NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

I've just spent a week in Dorset with the family, in which the world of natural history was put to one side, apart from a single day when I took the coastal path out of Lyme Regis and headed westwards to meet a tall stranger with a penchant for Cadbury's Chocolate Buttons... I arrived at Seaton, just over the county boundary into Devon, where Gavin Haig (he of Not Quite Scilly fame) met me for a most enjoyable tour of the birding patch that he is lucky enough to have on his doorstep. The small band of regular birders (some of whom I ticked) have turned this sleepy edge of the county into a birding hot spot. We started at Seaton Hole, where we viewed the very bushes that were once haunted by a Hume's Warbler, while scoffing Lemon Sponge Cake and a mug of coffee - us that is, not the warbler. From here we could also gaze along the cliffs to Beer Head, the site of yet more birding successes. The jewel in the crown of the area must be Black Hole Marsh (above), a recent...

I would urge you to read Peter Alfrey's post here . He wrote it before the Mayor of London gave the Beddington incinerator the 'thumbs-up', but in his post he clearly sets out how big business - in this case Viridor - have failed to meet previous environmental promises to the Beddington Sewage Farm area.  Despite this failing, they have now been granted permission to construct and operate an incinerator on the site. Any compensatory promises towards the provision of 'wildlife' areas cannot be taken with anything but a pinch of salt. I first went to Beddington as a schoolboy birdwatcher in 1974. This was during a 'quiet' period in its birding history, as the flooding of large fields had been stopped and most of the drying out of sludge took place in small banked beds. However, the hedgerows, dykes, charming brick-built outbuildings and mature willows, oaks and elms were still present and bestowed upon the site a feeling of being in a time-locked piece of co...

18-spot Ladybird - you can see how small it compared with a finger tip Leith Hill was the venue for an afternoon of wandering the greensand slopes in the company of my family, plus an obligatory stop at the tea room in the tower for some excellent National Trust cake - oh, so Surrey - I could almost be an extra in Downton Abbey don't you know (albeit sent downstairs once my true station in life was discovered). As always on such walks I took my binoculars and camera just in case . I didn't expect three lifers! The first is a bit of a cheat. Monkey-puzzle is found on the upper slopes of Leith Hill, looking terribly naturalised - this species appears listed in the botanists bible Stace , so I'm having it. The second is a commonly naturalised plant that I must have walked past time and time again - Shallon. There are virtual forests of the stuff at Leith Hill. The third tick was a little more pukka, being an 18-spot Ladybird found by my eldest daughter Rebecca as we sat...

Rosy Rustic - signs that autumn is on the way... Alliteration - don't you just love it? I could have gone further - 'A massive moth miscellany' or 'My meagre marvellous moth miscellany' but then that would be over-egging the pudding, wouldn't it? Back to the reality of the MV trap haul this morning. Numbers were depressed and by far the best species recorded was the autumn's first Rosy Rustic (I don't trap that many to be honest). It is shaping up to be a good time for Straw Dot - I recorded eight yesterday which is my highest single night count in Banstead, and another couple this morning. There are certain moths that evoke the passing seasons. When those cold winter mornings start to give up Brindled Beauties and Twin-spotted Quakers, I know that spring is on the way. When late April catches start to include prominents and Lime Hawk-moths, then summer is just around the corner. For me, it's high summer when Scalloped Oaks and Marbled Beaut...

I trap The Fan-foot and Small Fan-foot quite regularly in the garden, so when, this morning,  I first laid eyes on the individual pictured above I was at first unsure as to its identity. There didn't seem to be an outer cross line on the upper wing so was it a worn Clay Fan-foot? Looking at my photographs I'm not convinced that the outer cross line is missing after all. But there still seems to be something about this individual that doesn't seem right. Isn't the gap between the 'S' shaped middle cross line and the straighter inner cross line quite wide? Any thoughts? UPDATE: The moth-lord himself, Sean Clancy, has identified this individual as The Fan-foot.

Another MV trap to check and another new species of micro says hello - this is Lathronympha strigana, a common moth that feeds on St.John's Wort (particularly Perforate). I really should take more time to identify the micros that I trap, rather than just take notice of the more bizarre and colourful ones. Pan listing gold...

On the right hand side of this blog you will see ' My blog list ' which is basically a collection of other blogs that I really like and enjoy visiting. I use it to quickly access them and hopefully to also tempt visitors to North Downs and beyond to spend a little more time in other peoples cyberspace. This miscellany of sites will educate, entertain and exasperate in equal measure... I thought that I'd do a little round-up of them, to big them up (they all deserve it) and try to tempt the casual visitor to embrace them further. The old guard These are the blogs that I have been following for a number of years, and some of them were kind enough to link to my own blog in its early days.In no particular order Cabinet of Curiosities is Phil Gates micro take on the natural world in the north-east. His ability to capture the minute detail of its wildlife is marvellous and his knowledge is deep. Alan Tilmouth is the most serious of my links and I do at times feel rather f...