NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

On arrival at Denbigh's Hillside at 06.30hrs I was confronted by a most arresting sight. The lower valleys were all fog bound, giving off the illusion of a vast inland sea. The video above, and the images below, really do not do it justice. Birding wise a pleasant morning and early afternoon, with a Goshawk, three Red Kites, 12+ Common Buzzards, three Stonechats, 20+ Chiffchaffs and four Ravens. To the sound of cranking Ravens and mewing Buzzards and Kites I was delighted to watch at least 10 Clouded Yellows patrolling the slopes, with the odd butterfly stopping to nectar (below). And last, but not least, a weedy strip in one of the fields beneath the hills held Broad-leaved Spurge, with the fruits exhibiting the tell-tale warts (below). My luck was in as I checked just the one plant!

As I needed to be close to home today I embarked on a day-long 'on-off' sky watch. On the whole it was disappointing, with very few birds passing overhead, hirundines at barely a trickle, with the odd Chaffinch and Meadow Pipit thrown in to punctuate the quiet. However, the coming of winter was encapsulated by two Redwing (the autumn's first) that flew west early on and a further four landed in a neighbouring garden early in the evening. These are quite early, my 'firsts' are normally not until early October. It was interesting to see that there was a sprinkle of sightings of this fine thrush across the county today. Another intriguing aspect of today was a steady passage of Stock Doves, with at least 100 heading south. These are likely to be local birds moving between feeding sites rather than migrants, although the odd flock was quite high and purposeful. Over the past five years this species has become much commoner in 'my' part of Surrey, with Canons Far...

One of those 'whole is greater than the sum of its parts' mornings. Canons Farm was calm and cold when I arrived at 07.00hrs, with frost in selected hollows. I will admit to wearing a thin pair of gloves, but soon felt wimpish as a group of dog walkers strode past me in t-shirts and shorts - however, they were on the move, where as I was about to embark on a spell of standing still to vismig... Honking geese were soon all around me, as a loose group of 50 birds flew in and settled on Doric Field, all Canada save for a single Greylag and three who's parentage probably involved a Bar-headed. As soon as they settled down a new sound was above me - two noisy Golden Plover that flew through southwards. A small dribble of passerines were following in their wake, so I settled down to count and identify them. Commonest were Meadow Pipits, just ones and twos but a couple of flocks numbered c20. A total of 100 was reached. Skylarks were also on the move, and although up to 20 sta...

Another visit to the 'Mole Gap' this morning, concentrating on Box Hill. Very poor return as far as vismig was concerned, with just 60 Swallows and 15 each of House Martins and Meadow Pipits (all dribbling south). A Wheatear was on the lower slope very early on, and additional back-up was provided by a Little Egret, a Red Kite, 3 Common Buzzards, 2 Sparrowhawks, a Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaffs, a Marsh Tit and 3 Ravens.

The North Lake at Beddington SF (above), on a chilly, wet September morning - I'm here out of the kindness of Roger Browne (info) and Steve Thomas (lift) - and the presence of a (as yet) unspecified number of Spoonbills. When Roger first arrived this morning he was amazed to see at least eight Spoonbills at the far side of the lake, partially hidden by the vegetation on an island. When Steve and I arrived he had been joined by Peter Alfrey, and the flock size (still obscured by island vegetation) had now risen to 11. My first scope view suggested 12, possibly 13. And when the rain started to abate, they took off as one, 19 birds in all. They arced round and left the area purposefully southwards. My bridge camera is not the best for birds in flight at the best of times, but I let off a couple of blind shots (no zoom, an exercise in pointing and hoping) and then stopped to watch them fly over us - I was not going to miss the moment hidden behind a viewfinder. The results from the ...

The Mole Gap at Mickleham can often throw up a good morning's birding and today was no exception, as at least 800 House Martins were hawking over the river-side fields. The video above captures just a small portion of the flock. I have a feeling that I will be replaying this during the dark, cold, winter months...

The image above was taken from a hill to the west of Charmouth, looking eastwards along the Dorset coast. The highest point is Golden Cap, with the distant cliffs beyond that being east of West Bay. You can walk this stretch of coastline on a footpath that, give and take the odd cliff slump, allows you to tip-toe along the edge of hair-raising precipices and stunning scenery. For the birder it is an overload of senses. On the one hand you marvel at the habitat set before you - miles and miles of hedgerows, cliff top scrub, meadows untouched by fertilisers, small pools and streams - but on the other hand there is so much of it (and it extends way inland) that coverage cannot be anything other than poor. A team of a thousand birders working together would just scratch the surface, so the handful of locals that are present have a hard task of it. My short stay was exhilarating and frustrating in equal measure, there being so much promise which is made hard by a testing landscape. There...