Tuesday, 20 Jan 2026
Jelly-ear fungus and Hart’s-tongue Fern were my reward for visiting the south-western corner of Banstead Downs this morning. My walk began with a train ride. Bit of a cheat, but I wanted to get down to that south-western corner, a part of the Downs that I don’t visit too often. So, I hopped onto the […]
Monday, 19 Jan 2026
Today it was Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor) found both on a dead moss-covered silver birch stump and a dead branch. Just as on my last walk, but for a photogenic fungus, my cameras would have remained in my shoulder bag. […]
Friday, 16 Jan 2026
After a second photo-less walk this year two days ago, but for another jelly fungus, today might have been the same. That jelly fungus was found on a dead oak trunk and is possibly Yellow Brain (Tremella mesenterica). […]
Saturday, 10 Jan 2026
Another cold day, but after some persisent rain in the past couple of days all the snow and ice is gone. So, it was back to a search of the woodland for something of interest. Fallen birch trunks and branches proved most profitable, with four photo opportunities. Removing a loose flap of bark on one […]
Saturday, 20 Dec 2025
A heavy dew, a patchy light ground frost and some early short-lived mist made for a very damp start to the day on the Downs. Dewdrops dripped from everything …….. hawthorn, holly and even the fungus on rotting logs. With that amount of dew around I decided to spend some time looking under […]
Friday, 19 Dec 2025
In the past week I have come across many small groups of Birch Catkin Bugs (Kleidocerys resedae) huddled together overwintering on either large leaf buds of sycamore or on holly and ivy. They seem more numerous on the latter two, as these evergreen plants must provide more protection for them. I know of only […]
Tuesday, 16 Dec 2025
A struggle to find anything new today. After locating some Common Striped Woodlouse (Philoscia muscorum) on a rotting branch, a fallen birch trunk did turn up a new fungus, which I believe is Wrinkled Crust (Phlebia radiata). Crawling over this fungus was an insect tentatively identified as a spider beetle (Family: Ptinidae), possibly a Gibbium sp. […]
Monday, 15 Dec 2025
I’m sure they have been around for a while already, but I saw my first small group of Redwing (Turdus iliacus) this morning. Similar to the Song Thrush, it has a wash of orange-red on the flanks that gives it its name. It is a winter visitor from the colder northern parts of Scandinavia, as […]
Saturday, 13 Dec 2025
Lovely sunshine again, but much colder this morning. The temperature firmly in wintry single digit territory. I tried peeling back a piece of bark on a dead birch tree and was rewarded with mixed age group of variably coloured Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber) and my first ever sighting on the downs of a Common […]
Wednesday, 10 Dec 2025
Damper and damper, even the leaf litter in the woodland is now distinctly soggy. I was only just onto the Downs today when I made my first discovery. Searching the underside of ivy leaves for anything of interest I found the pupa of a hoverfly (Syrphidae sp.) in plain sight on the upper surface of […]
Saturday, 6 Dec 2025
Leaf litter and dead branches and twigs seem to be the place to find things now. So, I found a fallen tree with a large piece of loose bark and gently prised it off wondering what I might find (I did put the bark back afterwards as carefully as possible). There was an immediate frenzied […]
Friday, 5 Dec 2025
It was a shorter walk than usual today as I wanted to get back to a spot where I had taken a photo 2 days ago to get better images of the subject of the photo, but more of that later. Along the way I discovered a Seven-spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata) that looked as if […]
Wednesday, 3 Dec 2025
Another search today for overwintering insects and yet more Birch Catkin Bugs (Kleidocerys resedae) found. It would seem that a favourite place for them to congregate is on the terminal leaf buds of Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) trees as this is where I found them on at least a dozen different sycamores, having first discovered them […]
Tuesday, 2 Dec 2025
After the very wet weather of the past few days, the ground on the Downs is saturated and there are puddles of water on many of the paths, something not seen too often during the summer. I had decided to retire my trainers and break out my sturdy hiking boots, which given the squelchy underfoot […]
Thursday, 27 Nov 2025
First seen on 21st October I came across more Himalayan Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster simonsii) this morning. A quick glance at the red ‘berries’ as you walk past and you might simply dismiss them as ‘rosehips’. Stop and look carefully, though, and you will realise that the fruits are smaller than their Rosa counterparts, the leaves although […]
Tuesday, 25 Nov 2025
It may be cold and underfoot conditions are getting somewhat soggy, but there is still much to be seen on the Downs. First find of the day on an almost completely defoliated oak sapling (the few remaining leaves confirmed the ID) were Oak Marble Galls. I missed out on seeing any of this type of […]
Friday, 21 Nov 2025
Over a week since my last visit and what a change! The unseasonal warm weather is a thing of the past. We’ve had rain, strong winds, snow flurries and frost. The wind is now from the north-east and it is definitely more wintry than autumnal. There are still fungi to be found and […]
Sunday, 9 Nov 2025
A glorious sunny morning with heavy dew on the grass. Unlike yesterday no insects on the wing, with not even a fly to be seen today. I did though locate a single adult of the UK’s biggest shield bug, the Hawthorn Shield Bug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale), sitting on a holly leaf. It is the […]
Saturday, 8 Nov 2025
Another close encounter of the Goldcrest kind – yet again the wrong camera lens with me! The Downs are looking really colourful now before the trees shed their leaves fully. Everything was dripping wet today after late evening rain yesterday and an early mist this morning. Even the Common Wasps have now disappeared […]
Friday, 24 Oct 2025
There is a distinctly autumnal look to the Downs now. I encountered a large mixed bird foraging party this morning, comprising Great Tit, Blue Tit and Long-tailed Tit. Jays are still very conspicuous as they build up their winter nut stocks. Yet another new species for the Downs, having previously found it at […]