NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

The past few days has seen a great deal of flower come out, so that the slopes of Park Downs were spattered with the mauve of Hairy Violet. In one or two places Barren Strawberry was in flower, along with a good patch of this Stinking Hellebore. We are quite well off for this species locally, and I can guarantee seeing it without too much effort. It cheers up the winter months no end. Even though the westerly wind was gusting force 6-7 it didn't stop a fair number of bees to venture out, along with two Brimstone butterflies. I continued on to Fames Rough where, as I was inspecting the ploughed strip (in readiness for a summer of Ground Pine and Cut-leaved Germander), a Firecrest sang from a stand of Yew. Being relatively high and exposed, Canons Farm was being blasted by the wind, but the recently raked fields held at least 340 Stock Doves, but no Wheatears...

Another day of fruitless birding along the North Downs, although, if you like counting corvids and Stock Doves, then it wasn't without interest. Actually, I'm not being fair, as at least half-a-dozen Chiffchaffs were singing between Reigate and Juniper Hill. Highlight for me though were the three Lesser Bloody-nosed Beetles that I came across on the steepest section of Colley Hill. These two seemed to be involved in a spot of Greco-Roman wrestling - or something more intimate...

I started taking notes of what I saw in 1974, but it was not until the following year that I got a bit more serious about it and bought hard-backed notebooks to give my teenage observations the impression of permanence and importance. I still have them all and they can make for an entertaining and nostalgic read. In one such book I had ruled out a number of columns across a double-page spread on which to record my birding year lists. Each column is one centimetre wide and the first year entered is 1975. I can clearly remember looking across the empty pages, the years stretching ahead into the future. It promised of a whole life of birding that was yet to be realised and thoughts of reaching the far end of those two pages was not something that I thought about. But in the year 2000 I did indeed reach that far end, and it was quite sobering. There were 26 year lists completed and nowhere (apart from another two-page spread) to go. I couldn't bring myself to start another one as it se...

The past few days has seen me out in the field a lot, but with little reward. After putting in the hours it can be disheartening when the ornithological return is minimal. It could be pointed out that my venues of choice are hardly inspirational - Epsom and Walton Downs, Banstead Heath and Canons Farm - but there again my expectation levels are hardly set to high. There have been moments of some compensation, with a displaying pair of Lapwings and a light trickle of Meadow Pipits overhead, but it is hardly the stuff of legend. This sort of disappointment isn't just the lot of the inland birder either, as my chums at Dungeness go through exactly the same feelings, although their measure of success and failure is on a far more loftier scale. There was so little to look at on one particular afternoon that I spent a few moments snapping away at this cock Pheasant - I liked the contrast between its gaudy plumage and the dour stubble - this sort of thing happens when you are scratching a...

I was up and about by 05.30hrs so 'did' the moth trap in the half-light. The promise of a cloudy night hadn't materialised, so the trap was not heaving with moths - in fact, apart from a smattering of Hebrew Characters and Common Quakers there was just the single new species for the year, an Early Grey. I decided to walk up to Canons Farm, which normally takes 25 minutes. The early sun gave a weak pulse of warmth and together with the calmness made for a pleasant enough start to the day. Thoughts had foolishly turned to migrants (and by that I really mean Wheatears, hirundines and Ring Ouzels!) but the fields remained very quiet, the hedgerows were silent and the skies largely empty. Slowly, but surely, the wind started to pick up from the north, with each passing minute the temperature lowering. As if recognising such conditions, a large feeding flock of thrushes materialised, with 200 Redwing and 175 Fieldfare reminding us fools as to the real season. A lone Great Black...

The past week has felt like Spring. The air temperature has warmed up considerably, the ground has dried out a lot and there are insects in the air - all most agreeable, and I've been able to get out a fair bit. Most of my wanderings have been in the Epsom/Walton Downs area, with side excursions onto  Juniper Top/Bottom, Banstead Heath, Colley Hill and the North Downs Way. Here are the highlights: 2015 Patch Challenge The total has crept up to 76 species with the addition of Red Kite and Barn Owl on Tuesday (I've already regaled you with these sightings), a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker on Thursday (a rare back garden appearance), plus three Lapwings displaying over Walton Downs yesterday morning. Butterflies Brimstones seemed to burst forth at the end of last week and this week has seen Small Tortoiseshells and a single Red Admiral in the garden. Moths The MV is not yet busy, and the night time temperatures have not been anything other than workable, but the 'NFY...

It should come as no surprise that after 40 years of immersing myself in natural history that I should accumulate a lot of 'stuff' because of it. This has been driven home to me over the past couple of days because I have been emptying various cupboard spaces and populating new book cases that we have had built to accommodate all the said 'stuff'. Two things - I already knew that this mountain of 'stuff' was getting out of hand and my denial that 95% of this stuff was mine (and not my wifes or two daughters) was getting more preposterous by the day. So what is this stuff? To start with, over 350 books, all natural history themed (and let's not get started on the other non-themed books that I own and read). I did carry out a cull several years ago, but regretted it afterwards and vowed not to do it again. And then there are the annual reports and publications that I have been sent in lieu of being a member of numerous societies and clubs. They look nice all...