NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Priest Hill seems to be a favourite stopping off point for chats. This January/February saw up to 6 Stonechats spend a few weeks in the paddocks, and I suspect that different birds were involved over the period. During this current month, Northern Wheatears have stopped off with some regularity (with a peak of 8 on the 13th and 5 today), a female Redstart (honorary chat) was present on the morning of the 18th and a pair of Whinchats (including this stunning male) rounded it all off today. This family is one of my favourites, not just because of their beautiful colouring but also down to their habit of perching out in the open - on wire fences, hillocks, tops of bushes - making our encounters with them a thing of ease and one that seems to be mutually entered into. They're just - anthropomorphic warning - so inquisitive and friendly. And talking of chats, the NDB Wheatear trophy is to be awarded tomorrow at midnight... one last chance for all you white-arse lovers out there to...

I didn't think that this 'stay local' birding during 2015 would be an easy option. After all, north Surrey is not known for its ornithological riches, particularly in an area bereft of open water - that is, apart from the odd park pond. If I had chosen to include Beddington (a bit further north) or Holmethorpe (a bit further south) then my chances of success would have been substantially greater. But neither are walkable from my home, and that was always an important part of my plans for this year. Last week added Lesser Whitethroat (species 89) to the list and I had my second female/immature Black Redstart of the spring at Langley Vale, always a difficult species to come across locally. But, for many hours of toil, these are scant rewards. This morning saw me up at dawn and leaving the house at 05.30hrs to walk up to Canons Farm in a constant drizzle. I had visions of at least a Grasshopper Warbler, maybe a Cuckoo, even a fly-by tern or wader. Apart from getting very w...

This ones for Stewart Sexton, a relative bright spot in an otherwise dire spring for moths.

Between 1962 and 1970 (aged 3-11) I lived in Tring, Hertfordshire. Part of my growing up there involved frequent visits to the local museum, exclusively dealing with natural history, founded by Lord Rothschild and housed in a stately Victorian mansion. I spent hours wandering the high-ceilinged rooms that were full of glass cases and walnut cabinets, staring at the assembled stuffed and mounted exhibits. My early obsessions were sweets, football and dinosaurs and very soon these were joined by living wildlife. When I eventually ended up in Sutton, Surrey (1971) a trip to the natural history museum at South Kensington was on the cards - Tring's big brother in more ways than one. I couldn't but be impressed, not just with the exhibits inside but with Waterhouse's immaculate architecture. I went back a few times, but, until this month, hadn't visited since 1984. It seemed like a good idea. Go back to the South Kensington museum to reacquaint myself with the fantastic a...

I saw a picture on Twitter today of a hunter standing proudly behind his latest haul - about 50 Turtle Doves and a Golden Oriole. I don't know what part of North Africa or the Mediterranean that the picture was taken (and am assuming that it was taken this Spring). Don't assume that this post is now going to take off into a rant against the evils of hunting 'our' birds - I don't agree with the killing of them, but then again I haven't been born into a culture where such practices are part of the way of life. It's also rich that 'we' can preach to so called 'backward' people about their environmental disgraces when we have clear-felled our forests, over-fished our seas, more or less wiped out our farmland birds, poisoned our pollinating insects and are having to re-introduce raptors because we murdered the bloody things in the first place... Seeing those lifeless doves drove small nails into my heart because it becomes less likely that I wi...

Locally, the past few days has seen a great improvement on the bird-front. I have been putting in the miles, walking across farm, heath, wood and hill with no great reward as far as rarity goes, but happy enough to come across good numbers of Northern Wheatears - with counts of between 6-8 at three sites, plus a fine male Whinchat at Mogador and a bonus Black Redstart at Canons Farm. The local patch challenge list rises to 88. My efforts with the MV in the garden have not been whole-hearted. Last Tuesday night it did pick up a bit, with the first real assortment of moths to look through, including Early Thorn (pictured), Brindled Beauty and Scalloped Hazel. I also had a single Zelleria hepariella , a smart micro that I have previously overlooked. Botanically things are a little behind. The chalk slope at Buckland Hills normally has, by now, Milkwort in flower in good number, but on Wednesday I could find none. The local exotic, Koch's Gentian, was also behind, with only one ...

And I thought that the North Downs and beyond Wheatear trophy had already been decided. I totted up the white-arses from my worthy blogs this evening to find that there has been a mid-month surge from a certain Surrey blogger... Wanstead Birder (Jono Lethbridge) Essex   17 Non-stop Birding (Peter Alfrey) Surrey   16 Cowboy Birder (Tony Brown) Essex   7 Peter has cunningly used the 'multiple Wheatears in one image' rule to bump up his score. I now expect a certain lensman from Wanstead to hit back big time. Even the Kent boys have awoken from their slumber, but are still not bothering the leaderboard. It all comes to an end at midnight on April 30th. It's shaping up to be a classic encounter.