NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Canons Farm is currently playing host to a ring-tail Hen Harrier, the fifth site record following hot on the heels of birds in 2010, 2011 and two in 2013. Needless to say, a July record is exceedingly rare in Surrey. My 'harrier ageing library' is not up to date, hence my inability to confidently call this a 'juvenile male', although there are several eminent birders who confidently are. The bird turned up on Friday and, apart from Saturday, has been seen on each subsequent evening, although today it has been on site, on-and-off, all day, but has gone 'missing' for hours at a time. I spent the afternoon on the farm (sans harrier) but was more than happy with up to 200 Common Swifts, 45 Swallows and a House Martin drifting in the airspace, which they shared for a time with a Hobby. I went back this evening and was delighted to see the Hen Harrier on a number of occasions, quartering the fields widely across the farm. At least 20+ birders had also decided to des...

There were two species that had been present in the Dungeness area since I arrived two days ago and which I was keen to see. The first, a ring-tailed Hen Harrier, gave itself up fairly quickly, hunting over the adjacent field to the Sunflower crop at Dengemarsh. It fell on prey and remained out of view, allowing close approach before taking flight and performing in front of  Mark H and I. Our views were more than satisfactory. The second species was another large raptor, an Osprey, found by Paul T at Lade Pits and seemingly happy to stay and take advantage of the easy fishing to be had. It was relocated, perched on a post and remained in place for at least a couple of hours, enough time for several of us to scope it from the road. My first non-flying Osprey at Dungeness. This afternoon, one of those simple, but oh so glorious moments of birding occurred. It was mid-afternoon, all seemed quiet, and I was making my way from the observatory to the sea watch hide. A single 'chak'...

Dungeness July 1983 I’ve seen this sort of thing happen at Dungeness before, but not in these numbers. I’m standing on top of the moat looking northwards over the trapping area at a mass of birds circling over the sallow bushes, some 100-200 feet high. Through binoculars we realise that the birds are actively feeding on flying insects and that the flock not only extends further towards the Long Pits than we thought but also considerably higher. The calm, muggy air has created a heat haze and also ensured that although these birds are several hundred yards away we can clearly hear them calling – the odd individual utterance in a mostly silent gathering. Time and space is condensed. There must be 3,000 Black-headed Gulls along with maybe 300 Common Gulls. There are also terns and hirundines to be picked out amongst this larid feeding frenzy. A menacing dark shape has joined them – an Arctic Skua. It benignly snaps for insects along with the gulls that it would so freely hassle over th...

Recent events have reawakened the birder in me and has led to a certain amount of looking back through my local ornithological record, now grandly christened the 'NDB uber archive' - yes, I know, the stuff of children, but us blokes never really grow up, do we? It is surprising what constitutes a birding highlight. Rarity or being self-found need not necessarily add weight to a species right to become a cherished memory. Time and place can have such an effect however. In chronological order I would like to present my ' Top 10 North Downs and Beyond Uber patch ' highlights. May 1974 Jay, Sutton The bird that started it all. I could only identify the improbably coloured bird on the back garden lawn because a fellow pupil at school had recently painted a picture of one in art class. At the time I asked him if it was a parrot. His answer that I could see this bird in my back garden was met with much scoffing. I can still clearly see this particular Jay, 39 years later,...