Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) Have any of you noticed how clean the front of your car is nowadays? Some 15 to 20 years ago there was a regular chore to complete after every significant journey. Hot water, a bucket, soap and a brush were needed to scrape off a grim gallery of dead insects on the ...
READ MORE +
Northern Royal Albatross (Diomedea sanfordi) Dawn on a bright spring morning. Let’s see what’s about. Familiar birds seem to be up early. A Song Thrush belts out sweet tunes to declare its territory. Blackbirds strut their stuff on the lawn. A male noisily chases off a neighbour who is encroaching on his turf. ...
READ MORE +
Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) Any day now and they will be enchanting us with their magical music again. The Nightingale will be back – but only in all too few of the remaining copses to host them in the south of England. Their return from Africa is usually heard around here from the second week of ...
READ MORE +
Lesser Redpoll (Carduelis Cabaret) Remember the famous cinema quote from Tom Hanks, playing the Forrest Gump character in the film of the same name? ‘Momma always said life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get’. I always recall those words when I hear or see an increasingly scarce ...
READ MORE +
The Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus) With the snowdrops bursting through and the days noticeably longer I had been expecting the return of a powerful songster to announce Spring’s imminent arrival. And late last month he started up again, true to form. The Mistle Thrush. At this time of the year he reappears as ...
READ MORE +
Happy New Year! And may you enjoy seeing many more birds in, around, and over Cranleigh and its surrounding villages. So what can you expect? If you are an optimist, like me, almost anything! But here is a birding calendar, featuring some of the expected highlights, to indicate what you might like to watch out for. ...
READ MORE +
Jackdaw (Corvus monedula) I can’t be sure if it will be a white Christmas this year – but it will certainly be a black one. Each December, as the daylight fades ever earlier and people scurry ever faster to squeeze in the last of their shopping before the happy day, a spectacular display takes place in the skies ...
READ MORE +
Grey Partridge (Perdix perdix) RED-listed What’s going up and down Thousands of us are in for another top firework display at the Cranleigh bonfire. It will be all eyes to the skies as Cranleigh Lions give us another spectacular show and the rockets rise and explode in a fabulous fiesta of light and colour. ...
READ MORE +
Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca) ‘Tut tut’ The voice came softly during one of those baking days of this endless summer. Then again: ‘Tut tut.’ Well, I’ve got used to being tutted at but this was a most welcome intrusion. The call sounded a bit like a ‘ticking’ Wren - but I had high hopes of something far more ...
READ MORE +
Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) Our long hot summer has born a butterfly bonanza all around the south of England, enabling many of us to enjoy some unusual garden visitors. I’ve counted 17 species in my small plot so far and two of those I’ve only seen a couple of times there before. First up was the ...
READ MORE +
