ND&B return


It has been 10 months since I last posted, a post which I suggested might be the last made on 'North Downs & Beyond' - I have never known when best to stop...

How are you? What have you been up to? Me? Well, when I left you I was still knee-deep in Hawfinches along the Surrey North Downs. Mickleham Downs was the epi-centre of the action, with several counts of 300-400 being made. These most charismatic of finches were still to be found well into April, although I couldn't claim to have found any breeding pairs. Having said that, there was plenty of courtship behaviour to be witnessed earlier in the spring, with the photograph above showing a female (left-hand lower bird) accepting a tree bud that the male, neck outstretched, had tenderly offered her. This took place on 18th February 2025 and I was most privileged to have witnessed it, let alone caught it on camera. The Mickleham - Box Hill - Colley Hill area was also excellent for Goshawk (below), with several pairs being seen. Together with Marsh Tits and Firecrests it was never a dull visit. I hope to post a bit more about the current status of Goshawk in the area. They really are increasing in number and colonising the downs here.

It was a good year for species diversity in the Banstead moth trap, with no fewer than six new macro moths being noted, a fine return after 38 years of recording. Beautiful Snout, Tissue, Light Crimson Underwing, Dingy Shell, Oak Rustic and The Sprawler were the additions. My summer wanderings in the company of butterflies was enlivened by one particular mid-June day on Bookham Common where a couple of Purple Emperors performed perfectly. They seem to emerge earlier each year.



By the autumn I had fallen, once again, under the spell of visible migration watching along the downs between Colley Hill and Denbies Hillside. I found a new vantage point, on Denbies Vineyard (the picture below showing the lower viewpoint looking eastwards - with Box Hill straight ahead), which proved to be very much up to scratch, with several 'big' days that included movements of 672 Meadow Pipits (20th September) and, most memorably, 31,300 House Martins (26th September) - the hirundines were all moving eastwards, low along the base of the scarp slope between 06.50 - 11.00hrs, together with 7,200 Swallows. It was, unsurprisingly, a record county total. The thrushes may not have turned up in the hoped for numbers in October and November, but there was enough to see regardless - with a Marsh Harrier, several Woodlarks and a calling Yellow-browed Warbler adding spice to the vismig experience.

Why return to blogging? To tell you the truth, I've missed it. It is great to have an outlet to share thoughts and experiences that I find hard to successfully do on other social media platforms. It may be old-school, it may be going (or has already gone) out of fashion, but I'm neither cutting edge or caring about such things. I've still kept up reading my favourite blogs (they are listed on the drop down menu, which can be found by clicking on three short horizontal lines, top left, if you want to have a look).

Well, that's it for now, short and sweet. Hope to post again very soon. Good to be back.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Farewell, farewell

Early March. Sometimes, out of the storm clouds comes sunshine, out of the murk, clarity. Dawn at Gorey, on the Channel Island of Jersey was bright but misty. The rising sun soon burnt off the mist to reveal a morning of rare brilliance. The light was ethereal, liquid, slightly hazy. A deep azure-blue upper sky became pearly white towards the horizon. The sea had been tamed, a benign swell softly lapping against the honeyed shingle. The houses, that rose steeply from the beach, dazzling white and with unblemished grey-tiled roofs, were as a film set. Palm trees competed with the riotous flower beds for my attention, with even Agapanthus coming into bloom. In the near distance Gorey Castle rose majestically from its rocky base, all-seeing over the centuries. It was all calm, all peaceful and a strange prelude to visiting my younger sister for the last time. She had been admitted to a hospice a few days earlier, a long illness finally overcoming her. I had visited her the previous evenin...
Read more

Goldfinches and Lavender

Image
We have three medium-sized Lavender bushes in our back garden. Throughout the summer the flowers (which last for several months) are a magnet for insects and give off a most restful aroma. As tempting as it is to cut the dead stems in the autumn, we always leave them, as we know that during the late winter we will get visitors to feed on the seed heads... This video was taken from the kitchen window this morning. We will normally see one or two birds over a few days, but have had up to 14 at once. We never tire of watching them. Lavender is a wonderful plant to have in the garden, with year round natural history benefits. So what are you waiting for? They are readily available at a garden centre close to you right now! There is an historic association with Lavender in this part of northern Surrey and south London. Lavender fields have been harvested for many years, with one particular field close to Woodmansterne being very popular with day trippers. A significant proportion o...
Read more

A special day

In birding, timing can mean the difference between an average day in the field and that of a spectacular one. Good timing can be helped by reading the weather conditions correctly, or understanding local conditions but it is more often down to pure luck. In this case, I just got lucky... I had not visited Dungeness since March 2022, quite a gap for me. It was high time that I once more trod the shingle and my timing of a visit was down to several factors, mostly a personal liking for mid-late autumn but also because I needed to be at home until September 20th and could not make the journey south until then. I also chose to stay at the bird observatory for a few days rather than make it a day trip. All this conveniently found me stepping outside the observatory's back door in the breaking dawn of Sunday 22nd September, quickly making my way to the fishing boats, an area I prefer to stand to best appreciate any visible bird migration, an aspect of birding that I find exhilarating.  A...
Read more