NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

There was a time when I would post with wild abandon on this blog, sometimes 200+ posts a year - admittedly, some of these posts would not pass a quality control filter but never the less it was an enjoyable process to come up with a subject matter, gather together a few words, select an image or two and send the whole package off into cyberspace. I was lucky enough to have a loyal band of visitors, many of whom would leave comments which sometimes created their own threads, some of these becoming a virtual game of tennis where words rather than balls would be metaphorically knocked back and forth over a net. Traffic to the blog was, as times, very healthy indeed, and although I was never in this blogging lark for the numbers game it was quite humbling to know that what was being created had an audience. Things started to quieten down a couple of years ago. The first sign of my partial withdrawal was to close down of the ability for visitors to comment. This was a result of an increasi...

The end of year blog tidy is underway. Some of my blog links seem to have been inactive for a length of time that suggests that they are no longer maintained, so they have been removed (and if they are awoken at a later date, please let me know). In their place I have added some fresh blood. Please welcome: Madcap pan-lister Seth Gibson  who has found himself living on a Scottish Island for the winter, and between this, and a possible return to the Isles of Scilly in the summer, will regale us with his search to identify every living thing that he comes across. He has no limits... he has no shame... expect a hairy ride. I do have a soft spot for the south and south-west English coast, so am happy to welcome the following blogs into the ND&B fold: Birding Exmouth,   Axe Birding,   Sea & Sky I will be adding a few more over the coming weeks. I broke tradition in 2016 and had no firm targets or plans for my natural history time. 2017 will be different. For th...

A blog cannot survive on stats alone, but sometimes a boost to the ratings is good for the soul. I do keep an eye on how many people out there are looking in on ND&B, and which posts seem to be popular. The stats monitor can sometimes throw up unusual viewing habits, and did so this morning. For some reason my spoof post about rare bird hoaxes ( click here to revisit it ) that was published on 9 July 2013 had been visited 143 times so far today... most strange. By then looking at my traffic sources I could see a big push coming from a Dutch birding forum, where one kind soul (Sjaak Schilperoort) had linked my bird hoax post to his comment - which, being in Dutch, I have no idea what it says. This bit of retrospective post boosting follows hot on the heels of an upsurge in visits to the 'Bohemian Chinese Pond Heron Rhapsody' post, due to my shameless re-plugging of it on the day that the plastic perfectly wild bird was welcomed onto Category A of the British List. You can...

There has been quite a bit going on in the world of forums and blogging. I won't name names, but a few bird-themed places that I spend some quality cyber-time have been getting their knickers in a twist. You see, even though people are invited to comment on them, the administrators of these sites have seen it fit to 'moderate' and delete postings. Of course, there are times when the need to delete will be the proper course of action - homophobic comments, racist insults, bad taste - I don't think many will disagree with that. But sometimes the removal of words is down to personal bias, political manoeuvring or petty point scoring. This is where waters get muddied. When anybody seeks response (such as I do on this blog), it is like leaving your front door open with a sign outside that says 'All welcome, come on in'. Trouble is, you don't know who will walk in. But all have been invited. If I were to round up the first 200-300 people who walk past my house...

Since 2009, David Campbell has been single-handedly looking after the Canons Farm and Banstead Woods blog. Next Monday he is packing up his car and heading south to take up position as Assistant Warden at my spiritual home, Dungeness Bird Observatory. He will be far too busy (most probably writing descriptions for the rare birds that he will find) to tend to the blog, so I have agreed to look after it for him. You can visit it by clicking here , or look out for the updates in my 'Worthy Blogs' column to the right of this post. My best wishes go to David. He will have a fantastic time, at a remarkable place, and will get tremendous support from a great bunch of local birders. I will, of course, visit... I have also added two other blogs to the list, both from Surrey birders that will inspire - Thorncombe Street Diary & Godalming area birding , and  South Guildford Birding .

There may not be snow down here in the balmy south-east (it was 15-16C yesterday), but we do sometimes get it - just not at Christmas. So in lieu of a suitably festive image, please accept this snowy scene from Canons Farm a couple of January's ago. Whatever you are doing, may you have an enjoyable and peaceful Christmas. 224? That is the number of posts that I've inflicted upon you so far this year. It also beats last years record total of 223. Pointless statistics are a way of life for me...

