NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

First up is the smart looking tortrix moth Agapeta zoegana . It is relatively common, the larvae feeding on knapweed, and is met with annually in the garden MV. However, it comes in two forms. The one usually encountered is a real looker, a concoction of banana-yellow and milk chocolate. The other, known as ferrugana replaces the yellow with a frothy cappuccino brown (above, right). I hadn't knowingly seen this form until last week, both handily coming to the MV on the morning of August 9th. 'The Smaller Moths of Surrey', published in 2012, suggests that ferrugana "occurs occasionally in the county at a low density." My checking of the MV during this hot weather has not really produced the hoped for 'good' migrant or wanderer, but this disappointment was suspended on the morning of August 5th when this bizarre moth was trapped - a gynandromorph Gypsy Moth, half female, half male. The male half in the above images is exhibited on the left hand side of the...

The back garden pond here in Banstead - best bird to visit it? Grey Wagtail. We have, so far, 16 participants in our laid-back self-isolation back garden challenge. The rules are simple - as from March 20th (or later if you subsequently join in), all competitors will keep a list of the species observed from their garden/window. When the government announce a lessening of the 'state of emergency' I will calculate what percentage of their historical garden lists each birder has recorded. Updates will be posted on this blog, with hopefully a few details from each garden such as movements, counts and highlights. It shouldn't really be seen as a fierce competition, more a celebration of what birdlife we can see from our humble homes. Regular observation from any location will provide surprises and useful data, so garden confinement shouldn’t be seen as a hardship, more like an opportunity. Good luck and, above all, enjoy! Steve G (Banstead, Surrey) Garden list of 92 ...

It's one of those lists that all birders keep, even if they do not consider themselves to be listers - I would go as far to say that if any of them say that they do not keep this particular list, then they are fibbing. I'm talking about the 'garden list'. There is one great big crumb of comfort in keeping one, and that is, unless you live with another birder, you cannot be gripped off. Whether you live on a coastal headland or in a city centre, there are many hours of enjoyment to be had in its collation. I have lived at my current address since August 1987. That means I have spent many thousands of hours looking out over the 90ft back garden and 25ft front. There is a mature ash tree, there was a Lawson's Cypress (felled in 2014) and the planting is a mixture of wildlife friendly and easy to maintain species. A small pond has been a fixture over the years. The area is mature residential with a recent trend for developers to buy up larger gardens and build on th...