NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Another session spent winter botanising, and once again a plentiful supply of plants to identify - mostly actually in flower or bud - which proves that there really isn't a dead season to be had when searching for flowers. I walked from home, along the Reigate Road and stopped off at Priest Hill SWT Reserve. At first glance the open fields of lifeless grass didn't seem to suggest that there would be any joy here, but if you look hard enough... Just like yesterday, most of the highlights were of alien/escaped species, but that is fine by me: Lesser Periwinkle, Sowbread, Asian Firethorn, Silver Lime, Balkan Spurge ( Euphorbia tomentosa ), Vibernum, Pampass-grass ( Cortaderia selloana ) and Mediterranean Spurge ( E characias ) were the pick of the bunch. Asian Firethorn ( Pyracantha rogersiana ) Identified by the hairless leaf stalks. Silver Lime ( Tilia tomentosa ) And before you think my skill levels on identifying obscure winter trees has improved, I was shown this tr...

I'm feeling quite sorry for the hundreds of thousands of families currently on their British holidays. No doubt when they booked up their hotel/B&B/cottage/caravan/tent earlier in the year they imagined themselves splashing in the sea, eating ice cream and luxuriating under a blazing sun. The past couple of weeks have seen nothing but unsettled weather, punctuated by heavy rain and unseasonable strong westerly winds. Having had some of the holidays of my youth blighted by bad weather, I know how much it can affect what should be 'happy times', but there again, I do recall our flooded tent (at both Bude and the New Forest) with a certain amount of nostalgia... My recent trips to Priest Hill have been a question of 'dodging the showers' and any passage migrants have been largely missing. Bird numbers are quite woeful, bar a roving flock of Starlings, that number between 150-250 strong. They spend much of their time feasting on blackberries (top) and wheeling ...