NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

It's funny how a day can flip on its head within seconds. I had just completed going through the moth trap (uneventful) and was daydreaming about my proposed uberpatch birding blitz planned for tomorrow when I checked my phone which had just blurted out a WhattsApp alert.  Woodchat Shrike at Beddington!  Now, I am not well known for dropping everything and heading hotfoot to the said rare bird, but a combination of this particular species and one of my old patches was too good to resist, especially since those kind Beddington Farmland Birding Group members had arranged for all-comers to gain entry behind the locked gates. I was on site by 10.00hrs to be greeted at the Mile Road gate by the smiling face of the birds finder, Mark Bravery. He ushered the few gathered birders onto the inner footpath that ran between the North and South Lakes, and onwards for 200m to where the shrike was still present, on a bramble-choked western facing slope, tucked out of the stiff breeze. The bi...

I first met Mike Netherwood at Beddington Sewage Farm in early 1975, me being an ultra-keen and ultra-green 16-year old birder, he some 20 years my senior. Mike, together with Ken Parsley, were the remnants of a once much larger ringing group which carried out the trapping and ringing of birds across the open expanse of the sewage farm. Whenever I bumped into them, which I often did, they would both tolerate my many questions about what they had seen and trapped and listen to me waxing lyrical about my own observations. Over the coming months they showed me how they caught the birds, allowed me to witness the ringing and measuring of them and, if I were very lucky, allow me to help them out by holding mist-net poles, carrying bird bags or writing down (scribing) the data that they were collecting into notebooks. By the summer of 1976 I had joined them, proudly in possession of my trainee ringer's permit. For the next three years (until I 'defected' to Dungeness) I spent man...

"I must go down to Beddington again, to the pungent mud and the sky, And all I ask is a Green Sandpiper and a glass to watch her by" With profuse apologies to the living descendants of John Masefield Yes, I've been up to my old tricks, that of flirting once again with my original patch, the place where I cut my ornithological teeth, Beddington Sewage Farm (or Farmlands as it has been rebranded recently). My presence has been noted there three times in the past 10 days, and I can see it becoming a regular haunt again - I say again, as I have made more comebacks at the sewage farm than Frank Sinatra did in his career. So why the sudden interest? Well, for a start, my perverse adherence to the north Surrey 'dry' downland has taken its toll, or rather this awful autumn has. Plenty of birding has taken place and plenty of disappointment has come my way. I craved wildfowl and waders, something that are rare treats on the downs. And, it must be admitted, a few good birds...

The past couple of days has seen me mooching about the place locally, counting thrushes, hunting chats and just being content with my lot. I did nip over to Beddington SF this afternoon to pay my respects to White Stork GB35, a Knepp release. I cannot get too excited about this project and I really don't know why it was started in the first place - my loss. The bird was loafing on the 'wet grassland', more mud and water than vegetation, but hopefully the area will develop into something special. Also present was a Great White Egret, not unexpected these days, even up here on the edge of London. Yesterday (and today) I finally got around to visiting Little Woodcote, an area of horse paddocks, small holdings, nurseries, hedges, copses and rough grassland. It has an ornithological history and is currently being checked regularly by a number of birders, including Peter Alfrey, Ian Jones and Arjun Dutta. Considering that it is only three miles from my home, and I like to think o...

This morning, while waiting for a big hirundine/pipit day, and daydreaming about big thrush days to come, I spent some time on the shores of the northern lake at Beddington SF, watching a group of four Whinchat, a Stonechat and a female Common Redstart. Another Whinchat was found on the Beddington park border. Not a lot was passing overhead although five Sand Martin and two Common Swift were noteworthy.

I doubt that Turnstones are annual at Beddington, I've certainly seen very few over the years, so when a juvenile turned up there yesterday I was more than keen to pay the farm a visit today - my journey was hurried up by a Curlew Sandpiper dropping in during this morning's rain. To cut a long story short, when I arrived, the Turnstone (and a Dunlin) promptly flew off westwards and there was no sign of the Curlew Sandpiper - ho hum... After a couple of big beefy showers, which sent me scurrying for shelter, subsequent checks away from the North Lake revealed 6 Green Sandpiper, 3 Common Sandpiper and, on the new 'restored grassland' flood, the Turnstone, that fed just feet away from me, totally unconcerned by my presence. Also recorded were an eclipse male Red-crested Pochard (above), 2 Little Egrets, 6 Common Swift, a handful of Swallows, House and Sand Martins during the rain and plenty of warblers in with the tit flocks, mostly Blackcaps, Whitethroats and ...