Blogs. One of the great things about them is that they vary so much. In the 'natural history' department of blogland we have the 'went there, seen that' type; the photographic showcase; the site specific and the stream of consciousness variety. There is a place for them all, but I enjoy mostly the latter. These blogs are like lucky dips - you just don't know what the post is going to be about and whether or not you will be informed, entertained, annoyed or delighted (or, at times, all four!). I still lament the demise of Gavin Haig's ' Not Quite Scilly ' but I have a replacement, and that is Dylan Wrathall''s ' Of Esox and observations '. You can access it quickly by clicking here. Dylan might rock a few boats and could be accused of telling it like it is, shooting from the hip, posting before thinking about the consequences and being provocative, but this is all good in my book. It shows that he cares, that he has an active mind and th...

I was awoken this morning by my PA, her excitement obvious. "You've only gone and bloody done it!" she told me. This could mean but one thing... North Downs and Beyond has been awarded the Randon's Rambler, bird bloggings equivalent of an Oscar, BAFTA and Brit Award rolled into one. Previous winners have included the 'BBC News', 'Big Tits Mature' and 'When Redhill CCTV gets rude'. The man behind the Rambler's is one Neil Randon. You might have seen him walking around Holmethorpe Sand Pits (sponsored by BetFred). He spends as much time reading The Sporting Life as he does Birdwatch magazine, and in a recent interview with Autumnwatch admitted that he'd rather be a Formula One pit stop monkey than a member of the UK400 club. He is also known as Factor, a name that he uses to stealthily flit between a variety of patches - Holmethorpe, Staines Reservoir and Tices Meadow. The trophy will be handed over at a sumptuous awards cer...

I've added a couple of extra 'worthy blogs' to my list (on the right there). The first is A new nature blog by Miles King. The second is from George Monbiot . Both are thoughful (and thought-provoking), taking blogging to very high levels indeed. If you want to look deeper into our natural world, the movers and shakers (and destroyers) then take a bit of time and have a look. You won't be disappointed. They both show my stuff up for the fluff that it truly is.

The Devon Dusky Thrush has claimed another victim - that of the excellent blog 'Not Quite Scilly' (created by birder and all-round good bloke, Gavin Haig). No longer can we click onto the site to read about his birding exploits in south Devon, be told of his latest super-human feats on a bicycle or be amazed at his heroic consumption of chocolate, cake and single-malt whisky. It is not for me to comment about his reasons for taking this drastic action, all I can do is respect his decision and make public my admiration for the writing that he shared with us over the recent years. A new Gavin Haig post was always something of a treat - I never knew whether I was about to be served up with a witicism, a dollop of nostalgia or be gripped off by some birding news. I met up with Gavin back in August and was given a grand tour of his local patches. It was a splendid day spent in good company and stunning habitat. And we ate Lemon Drizzle Cake... All the best Gav - I hope to mee...

Is this what 99% of blogs and bloggers are about? Discuss.

On the right hand side of this blog you will see ' My blog list ' which is basically a collection of other blogs that I really like and enjoy visiting. I use it to quickly access them and hopefully to also tempt visitors to North Downs and beyond to spend a little more time in other peoples cyberspace. This miscellany of sites will educate, entertain and exasperate in equal measure... I thought that I'd do a little round-up of them, to big them up (they all deserve it) and try to tempt the casual visitor to embrace them further. The old guard These are the blogs that I have been following for a number of years, and some of them were kind enough to link to my own blog in its early days.In no particular order Cabinet of Curiosities is Phil Gates micro take on the natural world in the north-east. His ability to capture the minute detail of its wildlife is marvellous and his knowledge is deep. Alan Tilmouth is the most serious of my links and I do at times feel rather f...

I have added three further links to my blog list (see right). They are Gilbert White's Ghost (Hampshire based all round natural history); Matt Eade's Blog (young Sussex birder cum twitcher) and The Trappings of Success  (Bedfordshire moths). All are worth a look in your moments of idleness, or in a need to get away from pictures of my bloodied eye.

