NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

#BWKM0   ND&B garden challenge DAY 45 To see a scarce bird in or over your garden is the stuff of dreams. We have a few gardens in our collective that are positioned on coastal headlands, or adjacent to RSPB reserves, where there is a certain expectation that such birds will - and sometimes can -  pay you a visit. For most of us, we can but dare to daydream that it will happen. But this morning, in Capel (Surrey), happen it did. Wes A was standing outside his back door, mug of tea in hand, when a Hoopoe decided to fly across his field of view, giving time to get the telescope onto the bird as it flew off NNE. Wes could stand in that very same spot for the next 100 years, binoculars at the ready, and not be able to repeat it. That is birding, and that illustrates what rewards await the diligent birder. Trouble is, 999 times out of a thousand, the prize will not be as good as an inland Hoopoe. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ O...

#BWKM0   ND&B garden challenge DAY 44 Even after 44 consecutive days of birding from the back garden, the experience is still delivering plenty of interest. After several days of virtual inactivity, the raptor stream picked up again, with c20 Common Buzzard (a few way up high), three Red Kite, a Sparrowhawk, a Peregrine (monster female) and a Hobby, mostly drifting between north and east. There was a good show of Swift for the first time this Spring, with up to 25 birds recorded, the largest group being of seven. Singles of House Martin and Swallow also made it through the garden air space. A fair number of the local Starlings were feeding on the wing, maybe at a height of 30-50m, fly-catching and swooping in half-circles, not unlike Bee-eaters. At first I could not see what they were feeding on, but later in the day their insect prey dropped down and appeared to be the long-legged fly Bibio marci (St Mark's Fly). Although this is a common enough species I have not seen it ...

#BWKM0   ND&B garden challenge DAY 43 A slow day all round. Six days to go. Maybe we are all starting to lose a bit of our enthusiasm - it has been 43 days after all. My daily (and nightly) birding intake has dropped considerably although there is still a steely determination to add just one more species to the list before the end of play this Thursday. I still haven't had a Willow Warbler or Lesser Whitethroat - one burst of song, that's all I'm asking for! There are still a couple of species that should make it onto our combined list (particularly Whinchat) and we only need three more garden firsts to break the 200 barrier, so eyes (and ears) to the skies! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ OUR  COMBINED TOTAL (BRITISH ISLES GARDENS) IS 183 SPECIES     Still to be recorded are: Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern,  Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Kingfisher,  Whinchat. Today's addition is: Turtle Dove (Benno W) O...

#BWKM0   ND&B garden challenge DAY 42 For me, one of the ornithological discoveries of this lockdown period has been the number of Blackcaps through the garden. We normally have two or three wintering birds, but once they have departed there is the expectation of just a couple of brief singers before a few birds turn up in the autumn. Not this year. For at least a fortnight there has been a daily helping of birds moving through (or around) the garden, mostly males. They invariably sing in brief bursts as they make their way along a ribbon of vegetation that threads through the nearby gardens, none of them staying for more that a few minutes. When I take my daily exercise - mostly around the nearby roads - it is obvious that they are are also plentiful elsewhere - singing birds being heard with surprising regularity. We do have a male holding a (suspected) territory in a small copse within earshot of the garden - his song can be heard from the same area throughout the day. T...

#BWKM0   ND&B garden challenge DAY 41 Epsom Downs, Surrey. Yesterday morning. You peer out of an upstair's window and there, on the windowsill, is sitting an unfamiliar bird. Exotic and bedraggled. All salmon-pink with black-and-white barred wings - and look at that crazy crest! What is it? It's quite tame, sitting out the heavy rain, so you take a picture. Fortunately you know somebody who is interested in birds and show them the image. A Hoopoe! A rarity from the continent, so best not release the news in these times of social distancing, otherwise you will have a gaggle of rule-breaking birders peering over the fence. You look out for it several times during the day, but it isn't to be seen. It has gone. Thanks to Josephine S for the alert. Neither she, or myself, saw the bird. I would like to acknowledge the observers for their permission to use the picture, but it is best to maintain their anonymity to put off any birding detectives from trying to track t...

#BWKM0   ND&B garden challenge DAY 40 I bet quite a few of us can identify with these words, especially those who are locked-down inlanders: I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by; And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking, And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking. I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying. I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife; And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover, And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over. John Masefield. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++...