked at and, regardless of the outcome, enjoy the ride. Combine that philosophy with a calm, sunny and warm afternoon and you are on to a winner. I parked up at Margery Wood and walked northwards across the open farmland at Mogador. This area always looks good to me, a mixture of rough grassland, some crops and plenty of isolated scrubby bushes. My love of chats is an open secret, so a group of four tame Stonechats, together with an isolated single, was success enough. There are many footpaths that then criss-cross both Walton and Banstead Heaths and, although tempted by them, returned to search the slopes of Colley Hill - but not before a noisy flock of five Crossbills flew over heading eastwards. Colley Hill is one of my favourite places, although my birding success here is poor. The cleared slopes, with isolated scrub, looks ideal for migrants. I always think it looks ideal for Ring Ou...

Moschatel ( Adoxa moscahatellina ) is an early spring flower of woodlands and copses, which will also grow happily alongside older hedgerows. It has an alternative name of Town Hall Clock, on account of the flower head resembling multi-faceted clock faces (bottom picture for detail, together with a great dollop of imagination). As you come across a patch there is a resemblance of the flower heads to those of Salad Burnet, small green pom-poms rising from the leafy ground. These particular flowers were found this morning along an isolated hedgerow at Canons Farm, not far from a few spikes of Toothwort. No doubt the hedgerow was once part of a wood. My quest for migrants at the farm was largely unsuccessful - no Wheatear, no hirundine, but did include a lone Ring Ouzel that majestically made its way across Broad Field and continued southwards over the L&G building. A group of three Red Kites at 07.00hrs suggested that they had roosted nearby. It was all a bit breezy, still co...

I arrived at Priest Hill by 05.30hrs, full of hope for migrants seeing that the wind and rain had got together to promise us birders some action. To cut along story short I left the site by 07.30hrs sans passage migrants... BUT... it was an atmospheric couple of hours. The low cloud and calm conditions gave everything a slightly 'cotton woolly' feeling and the stillness was dominated by the scratchy warble of Common Whitethroats. There was barely a moment that I couldn't hear at least one in song, and at times up to four were assaulting my ears. I reckoned on a minimum of 32 present. Trying to gatecrash in on the act were four rattling Lesser Whitethroats. It was all quite delightful. I ventured over to Canons Farm (09.30 - 12.30; 14.00 -15.30hrs) where a further nine Common Whitethroats were recorded (including the individual above). However, they were upstaged by a mid-morning female Ring Ouzel, that flew out of the hedgerow by Canons Farmhouse and crossed the field...

Yes I know that the image above is not quite in focus - that you are having to peer between branches of a bush - and look through a strand of barbed-wire fence - but at least you can share in my joy of this morning's male Ring Ouzel at Priest Hill. It even drew a crowd of admirers, as four birders made the trip once twitter 'twatted'. The bird stayed in Bunting Field for up to an hour, but was very wary and flighty, so I largely let it be. As some form of compensation for the poor pic, have a male Kestrel from this morning...

Great White Egrets are a daily given between August - April My peak count for the stay was of 15 birds, most numerous on Burrowes Pit and New Diggings It was a good autumn at Dungeness for Ring Ouzels... ...including this male that spent a couple of days in the moat feeding avidly on sloes Another young male that was trapped, ringed and released - possibly in North Africa now

The first hour of daylight was quiet. But the ornithological Gods saw fit to turn on the bird tap at about 08.00hrs, when a steady and gentle stream of finches started to pass overhead, on a SE to E bearing. For the next three hours it was 'eyes to the skies' as we counted the flocks - mostly single species and low enough to identify, which was a great help as many did not call. There were thrushes involved as well, most notably Ring Ouzels. They were zipping about all over the place, including one flock of 11 birds that circled above the trapping area in the company of four Fieldfare, before all headed off high and eastwards. My own personal totals included 1200 Goldfinch, 500 Linnet, 150 Chaffinch, 50 Meadow Pipit, 30 Ring Ouzel, 25 Pied Wagtail, 20 Reed Bunting, 17 Swallow, 15 Tree Sparrow, 8 Fieldfare and 2 Siskin. My other highlights from around the shingle were an evening Sooty Shearwater, 11 Great Egrets and 4 Merlin. I've seen the pictures of birders queueing at S...

Canons Farm is developing a reputation as the London and Surrey hot spot for Ring Ouzels. This spring saw multiple sightings (of several birds) including a bird that remained for at least a week - these facts are a bit vague but close to what happened. This morning, at 08.00hrs, a single bird was found by David Campbell close to Canons Farmhouse, and a couple of hours afterwards, while we were standing side by side with Ian Jones, a flock of three flew into the trees and bushes at the northern end of Legal and General. They stayed on show well into the afternoon when a count of four was claimed. As any regular visitor to this blog will testify, I don't do digiscoping, so the image above is as good as it gets when I do try. If you want good pictures of birds, go and visit Marc Heath's blog. Don't expect any here...

Last Friday a single Ring Ouzel was found at Canons Farm in Surrey. On Saturday morning it was joined by a second bird. Yesterday there were no fewer than four of them to be seen throughout the day. It is unlikely that all four had been present since Friday as the very open area had been birded heavily on all three days. I think it's likely that the additional birds were called down by the vocal nature of this species. I could hear a 'chack' from several hundred meters distance. How many others flew overhead and did not stop? Other well-birded local sites, such as Beddington and Holmethorpe do not regularly get Ring Ouzels. In the fledgling history of birding at Canons Farm it seems likely that a small spring passage may be the norm. There are other inland sites that seem to attract this species - Blow's Down in Bedfordshire springs to mind. If so, why? Fly lines? Magnetic fields? I'd love to know.

... and we will get Ring Ouzels. The rest of the country seems to be enjoying patronage from this rangy thrush, and not to be left out Canons Farm has had a male present for the past two days. I was on site just gone six this morning and it was bloody cold. I should have packed gloves. After an hours searching the Ring Ouzel popped up, chacking away from the top of a holly bush. An hour later it was joined by another, both staying put all morning. Close by were 5 Wheatears and flyby Yellow Wagtail (1) and Swallows (6).

After a morning at Beddington SF, which provided plants and butterflies but not the birds, David Campbell rescued the day by finding a pair of Ring Ouzels at Canons Farm. The male and female stayed throughout the afternoon, sparking a mini-twitch. Both spent time out on the Legal & General playing field, but did go to cover for periods of time.