NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

So, 'scientists' reckon that the total number of species to be found on earth is likely to be close to 8.7 million. Whilst idly chatting to Steve Thomas at Beddington this morning, he speculated on how long it would take to see them all. Needless to say, that would be an impossible task. However, if you could be presented with each species, one at a time, for a thirty second peek (this taking place for a twelve hour period each day, seven days a week), it will take almost 17 years to see the lot - (1,440 per day, 525,600 per year). This is what birders do in idle moments...

OK, where is this? Only clue is that it is off the British coast. First prize, a years subscription to North Downs and beyond . Second prize, two years subscription to North Downs and beyond ... (yeah, the old ones are the best ones, etc).

As a simple way of filling dead 'cyber space' and out of sheer personal indulgence, 1974 launches a series of 'years in the natural history life of one S W Gale'. I won't be surprised, or offended, if you stop reading right now and go off in search of something far more worthwhile. It all began during an art lesson at Sutton Grammar School, Surrey, in the spring of 1974. We had been given the subject of 'Conflict' to illustrate. Most of us were up to our elbows in poster paint trying to work up life-like images of warfare. However, a  fellow pupil's work had caught my eye as he had been far more original than the rest of us and was painting a garden scene of a cat pouncing at an improbably coloured bird that was flying just out of paw's reach. I asked him if the bird was a parrot. No, he replied, it was a Jay. He also told me that I could see one in my back garden if I kept a look out. Nonsense, I said, sheer bloody nonsense... Maybe two weeks l...

The latest pan-species update is: Flora 1378 (+2) Mosses & Liverworts 36 (+9) Lichen 23 (+12) Fungi 32 (+2) Birds 375 Moths 710 (+2) Butterflies 50 Dragonflies 34 Mammals 32 Amphibians 5 Reptiles 4 Fish 17 Snails & Slugs 8 Marine 45 (+25) Worms 1 Leeches 1 Algae 1 Thysanura (Bristletails) 1 Orthoptera (Grasshoppers) 3 Dermaptera (Earwigs) 1 Hemiptera (Shieldbugs, hoppers) 10 (+1) Thysanoptera (Thrips, Lice) 1 Neuropterans (Lacewings) 2 Trichoptera (Caddisflies) 2 Diptera (Flies) 20 (+2) Hymenoptera (Wasps, Bees, Ants) 20 (+1) Coleoptera (Beetles) 31 Centipedes 4 Millipedes 2 Woodlice 4 Ticks, Mites, Harvestmen 4 Spiders 13 TOTAL: 2870 Most of the additions have come courtesy of Cornish rock pools and beaches. Will I reach 3,000 before the end of the year? It would be easy enough to do if I put my mind to it, but I'm quite happy with letting things come to me. I could target hoverflies, fungi, mosses and lichens in the next few weeks and ge...

Please take a moment and click on the picture above (I've saved it to a larger size to better appreciate it). I took it on a Cornish headland. If it were to be hung in a gallery of abstract art, it would not be out of place. Lichens... just don't ask me to identify them all!

The following message was sent to the BBC Test Match Special after Ian Bell was dismissed for 235 at the Oval (England v India cricket test match for those of you that do not follow the thwack of leather on willow):  "Gutted. If Bell had got out on 238, it would have been the lowest score never previously scored in a Test." I had to laugh when I read that, as only cricket officianados can out compete birders when it comes to quoting trivia and the ability to be anally retentive...

As promised, a gallery of Wavy St.John's-wort images taken at Greena Moor, North Cornwall, last week.