December 2025

After the very wet weather of the past few days, the ground on the Downs is saturated and there are ...

Another search today for overwintering insects and yet more Birch Catkin Bugs (Kleidocerys resedae) found. It would seem that a ...

It was a shorter walk than usual today as I wanted to get back to a spot where I had ...

Leaf litter and dead branches and twigs seem to be the place to find things now. So, I found a ...

Damper and damper, even the leaf litter in the woodland is now distinctly soggy. I was only just onto the ...

Lovely sunshine but a windy day. Both a Kestrel and a Buzzard were cruising over the main grassland area, the ...

Lovely sunshine again, but much colder this morning. The temperature firmly in wintry single digit territory. I tried peeling back ...

I’m sure they have been around for a while already, but I saw my first small group of Redwing (Turdus ...

A struggle to find anything new today. After locating some Common Striped Woodlouse (Philoscia muscorum) on a rotting branch, a ...

In the past week I have come across many small groups of Birch Catkin Bugs (Kleidocerys resedae) huddled together overwintering ...

A heavy dew, a patchy light ground frost and some early short-lived mist made for a very damp start to ...

I was surprised by a Roe Deer doe and her fawn as I started my walk this morning, heading towards ...

A review of my 2025 posts on Banstead Downs First the numbers. This year I have photographed and recorded in ...