NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Mid-morning, Katrina suggested that, to break-up our lockdown fever, we go and visit one of our favourite garden centres which is nestled at the bottom of the north downs at Buckland. I'm not adverse to mooching around such establishments, so armed with face masks and hand-gel we undertook the short journey and were soon looking at our prospective plant purchases out in the open air. Now, this garden centre is placed in quite a good position to observe birds that might be making their way along the scarp slope. I have seen Hawfinch from here, plus observed decent Common Buzzard and hirundine passage in the past (whilst, of course, nodding sagely as my wife points out the plants to me). This morning was no different, and I had one eye on the sky as we were examining a quite delightful flowering witch-hazel. I couldn't help but notice a low raptor just in front of us. I had no optics, but this bird was so low and the light so good that I didn't need them - a dark, immature fe...

Colley Hill can be found on the North Downs just west of Reigate. It is quite a spectacular site, with a steep scarp slope that has, along its length, a couple of natural bowls. These are not accessible to most people, so the partially scrubby slopes remain largely undisturbed. I have a longstanding affection for the place, but my birding victories here have been quite meagre, even though my effort has been reasonable over the years - a Ring Ouzel here and a Common Redstart there is not quite reward enough! To the north (and just over the M25, that bisects the area like some poisoned serpent) you will find open farm and grassland close to the village of Mogador. Both of these places have been lumped together as a single site for the purposes of recording any visible migration on Trektellen. This morning I took up position at 'Watchpoint 2' (map above) that has a good uninterrupted view northwards across the farmland. It was very misty to start with, but after an hour th...