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, 27 Feb 2026
Another windy day, so another search of the woodland floor for something of interest. In one small area I turned over several large pieces of bark and branches lying in the leaf litter to uncover quite a mix of gastropods and arthropods without an insect among them. Among the gastropods were several Cellar Snail (Oxychilus cellarius), […]
Thursday, 26 Feb 2026
A windy day so I kept mainly within the woodland and continued with my recent tactic of searching under loose bark on rotting trunks and branches. Very obvious on the outer surface of the bark on one rotting Silver Birch bough was the fungus Birch Woodwart (Jackrogersella multiformis). Under bark that had spalled off a […]
Wednesday, 25 Feb 2026
The warmer weather continues and has coaxed more insects into awakening from their winter slumber. After the first sighting of the year yesterday of a single Brimstone butterfly my tally today was 14. Also found were several active Seven-spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata), all on brambles. Turning over some of the bramble leaves I spotted what […]
Tuesday, 24 Feb 2026
The above average temperature and sunshine of the past two days has brought the first butterfly out of hibernation, a Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni). With early signs of spring a week or so early this year too, Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera), Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) and Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum) were all active on the same […]
Monday, 23 Feb 2026
Belmont – Monday, 23 Feb 2026 This morning a Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) was circling over the north-east quadrant of the Downs. As I watched it cruise low over a portion of the woodland it alarmed a feeding flock of around 50 Redwing (Turdus iliacus), which scattered very quickly. There also seemed to be rather […]
Saturday, 21 Feb 2026
Found on an ash stump this morning were the early-stage fruiting bodies of a slime mould, possibly Badhamia utricularis. They will eventually mature and turn grey. This slime mould is fungivorous, growing and feeding on various types of fungus. Having recorded my first ever fungus gnat larva just yesterday, I found another in close proximity […]
Friday, 20 Feb 2026
While photographing fungus on a fallen tree trunk, possibly Common Tarcrust (Diatrype stigma), I was aware of a small insect on the back of my hand. It wandered around quite happily, giving me plenty of time to get a good photo. It would seem to be a Cynipid gall wasp, most likely a Striped Pea Gall […]
Tuesday, 17 Feb 2026
The south-eastern corner of the Downs was where I headed this morning, where I found a flock of at least 20 Redwing (Turdus iliacus) foraging in the canopy of the woodland trees. In the woodland itself the English Yew (Taxus baccata) are beginning to bloom, the male trees producing short spikes of small yellowish cones. […]
Monday, 16 Feb 2026
A good walk largely uninterrupted by photo opportunities. Only once did the cameras come out of my shoulder bag, at an oak stump where I noticed some flying insects landing briefly on the flat sawn surface of the stump. The resultant not too great images show a possible non-biting midge, perhaps a Buzzer Midge (Chironomus […]
Saturday, 14 Feb 2026
First up today, as a follow-on from yesterday’s post I have a further image showing the sepals of the Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera) confirming the ID. The image clearly shows that the sepals are reflexed (bent downwards), are blunt-ended and have a fimbriate margin (fringed or ragged edge), all of these factors separating Cherry Plum […]
Friday, 13 Feb 2026
Yet another of those days when I wished I had the 300 mm lens with me. It is, though, a case of either/or. Either I carry my two Canons set up for macro shots and for 28-135 mm zoom or I take one camera with 300mm lens and x2 extender, as the weight and bulk […]
Monday, 9 Feb 2026
My 90-minute walk this morning seemed destined to become another ‘fungus day’ until I came across this early-emerging Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) queen. She will forage for nectar (not too many flowers available right now beyond gorse and hazel catkins) to restore energy after her winter hibernation before selecting a site to house the next […]
Sunday, 8 Feb 2026
After three days of what seemed like incessant drizzle I could get out this afternoon with the cameras again. That rain and the recent milder temperatures may have just been the trigger for what I have been waiting for. The female Common Hazel (Corylus avellana) flowers are now starting to appear, not yet on all hazel […]
Wednesday, 4 Feb 2026
Another of those days when I wished I had the 300 mm lens with me. A Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) perched in full view on a branch no more than 5 m away and let me stop and watch it for a good 15 seconds or so before flying off. In my last post I […]
Saturday, 31 Jan 2026
A lovely sunny afternoon. The first thing that attracted my attention today was a foraging flock of Redwing (Turdus iliacus) in the tree canopy of the woodland adjacent to Downs Road. This is our smallest member of the thrush family (Turdidae) and a winter visitor. Crossing Sutton Road and entering the clearing there I encountered […]
Friday, 30 Jan 2026
Got lucky and had a dry early afternoon walk (but that’s not underfoot) free from the unpredictable showers of today. The focus was still on fungi. Today’s finds included Netted Crust Fungus (Byssomerulius corium) on a dead ivy vine and Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor) on a dead branch. A dead oak tree with a double […]
Thursday, 29 Jan 2026
Another day, more fungi photos. I am reasonably confident of my ID for two of them, Hairy Bracket (Trametes hirsuta) found on a rotting twig of hawthorn or blackthorn and Crimped Gill (Plicaturopsis crispa) found on a fallen birch branch. One I have less confidence with is Cellar Fungus/Wet Rot (Coniophora puteana) while another two I make […]
Wednesday, 28 Jan 2026
After 3 days of rain during Storm Chandra the underfoot conditions on the paths on the Downs are extremely muddy and slippery, so a walk on the leaf litter in the woodland solved that problem. It also meant that my focus was again very much on lichens and fungi. As always with these there is […]
Saturday, 24 Jan 2026
Today was lichen day. Returning to the tree mentioned in my last post on which I found the Whitewash Lichen I focussed my attention on some of the other lichens present. One of them is a green foliose lichen probably of the family Parmeliaceae and possibly a Parmotrema species. Another could well be Gold Dust […]