A morning visit to Beddington was not quite up to expectations. Apart from fair numbers of Green (10) and Common Sandpipers (4, including the one above) it was all quiet on the wader front, with the listless groups of duck and gulls on the waterbodies not yielding much of note, despite a full and heavy grilling. Patience required...

I spent a bit of time wandering around the accessible edge of the south lake at Beddington SF this morning, and while there took a couple of pictures of one of the three new hides that are soon to open to the public. Before anybody starts thinking that I bunked onto the closed public footpath, I took the interior shot by poking my camera into the hide from outside - clever huh? The view from here is going to be great, as can be seen below. As for my time in the field, highlights were 3 Little Egrets, a Kingfisher, one Common Sandpiper and several Small Red-eyed Damselflies on the northern lake. Ruddy and Common (below) Darters were present, as were Black-tailed Skimmers (bottom) and Emperor Dragonfly. I have just had details back from the ringer of a Mute Swan that I observed here on Sunday, which was sporting an orange plastic ring (4CSK) - it was ringed at Earlswood Common, near Redhill, on April 25th 2018.

The weather forecast suggested a partially cloudy morning with the outside possibility of a few spots of rain. They didn't get it quite right. I was at Beddington by 05.30hrs and spent four hours largely getting wet in proper rain. The soaking of the verdant vegetation meant that my walking along the overgrown footpaths also meant a soaking of my clothing, plus the copious transfer of grass seed. Oh well... Most of the waders that had been present this past week had moved on, so that I recorded just single  Little Ringed Plover, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper and Lapwing. One surprise was a juvenile Common Cuckoo that flapped through the dense vegetation on 100 Acre (image, taken in appalling light, above). There was also a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull on the Northern Lake (poorish pictures below, that show a few of the characteristic features of this species, such as inner primaries same tone as outer, the plain dark tertials edged white). There were plenty of pas...

Lazy blogging or canny use of resources? A handful of 'left-over' images from the past couple of days for your perusal... A stroll along the River Mole at Dorking revealed fair numbers of Banded Demoiselles, with a few perching on the bank-side vegetation allowing close approach. Also seen were single Little Egret and Kingfisher. Real life 999! When birding at Beddington yesterday I couldn't help but notice that a very smoky fire had broken out in an area close to the incinerator. Emergency vehicles were soon on site containing the blaze. The site was briefly closed off to incoming traffic - fortunately I was able to return to my car and leave without any hassle, albeit driving through thick smoke to do so. Now this, Ladies and Gentlemen, is what a proper sewage farm looks like, with pungent goo drying off in the open air, wet flashes and invert rich mud an attractant to passing waders, plus banks of vegetation adding to the (not unpleasant) whiff - especiall...

An eventful morning's visit to Beddington, with the avian plaudits going to a fine selection of waders and drama in the form of a spectacular fire close to the incinerator that prompted a good turn-out from the fire brigade and closure of the site - luckily I was allowed to leave through a dense fog of smoke... So, what waders were present and where were they? Here goes: Lapwing (3, on North Lake); Little Ringed Plover (2, on North Lake), Common Redshank (2 adults, both on North Lake, with one exhibiting a green plastic ring on the upper right tibia), Greenshank (1, on Jim's Bed, photo above), Wood Sandpiper (1, on North Lake, different from last weeks bird being a very well marked adult, still in good summer plumage), Common Sandpiper (3, two on 100 acre, one on North Lake), Green Sandpiper (8, all on 100 acre, mostly on Jim's Bed). Also of note was a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull (on the wet grassland workings), a Common Buzzard and a Peregrine.

Last Friday I was pretty sure that I saw a female Red-veined Darter at Beddington SF (between the South and North Lakes), but my views were brief and I didn't feel confident enough to claim it. I was therefore heartened to hear that, on Saturday, Nick Gardener had recorded 'several' in the same area. This morning I returned and spent a couple of hours slowly walking the vehicle tracks that run along the eastern flank of the Northern Lake. I was able to find three, if not four males and a single female, all resting on the bare earth of the tracks, all were flighty but patience paid off with excellent views being obtained. Here is a selection of images, some which show the blue colouring of the underneath of the eye, a feature only shared with the exceedingly rare Scarlet Darter.

Today I renewed my long-standing 'on-off' relationship with Beddington Sewage Farm. I've returned to the farm more often than Frank Sinatra has had comebacks. A change in the policy towards visiting birders prompted this latest re-connection. The key-holders have gone, being replaced by a system where bird group members sign in (and out) at the main office that is situated along Beddington Lane. After undergoing a one-to-one induction talk, I was then issued with hard hat, gloves, goggles and a hi-visibilty vest, and shown the safe pedestrian route through the works and out onto the farmlands. Within 45 minutes I was birding at Beddington once again. It felt like coming home. There has been much change since I visited back in January. The public footpath that runs to the west of the farm has been closed while various works have been completed, which included the installation of three bird hides (below). The good news is that these will be open to the public - with grea...

