Bunk, Lollingdon & Moreton floods

Overcast, 9°, light SSE.

Bunk: At least 3 Chiffchaff still, c100 Linnet, 100+ Fieldfare, 30+ Redwing, a Mistle Thrush, 200+ Starling, 40+ Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, Little Owl and 250+ Lapwing briefly settled then flew off towards the Moreton floods.

Lollingdon Floods: 11 Shoveler, c100 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Herring Gull, c50 Black-headed Gull, 3 Common Gull and c150 Lapwing.

Moreton Floods: c350 Lapwing, c30 Golden Plover, 2 Shelduck, 2 Cormorant over and a Sparrowhawk.

AD & PC.

Common Gull courtesy Alan

Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Part of the Lapwing flock

Starlings

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaffs again

Hazy sunshine, 5°, light ESE.

Lollingdon: 9 Shoveler, 2 Teal, 10 Lapwing, 26 Lesser Blackback Gull, 100+ Black-headed Gull, a Raven over, c60 Fieldfare, c20 Redwing, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 Meadow Pipit and 15 Skylark.

Bunk: 5 Chiffchaff, 16 Pied Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 70+ Fieldfare, 10 Redwing and a Mistle Thrush in song and 2 Herring Gull.

Moreton floods: c450 Lapwing, c20 Golden Plover, 2 Shelduck, c25 Teal, c15 Shoveler, a Raven and a Little Egret.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

AD & PC.

Some welcome sunshine

A sunny day, 6°, light ESE.

A nice bright day with a number of Chiffchaff around and an abundance of small insects in a few sheltered/sunny spots. 5 Chiffchaff feeding along a stretch of hedgerow along the Bunk near CSW and another 2 further along towards Green Lane and 1 in the garden.

A few of note: 60+ Fieldfare, 20+ Redwing, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 Grey Wagtail, c30 Pied Wagtail, 20+ Linnet, 3 Grey Heron, 2 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 100+ Black-headed Gull, 5 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Herring Gull, etc.

Lollingdon flood: 2 Shoveler plus the usual Gulls.

Long Ditch: Peregrine Falcon, 2 Stonechat, Reed Bunting, Meadow Pipit, etc.

AD & PC.

Several of the Chiffchaffs

Skylark courtesy Alan

Stonechat ↕ courtesy Alan

Long-tailed Tit

Grey Heron

Herring Gull

Oystercatcher

Overcast and rainy, 5°, light SE.

An Oystercatcher on Lollingdon floods plus 13 Shoveler and 2 Stonechat (m & f) along the Bunk.

AD.

courtesy Alan

Floods still prevalent

Sunny spells, 3°, light SE.

Nice to see the sun today but still a bit on the chilly side.

Long Ditch: 3 Common Snipe, 2 Stonechat, many Skylark in good voice, Reed Bunting, Peregrine Falcon over and c30 Lesser Blackback Gull.

Lollingdon: c30 Teal, 14 Shoveler, 2 Common Gull, 20+ Lesser Blackback Gull, 100+ Black-headed Gull, 100+ Lapwing and a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing.

Moreton Floods: Chiffchaff, c600 Lapwing, 1 Pintail, c50 Teal, 2 Shelduck, 25 Shoveler, 1 Gadwall, 9 Wigeon and 2 Cormorant over.

A Chiffchaff in the garden late afternoon and Alan has a regular Blackcap visiting his garden.

AD & PC.

Shelduck

Lapwings approaching the flood with a small flock of Starling flying point. As the Lapwing flock landed, one of the Starling attempted to land with them. It took around 15 seconds of hovering before it realised the water was too deep for it and eventually flew of to join the others that landed in a nearby tree.

Grey days

Overcast, 4°, light NE.

Another dull day but a good number of Ducks on and around the floods.

Moreton Floods: c500 Lapwing, 4 Golden Plover, c45 Shoveler, c50 Teal, 6 Pintail, 2 Shelduck, 8 Wigeon, 2 Gadwall, several Reed Bunting.

A Barn Owl hunting near Caps Lane.  

Bunk: somewhat quieter, a Mute Swan over, a single Chiffchaff and c200 Starling, c100 Fieldfare and c50 Redwing of note.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

AD & PC.

A bitty but interesting day.

Overcast and gloomy with light rain, 3°, light NE.

A message early this morning from PR to say that the Geese were on the South Stoke side of the river, then 2 hours later another message from AD to say they were back on the Cholsey side.

I popped down to take a quick gander at the Geese (excuse the pun). And the 6 White fronted Geese were again consorting with a flock of Canada and Greylag Geese.

Not much else around, so I went down along the Bunk line. It then started to rain a bit heavier so, basically, I gave up and went back home.

Alan was out along the Bunk area, mid-afternoon and found a Stonechat but pretty quiet overall.

I ventured out again late afternoon with little more success. 2 Grey Wagtail, a Chiffchaff, a singing Mistle Thrush and a few Fieldfare and Redwing.

Later I went down to the garden around 17:00 and counted in excess of 3000 Corvids flying over, heading south-west. They were streaming over for approx. 20-25 minutes.

AD, PC & PR.

Grey Wagtail ↕

White-fronts again

Overcast and murky, 6°, light NE.

6 White-fronted Geese still present with Canada and Greylag Geese. Viewable from Ferry Lane or the Thames path.

All pics courtesy Alan.

White-fronts

Overcast with rain, 5°, light NE.

6 “Russian” White-fronted Geese turned up near Cholsey Marsh today. Initially found by Paul Rainsden at Little Stoke and then re-located by Ian Lewington on the Cholsey side of the river. Later in the day they flew back to the Little Stoke area. They were with a flock of c20 Canada Geese.

