Tuesday, 25 Aug 2026
Even fewer butterflies on the wing today but I was stirring them into action from their resting places in the grass as I walked along. I didn’t try and count individual numbers today, rather just species, although it was obvious that Meadow Brown still dominates. Small Heath, Small White, Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Common Blue […]
Monday, 1 Jun 2026
Slightly cooler today and the butterfly numbers continue to increase, although I did not see a single Brimstone. Even without the Brimstone, I managed to see 10 different species. Speckled Wood still patrols the woodland paths and edges, but numbers of Common Blue, Small Heath, Brown Argus and Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus) are all up […]
Thursday, 5 Mar 2026
The Brimstone butterflies are back and in much larger numbers this time. A single Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) was also spotted. A surprise was a small flock of Redpoll (Acanthis flammea cabaret), a bird I had not seen on the Downs before today. Best of all was that I did not miss out on a photo as […]
Monday, 2 Mar 2026
Well spring starts officially at the Spring Equinox, which this year is on 20th March. ‘Meteorological Spring’ started yesterday. This is to make the use of data collected and grouped by calendar months easier to use for year-to-year comparisons. Whichever start date you prefer for spring the weather today and for the next few days […]
Friday, 2 Jan 2026
At the same point that I had Roe Deer run across the track in front of me just three days ago I had a fox dash across this morning. After yesterday’s frosty start to the New Year it was something much more uncommon on the common today. A pre-dawn snowstorm had dumped a good 2 […]
Tuesday, 30 Dec 2025
I was surprised by a Roe Deer doe and her fawn as I started my walk this morning, heading towards Sutton Lane up the track parallel to Downs Road. They dashed across the path no more than 20 m ahead of me. Gone in a flash, so no opportunity for a photo. Could this be […]
Wednesday, 16 Jul 2025
It is still the most prominent butterfly and today I found the female of a mating pair of Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) carrying a parasitic Trombidium breei mite. A new insect added was the Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis). On 3rd May I posted an image of a Currant Gall caused by the Common Spangle Gall […]
Monday, 14 Jul 2025
What a start to my walk today! Just 3 minutes after setting foot on the Downs I realised that there were a Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) doe and her fawn walking towards me along the path. So I fired off a quick couple of shots and ducked into the trees to my right, trying to […]
Tuesday, 13 May 2025 – Warnham Nature Reserve
Something different today. I spent the morning at the Warnham Nature Reserve, near Horsham in West Sussex. I will just post a gallery of some of the things that you cannot or may not see on Banstead Downs. […]
Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Latest addition to the butterfly list is Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages), while I saw my first ever Common Heath (Ematurga atomaria) and Muslin moths (Diaphora mendica). A shield bug seen on hawthorn blossom turned out not to be a Hawthorn Shield Bug but rather a Common Green Shield Bug (Palomena prasina). Yesterday I saw only […]