This morning saw me teaming up with Beddington-birder Steve Thomas - a key-holder to the magic kingdom of the farmlands! After Tuesday's panic to see the Glaucous Gull today was a far more leisurely affair. The gull was once again present (on the tip and north lake). The morning's main quest was to hunt down a Tree Sparrow, something that could be done with little effort just a few years ago at Beddington. But times change, and the sewage farm population has fallen, and with it the number of over-wintering birds. We saw just the one, feeding on red millet at a bird feeding station (photo above taken a few years ago). Below is a summary of my personal records for the Uber-patch to add some context. First recorded at  Beddington SF  and  River Mole, Leatherhead  (1975),  Seears Park, Cheam  (1983),  Holmethorpe  (1991). The breeding colony at  Beddington SF  is (or was) well-known, and counts could be high throughout the year, with a...

This morning I took a trip to one of my old stamping grounds, Beddington Sewage Farm. If I'm being honest, due to the presence of a Glaucous Gull I panicked and went early, as I have a visit already lined up to the farm this coming Thursday. I had yet to record this species at Beddington - and, as a big bonus, it was also a Uber patch tick! For some reason Glaucous Gulls have eluded me locally, whereas Icelands have been easier to come by: 1994      Mercer’s Farm, Holmethorpe              An adult roosting on the fields on 2 January  1997      Mercer’s Lake, Holmethorpe              An adult at first light on 1 January, apparently having roosted overnight with several thousand other gulls 2010      Beddington SF            ...

Part 15 October - December 1976 Beddington SF continued to be my birding destination of choice. The hot summer had become nothing but a pleasant memory but the summer migrants were still hanging on, some of them very late indeed, with both Reed Warbler and Whinchat (October 31st) and two Ring Ouzel (November 7th). The changeable weather slowly morphed into that of a typical winter, with the dull and drizzly mornings coming out on top of a the few cold and crisp ones that came along. The birdlife at the farm took on a steady and familiar guise, with Green Sandpiper, Jack Snipe and Water Pipit ever present and helping to enliven the otherwise mundane visits. But regardless of the quietness of the ornithological landscape I still retrieved my bicycle from the shed before it got light and cycled to Beddington full of hope. Each visit was a dawn to dusk vigil, a mixture of cold hands, wet clothes, wellington boots, dead burdock heads sticking to jeans, the leaping of dykes, splashing thr...

When news broke of Peter Alfrey having found a Richard's Pipit at Beddington yesterday I was unable to visit, but, via the kindness of Roger B, access was granted earlier this morning. After a rather poor 90 minutes skywatching from the northern lakeside we then scaled the slope of the mound (with Glenn and Christian) and walked onto the weedy top to search for the pipit. After 45 minutes of a no-show Glenn returned to the underwhelming sky-watch whilst Christian and I doubled-up our efforts and started all over again. Within a couple of minutes a large, wagtail-like pipit leapt from the vegetation and flew in a tight circle around us, then hovered for a good 10 seconds before alighting once more into the vegetation. It couldn't have performed any better, with the clear supercillium, pale lores, stout bill and unmarked flanks at once obvious. The next time in flight it called three times, the classic raspy "shreee". We were then able to stalk the bird as it stro...

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 ...

Part 14 September – October 1976 The settling beds at Beddington Sewage Farm were in good condition to entice passage waders down to feed, the effluent being not too wet and not too dry, and when seen from above they mimicked small inland estuaries. The star birds were a Spotted Redshank, a Little Stint and a flock of Ruff that, over the course of a week, built up to 17 birds. House Martin numbers were also increasing, and it was not just passage migrants that were swelling the numbers, as those that had been locally fledged were also taking to the skies. Up to 600 were feeding above Beddington in mid-September and a faithful group of 100-200 birds remained above Sutton town centre well into October. There were still young in some of the nests, these muddy cups being a common enough sight under the eaves of houses in many suburban streets. Another species gathering in numbers was the House Sparrow, with gangs of 30+ being found with regularity in the neighbourhood front gardens, th...

Thanks to Roger Browne's kind phone-call I was able to 'filthy twitch' a Hoopoe at Beddington Sewage Farm this morning. It was keeping largely to the main island in front of the viewing ramp, with the occasional sortie out and onto the mound. At one point a Sparrowhawk swept through, with the Hoopoe adopting an upright posture, as can be seen in the photograph below, no doubt using the Canada Goose as a shield... Also seen were three Common Buzzards, a Red Kite and a female Bufflehead that was sporting a silver ring and was not being taken seriously at all.