NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

A fairly brief visit was made to Box Hill, primarily to go and see some Ground-pine that had come up on a small scrape (above). This is the sixth location that I have recorded this rare species from across the Uberpatch, the others sites being Langley Vale, Chipstead Bottom, Colley Hill, Juniper Hill and White Downs. There is just the one plant, but it is a good specimen, with plenty of Viper's-bugloss for company. I also went to take a look at a nearby slope that holds a good colony of Wild Liquorice (below). I last visited in 2018, and was disappointed to find that the area has scrubbed up since then, with fewer plants obvious, although one particular specimen was large and looked to be in rude health. I attempted to search (unsuccessfully) for Grapholita pallifrontana , a rare and decreasing micro moth that has Wild Liquorice as its food plant. Assumed to be extinct in Surrey, it was a long-shot anyway. The chalk downland was lively with butterflies, the dull and mu...

Summertime lived up to all of the hype and billing. The sun shone, the rain stayed away and the temperature soared. It was a good time to trawl the countryside for plants, butterflies and moths. Instead of remembering to pack the waterproofs it was sunscreen and water that you needed to make sure that you had onboard. The garden MV is at its most productive at this time of year, and in line with previous summers a number of new species for the site appeared, most notable of which were Great Oak Beauty, Kent Black Arches, The Mocha (above) and Oak Processionary. Moth numbers, although not at levels that were enjoyed 20-30 years ago, seemed to be a bit higher than those of the past few years. Another lepidopteran highlight occurred at the end of July, when a single Silver-washed Fritillary alighted a back garden buddleia (below) - the first recorded here and indicative of a number of species that were wandering from their breeding sites in the hot weather. It was also a good summer ...

This is a plant that had eluded me - I'd searched the well-known Surrey site at Brockham Quarry several times, but had failed - that is until this morning. Thanks to a combination of scrub clearance and some kind and helpful directions, I was able to pay my respects to a sizeable clump (several square metres) just off of the footpath above Brockham Quarry, with a further plant some 10m away. It was a larger and more robust species than I expected and has become a firm favourite. There must be more to find...