A good friend of mine, after considering that my recent posts were of a 'reflective' nature, asked me if I was OK. This took me by surprise, so I asked my wife (who also finds the time to read my waffle) whether she thought that his observation was correct. She agreed with him, adding that my posts often betrayed a whiff of 'unfulfillment'. Blimey... I took a look back through the past few months worth of my posts and I have to agree with them. There is a lot of wistful thinking, looking back, shoe-gazing and self-analysis. Is this something to concern myself about? Is it healthy? Am I guilty of doing it right now? (No, yes and very much so are my answers to those questions by the way). This blog has never been about 'went there, saw that'. There is nothing wrong with those sort of blogs at all, especially when they are backed up by superb photography and boys-own adventures in the field. If I followed that format I would very soon have nothing to say! I'...

My first recommendation today is for the second book in the British Wildlife Collection series, the subject being Meadows ( click here for details) . If it is half as good as the first (Mushrooms) it will be well worth purchasing. I'm not on commission by the way, but I am keen for independent publishers like British Wildlife to succeed, as it benefits those of us who like natural history books that are well produced, are written for the informed amateur and that add something worthwhile to the body of  literature. Secondly, please take a peek at Parus's blog ( click here ). I do like to read about other's birding experiences, especially when they are laced with humour and self-deprecation. This site does exactly that. It is now May (just in case you hadn't noticed). When I used to do nothing but bird (as opposed to look at other things that are in the wild), May was second only to October as my 'favourite' month. Now, what with other interests vying for...

So far in 2013 I've published 61 posts. Out of those, only 12 are directly related to the natural history that I've recorded at that time.The rest are a mixture of opinion, waffle, nostalgia and the wittering of a confused person. Maybe I need to get out into the field a bit more...

Three more worthy blogs for your perusal, all from Kent-based birders. The first up is Martin Casemore's 'Ploddingbirder '. He seems to be out in the field, camera in hand, on an almost permanent basis, mostly on Walland Marsh and Dungeness, which as any regular visitor to North Downs and beyond will know, I consider to be my spiritual home. Secondly, a blog from one of Kent's top listers -  Mike Buckland's 'Travels with Birds',  - who has recently returned from Japan. His spectacular images of several species of crane (many in their thousands) are but some of the many highlights on offer. Last but not least is Paul Trodd's Plovers , more birding thrills from the worlds best shingle peninsula. All three offer vicarious birding at its best. Whilst adding the above blogs to my list I had a 'moment' and accidently deleted all of my other worthies! Then blogger decided to play up, so I will repopulate when it allows me to...

Let me introduce you to three 'new' blogs that I've added to my worthy list. The first is one that was on the list already but had 'dropped off' by accident (and I've only just noticed), and that is Jonathan Lethbridge's 'Wanstead Birder' . It really doesn't need any bigging up here, as it is already one of those blogs that everybody likes - well written, stunning photography - but I bet he can't tap dance or juggle! There must be something that he can't do all that well... Second up is Bill's Birding , a teenage natural history obsessive from my home county of Surrey. What with him and David Campbell showing us old gits how to do it I'm going to have to reassess my view that birding is only populated by those that suck on Werther's Originals, wear comfy slippers and cultivate nose and ear hair. Lastly (but of course, not least) is the Surrey Moths and Butterflies blog that a few enthusiasts have banded together to ensure...

The latest worthy blog added to my list (see right) comes from Andy Wraithmell (Limeybirder), an ex-pat who now lives in Florida. I met him a few years ago when he was assistant warden at Dungeness Bird Observatory, and if memory serves me correctly he found a few goodies in that time. It will be interesting to read a Brits-eye-view on Stateside birding, plus marvel at how he will now bust a gut to see those European waifs that have become, to him, rarities. Not long ago he wouldn't have got out of bed for them...

I said that I wouldn't post again until next year, so, true to my word, here I am posting again in 2012. I've added a couple of additional blogs to my 'worthy' list. The first is Marcus Lawson's bird and moth blog from Poole in Dorset. He's just moved there from Kent, where he was a terribly keen and active birder, so Dorset had better watch out. It will make a change if someone regularly finds something special away from Portland. Second is a blog based on Morgan's Hill in Wiltshire. I have a soft spot for these chalk downs having spent quite a few happy hours on nearby Pewsey Downs in the company of Burnt Orchids, Adonis Blues and flocks of declining farmland birds. I'll be intrigued to read what occurs on Morgan's Hill next year. I'm on the look out for some other blogs to add to the 'worthy' list that will add a bit of spice to my surfing which does not necessitate the clearing of my web history... Most of my recent posts h...