Winter sunshine

Sunny spells, 5°, breezy W.

Bunk and Lollingdon: Bunk was fairly quiet, a Teal flew over, a Raven, 2-3 Chiffchaff, 2 Yellowhammer, 10 Pied Wagtail, and a Kingfisher, plus a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing and c400 Starling of note.

Lollingdon was a little livelier. A Little Egret, Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff, Corn Bunting, Goldcrest, 5 Mistle Thrush, several Fieldfare and Redwing and a Peregrine flushed c 500 Lapwing.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

AD & PC.

Little Egret courtesy Alan

Herring Gulls on their usual perch along with 2 Black-headed Gulls

A shy Robin

A Blackbird with partial albinism in Ben Hobbs garden

Bunk

Overcast, 2°, light SE.

Bunk area: 4 Common Pochard, c8 Tufted Duck, c20 Shoveler, 4 Little Grebe, c250 Lesser Blackback Gull, c50 Black-headed Gull and 2 Common Gull.

AD.

A chilly one

Sunny, 2°, light WSW.

The Lees, Caps Lane and Bunk: 7, pos 9 Stonechat, a Chiffchaff, 2 Yellowhammer, 2 Peregrine Falcon, Common Snipe, 2 Raven, a Jay, Barn Owl, Kingfisher, Grey Heron, a Wigeon on the pool in the school wood, c50 Meadow Pipit, several Skylark and the odd Fieldfare and Redwing, etc.

Mammals: Red Fox and Roe Deer.

AD, LC & PC.

Stonechat (male above and female below)

Barn Owl courtesy Alan

A steady start

Sunny, 4°, light NNW.

Lollingdon & Bunk: c400 Lapwing, c40 Teal, a Little Egret, 2 Sparrowhawk, Barn Owl, 2 Common Gull, 2 Raven, 2 Grey Wagtail, a Chiffchaff, etc, etc.

In addition, several Wigeon and Shoveler (yesterday).

Mammals: Roe Deer.

AD, LC & PC.

Chiffchaff ↕

Sparrowhawk courtesy Alan

Roe Deer

Happy New Year

 

A near miss

Mainly cloudy, 10°, light SW.

A message this morning  regarding a male Hen Harrier at Mackney heading south.

Alan managed to get to Cholsey Hill and everywhere else to view the area but no further sightings unfortunately. So we don’t know whether it crossed the boundary into Cholsey or not!

A very rare bird now and not seen in the area for a number of years now.

Another near miss earlier in November was of a Black-tailed Godwit. Never recorded in Cholsey and seen on the Moreton floods. So close!

So, back to today and a Little Egret seen out at Lollingdon, courtesy Alan.

Almost there

Mainly cloudy with occasional sunshine, 8°, light SW.

Almost at the end of 2024 and a quieter year for wildlife sightings this year. Our migrants were a little sparse and breeding birds had limited success. Mammal sighting numbers were down and Butterfly numbers were well down but Dragonflies numbers appeared to be around normal.

Habitat loss, disturbance, Climate, lack of wildflowers, pesticide and herbicide use etc appear to be some of the causes.

Anyway, back to today. unless anything new turns up tomorrow, we had the following noted over the year: 122 bird species, 17 Mammal species, 6 Reptile & Amphibians, 22 Dragonfly species and 26 Butterfly species.

Thank you in particular to Alan Dawson, Tony Williams, Geoff Wyatt, Brian Wyatt, Richard Broughton, Michael Pocock, Bill Nicholls, Loren and others, etc for their information throughout the year.

Lollingdon and Bunk areas: 6 Shoveler, 6 Wigeon, c20 Teal, Lapwing, 100+ Black-headed Gull, 200+ Lesser Blackback Gull, 5 Herring Gull, 2 Common Gull, a Sparrowhawk, a Kingfisher, 500+ Starling, 100+ Fieldfare, 50+ Redwing, 3 Song Thrush (all in song), 2 Mistle Thrush, a Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming, 7 Pied Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 30 Corn Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, 4 Chiffchaff, 2 Raven, etc.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

AD & PC.

A mini murmuration over the village this evening, courtesy Bill Nicholls.

Buzzard

2 Herring Gull on one of their regular perches

Still quietish

Overcast, 7°, light WSW.

2 Wigeon on the Flood near Church Road today and a Raven overhead.

Lollingdon Flood held 4 Shoveler, a number of Teal, Lapwing and Black-headed Gull.

AD.

Wigeon (archive pic)

Merry Christmas

 A Merry Christmas from Cholsey Wildlife

Hares

 Brown Hares courtesy Alan

A grey day

Overcast, 7°, light SW.

A grey old day with both Lollingdon and Bunk area covered: Little Egret, c400 Lapwing, 200+ Lesser Blackback Gull, 5 Herring Gull, 2-3 Common Gull, c50 Black-headed Gull, Common Snipe, 2 Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, 50+ Pied Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Yellowhammer, several Corn Bunting, c100 Fieldfare, 20+ Redwing and a Ring-necked Parakeet.

TW has a male Blackcap regularly in his garden and a female Sparrowhawk visiting frequently.

2 Great-spotted Woodpecker in the garden today along with all the other visitors.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Common Gull courtesy Alan

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Black-headed Gull (winter plumage)

Distant Little Egret

Pied Wagtail

Bits & Pieces

Overcast with rain later, 8°, light SW.

Lollingdon Floods: c250 Lapwing over, only 2 birds on the floods and they were Common Gull. c20 Corn Bunting nearby. AD.

A Song Thrush has started singing in the meadow at dawn and dusk this week. PC.

A Barn Owl hunting between Wallingford Road and Caps Lane yesterday. HP.

Still fairly quiet

Sunny spells, 6°, light WSW.

Bunk area very quiet today: 50+ Fieldfare, c20 Redwing, a Song Thrush, a Grey Wagtail, several Black-headed Gull, Lesser Blackback Gull and a single Herring Gull, etc.

Cholsey Meadows/Marsh: Goldcrest, Coal Tit, many Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Kingfisher, Nuthatch, Raven over, Reed Bunting and Water Rail.

AD & PC.

All photos courtesy Alan

Coal Tit

Fieldfare

Red Kite

Kestrel

Little Egret

Floods

Overcast, 13°, light S.

Lollingdon Floods: c250 Lesser Blackback Gull, c400 Lapwing, 2 Common Snipe, a Little Egret, c100 Black-headed Gull and 3 Common Gull.

Moreton Floods: c100 Lesser Blackback Gull, a Shelduck, 6 Little Egret, Sparrowhawk and 15+ Common Snipe. Per Alan.

Shelduck courtesy Alan

Little Egret courtesy Alan

A couple of bits

Overcast, 10°, light S.

Tail-less Red Kite over Ilges Lane yesterday. Per Geoff Wyatt and a Barn Owl Cholsey Marsh today. Per Alan.