DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS YET?

It has been a hectic, but satisfying, few days. It was a race against time, but in the end I finished the drawing I wanted to enter for the SWLA (Society of Wildlife Artists) Open Exhibition on Thursday night. By the end of Friday afternoon it had been photographed for reproduction purposes at a studio in East Grinstead, and dropped off at Oyster PIcture Framing in Lingfield. Martin Scarland very kindly mounted and framed the work ready to be picked up the next morning.

Art works had to be delivered to the Mall Galleries headquarters in Carlton House Terrace, just off the Mall in London, by 5pm today. As it was blowing a gale this morning and I didn't want to risk losing the thing in the wind, or breaking the glass in the frame travelling up to London by train, I chose to drive there - and it proved to be the right decision.

A seamless route took Annie and I via the A217, A24, then the A3 at Tolworth, over Putney Bridge, New King's Road, Fulham Road, Knightsbridge, Green Park, St James's Street and Pall Mall before finding plenty of parking space at Waterloo Place just 100 yards from the gallery offices. We arrived at 1.45pm, relaxed.




My picture in number 414 on the list. I reckon there will be at least 500 paintings, drawings and sculptors for the panel to choose from when they make their selections tomorrow. Around 100 will make it into the exhibition itself. The final selection will be announced on the Mall Galleries website on Thursday.

So, what else. Well, I spent Saturday afternoon travelling to Northampton to watch the BriSCA F1 Stock Car World Championship Final (if you watched the BBC TV series Gears and Tears last year you will know what I'm talking about). On the way I took a quick diversion to Staines Reservoir and Staines Moor. While at the Reservoir I gained another Surrey tick for the year with two Turnstones (159) on the ramp on the North basin.


There were plenty of Common Terns around, plus a couple of juvenile Arctic Terns and a juvenile Little Gull. Over at the Moor, I caught up with more than 70 Meadow Pipits and six Wheatear.


F1 Stock Car racing has been in my blood since my early school days. I've always done my level best to promote a sport I believe has few equals as a spectacle. I still have a few copies of my book, The Sound and the Fury, still available if anyone is interested!

I don't go as often as I used to - only a handful a times a year - but the World Final is the one meeting I will not miss. There's nothing like watching 30-odd 700bhp V8-powered stock cars screaming round a short oval track hitting seven bells out of each other. Saturday turned out to be a truly great night's racing, and produced a worthy winner in Paul Harrison.



Surrey (including Spelthorne) 2011 list: 159
This time last year: 148

AFTERNOON STINT AT BEDDINGTON

Autumn arrived with a vengeance yesterday with gale-force south-westerly winds and torrential rain that fell pretty much all day. It was perfect weather for birds to drop out of the sky looking for welcome refuge.

I was busy trying to finish a drawing for the Birdwatch Art competition. The deadline is next Monday and it's still not finished - it's going to go down to the wire by the looks of things. The reason? I just couldn't get my arse into gear to get on with it. I used to be a prolific artist many years ago, but these days I struggle to sit down in front of a blank sheet of white paper and put pencil to it. I think it's because I know how long it takes to put a decent illustration together. It's not a case of just sitting down for a couple of hours and... hey presto! It takes hours, and plenty of concentration.

Add the fact I haven't produced any drawings/paintings for about ten years and I know I'm more than a bit rusty - which means it takes even longer. Also I keep using, as Annie puts it, 'avoidance tactics'. I'll do anything else to avoid getting on with it - like birding.

The bottom line is if I don't think it's good enough I won't enter it. The next two days are pivotal.

So what did I do yesterday? I couldn't help but pay Holmethorpe a visit in the rain. I had visions of waders of all shapes and sizes busy feeding on Spynes Mere or Mercers West. As it turned out the best I could come up with were three Common Sandpipers.

Meanwhile, what a contrast at Beddington. It was raining birds up there. During the day the Tweets from Johnny Allan and Dodge were coming thick and fast. The list included a Curlew Sandpiper, a couple of Little Stints, a Ruff, a Dunlin, three Green Sandpipers, two Common Sandpipers, about 15 Ringed Plover and a couple of Snipe. Wheatear were everywhere, plus they had their regular Peregrine and Hobby visits. That wasn't all. On the gull front, a juvenile Caspian Gull dropped in, and a couple of Yellow-legged Gull were seen.

Bloody Nora.

This morning I had a meeting at the Racehorse Owners Association offices at High Holborn, and was hopeful I could make a detour to Beddington on the way back. The Curlew Sandpiper and Stints were still there, which was good news.

I arrived at the farm at 2pm, and was met by Johnny, who walked me over to the enclosed lagoons where the waders were. En route we saw a Sedge Warbler and plenty of Wheatear on the mound. We also met up with Roy 'Bulldog' Dennis.

The lagoons on the eastern side of the farm were clearly proving a popular haunt for waders. It didn't take long to get great views of the very smart Curlew Sandpiper (156) feeding alongside the two Little Stint (157). Also on the scrape were six Ringed Plovers (158) and a Redshank.




The Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stints were first-ever Surrey ticks for me, which pleased me no end. The Curlew Sandpiper, in particular, was a striking individual. Very well put together, with clean lines and excellent markings. Seeing all these unusual Surrey visitors together in one place was an excellent sight.

After that, we left Roy to continue viewing and walked back across the mound - where we saw at least six Wheatear flitting around - and went back to the observation shed where we met up with Dodge. Roy joined us a bit later having seen a Whinchat on the mound.



The shed is the epicentre of the site, and a welcome respite from the elements. It also features the Beddington 'shrine' which includes a number of artifacts picked up at the farm over the years, including a fossilised shell that Johnny tells me is at least 20 million years old.

After a bit of birding banter (I don't get the chance to bore many people about birds when I'm at home) it was time to go. A couple of hours well spent. Now, I must get on with that drawing...

Surrey (including Spelthorne) 2011 list: 158
This time last year: 148