A rare visitor to Cholsey, last recorded in January 2011 when a flock of 45-50 turned up in various locations around the village.

AD, IL, MP, PR.

 courtesy Ian Lewington

courtesy Alan

courtesy Ian Lewington

courtesy Alan

The following is information from the BTO:

“This small, grey goose with white forehead blaze and black belly-bars is a winter visitor to wetlands and coastal marshes.

Two races of White-fronted Goose occur in the UK: the nominate race albifrons, which breeds in western Russia and is referred to as Russian, or European White-fronted Goose, and flavirostris, which breeds in western Greenland and is called Greenland White-fronted Goose. Greenland White-fronted Geese occur in the north and west of Britain and Ireland, whilst Russian White-fronted Geese can be found in the south and east.

Wetland Bird Survey data show the range of sites where the two races winter, and it is estimated that 10,000–12,000 Greenland White-fronts and 1,000–2,000 Russian White-fronts spend the winter months here in the UK.”

The Lees

Sunny intervals, 5°, light NNE.

The Lees and Long Ditch area: 2 pair of Stonechat still present, 2 Mistle Thrush, several Redwing, 14 Skylark,2 Meadow Pipit, 18 Pied Wagtail, 2 Heron, a Jay, a Coal Tit, a Goldcrest, 80 + Linnet, etc.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Stonechat ↕ 1 pair above and the 2nd pair, more distant below

Grey Heron enjoying the late afternoon sun

Bunk & Moreton Floods

Cloudy with sunny spells, 9°, light NNE.

Bunk Line: Not much going on. Pair of Kestrel, Fieldfare, Redwing, c300 Starling, Grey Wagtail, usual gulls, Mistle Thrush 🎶 singing and Goldcrest in the churchyard.

Moreton floods: c30 Pintail, c100 Teal, c20 Shoveler, 1 Shelduck, 2 Gadwall, 6 Wigeon, c400 Lapwing, 1 Little Egret, c12 Snipe and Skylark.

AD.

all pics courtesy Alan

Bunk

Cloudy with rain on the way, 10°, breezy SSW.

A brief walk out this afternoon before the rain.

A large field next to the Bunk line hosted a large flock of Starling, Fieldfare, Redwing, Linnet, a few Skylark and Pied Wagtail.

Shortly after I arrived a Sparrowhawk appeared overhead, the Starling flock flew up and manoeuvred into two tight balls of birds, the rest just scattered in various directions.

The Sparrowhawk flew through without making a kill and approx. ten minutes later, returned. The same scenario played out again without the Sparrowhawk, again, not making a kill. In total the flock was probably just shy of 1K birds.

I decided to hang around in case something else turned up hoping for an afternoon snack but no luck.

A little later a flock of 56 Pied Wagtail flew from CSW to the field.

As the rain was imminent, I thought it best to return home and made it just in time.

A Grey Wagtail, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 Buzzard, Kestrel, 2 Herring Gull, c100 Black-headed Gull, etc, also noted in the immediate area.

Marsh, Meadows & Floods

Overcast, brightening later, 8°, light S.

Still a fair bit of flooding around but water is receding.  

Cholsey Meadows/Marsh: 2 Coal Tit, Treecreeper, Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, Cetti’s Warbler, Mistle and Song thrush in good voice, 2 Raven, Water Rail, Reed Bunting, Canada, Greylag and Egyptian Goose, etc.

Moreton Floods: 17 Pintail, c40 Teal, Shelduck, c500 Lapwing, Chiffchaff.

Bunk: c100 Fieldfare, c80 Redwing, 6 Mistle Thrush, 5 Song Thrush, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, 20+ Linnet, 2 Grey Wagtail, 7 Pied Wagtail, c400 Starling, usual Gulls, 2 Teal, 6 Tufted Duck and a Coot.

Brook Meadow: Coal Tit, 5 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Nuthatch, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Chiffchaff.

AD & PC.

Pintail courtesy Alan ↕

Lesser Blackback Gull

Black-headed Gull

Blackcap courtesy Alan

Another January passes by

Cloudy with a few rain showers, 6°, light ESE.

Still fairly quiet.

Bunk: 5 Chiffchaff, 40+ Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, 5 Meadow Pipit, Goldcrest, Treecreeper, 40+ Redwing, 20+ Fieldfare, 2 Coot, 2 Gadwall, 6 Tufted Duck, usual Gull species, etc.

Lollingdon: c150 Lapwing, c50 Lesser Blackback Gull, c100 Black-headed Gull, 5 Teal, a few hundred Fieldfare and Redwing and a Goldcrest.

Caps Lane: Barn Owl hunting - 5.00pm ‘ish.

AD & PC.

Pied Wagtail

Robin

A rather naff shot of a Treecreeper

Peregrine

Sunny periods, 7°, light WSW.

Lollingdon: arriving at one of the flooded fields initially with nothing visible. Joined shortly after with Richard and Marta who were out for a walk.

After a few minutes Marta spotted something in the middle of a field that proved to be a female Peregrine Falcon bathing.

RB & MM then continued their walk and I started to check the other flooded fields.

In total c100 Lapwing, approx. 400 Black-headed Gull, c100 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Herring Gull and a single Common Gull. 80+ Pied Wagtail, 5 Meadow Pipit, a few Skylark, 2 Mistle Thrush, c20 Redwing and 2 Yellowhammer.

Mammals: Roe Deer and Brown Hare.

MM, PC & RB.