Quiet!

Cloudy, 20°, breezy ENE.

Another quiet one along the Bunk as the weather cools: 60+ Swallow, a handful of House Martin and 3 Swift. 5 Common Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 10+ Chiffchaff, 3 Yellowhammer, a Sparrowhawk, Grey Heron and 2 Herring Gull.

Dragonflies: Common Blue Damsel.

Butterflies: several Whites, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Garden stuff

Sunny, 28°, light NNW.

I deemed it too hot to go walking today so spent some time just sat in the garden keeping an eye on a 180° section of sky.

Apart from the 6 House Martin still present feeding young I had the following overhead. A single Swallow, 11 Swift, 3 Raven, a Hobby, a Peregrine, a Kestrel, a Mallard, c100 Lesser Blackback Gull and several Red Kite and Buzzard.

A Common Whitethroat, Coal Tit, Goldcrest and Chiffchaff in the garden along with the usual visitors.

A Willow Warbler singing from a silver Birch on the Station Road allotments for the last few mornings. Per Richard James.

Dragonflies: A Southern Hawker and 2 Common Darter.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Small White, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Bunk & Lollingdon

Sunny spells, 27°, Light WSW.

2 Common Redstart, Lollingdon. Per RW.

Tree Pipit, Bunk area. Per RB.

Bunk: a Stonechat, a Willow Warbler, 9 Chiffchaff, 3 Common Whitethroat, 5 Blackcap, 12 Swallow, 4 House Martin, 7 Swift, 5 Yellowhammer, 30+ Linnet, 2 Sparrowhawk, a Hobby, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Herring Gull, etc.

8 Swift over garden at 20:10 last evening.

Mammals: Short-tailed Vole. Common Pipistrelle hunting around garden frequently in last few weeks.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Migrant Hawker.

Butterflies: Small White, Common Blue, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Redstart courtesy Roger Wyatt

Stonechat

Lancaster Bomber with a Swallow above but a lot closer

Afternoon Sky watch

Sunny spells, 24°, light S.

An interesting 45 minute sky watch from the garden this afternoon. I first noticed a Hobby circling overhead and popped up to get the bins. The following noted, 70+ Swallow, 20+ House Martin, 1 Sand Martin, 1 Swift, several unidentified Hirundines, and 200+ Lesser Blackback Gull south over garden.

Bunk

Sunny, 24°, light WSW.

Fairly quiet along the Bunk area today, a Ringed Plover heard calling and 4 Sand Martin and 20+ Swallow over. 9+ Chiffchaff, a Yellow Wagtail, 2 Jay, 2 Herring Gull at CSW, a few Lesser Blackback and Black-headed Gull overhead and a Sparrowhawk.

House Martins feeding a second brood along Church road.

Dragonflies: Common Blue Damsel, Migrant Hawker, Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

Lollingdon

Mostly sunny, 22°, light SW.

Not a lot happening today: Common Redstart still present out at Lollingdon, present for 3 weeks now. Several Common Whitethroat, Blackcap and Chiffchaff and several Swallow and House Martin over but little else.

6 Swift over garden late evening.  

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Emperor and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Moths: Jersey Tiger.

Other: Hornet Robber Fly.

Peregrines

Last year in Cholsey a pair of Peregrines raised a single chick in a nest on a pylon. They used an old Ravens nest.

Over the winter 24/25 SSEN repainted the pylons in the area and removed the nest in the process.

This year there have been several sightings of Peregrines in the local area but we didn’t know where or if they had bred.

Recently, Paul Rainsden and Simon Booker had found an adult female Peregrine with 2 well grown young in the South Stoke area. The female had a green ring on. Last year’s female also sported a green ring on her left leg with the no 66 on. Although we can’t confirm yet, we believe this to be the same female and has nested somewhere in the local area.

The adult female was ringed as a chick in Brighton in 2014.

Photos courtesy Simon Booker. www.stokerpix.com.

Bunk

Sunny spells, 20°, light NNW.

Bunk area:

A bit of a naff day with very little seen. 10+ Chiffchaff, 2 Swallow, 2 House Martin, a single Swift, a couple of Common Whitethroat and Blackcap, a Sparrowhawk, 2 Grey Heron etc.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Migrant Hawker.

Butterflies: Few on the wing: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Crossing the bridge over Cholsey brook, I caught a movement just underneath me and noticed this Heron trying to catch something. As it pulled back it had caught a fish. It was also hemmed into the brook by overhanging branches and quite close, it was unable to fly off, so it just walked behind some branches. It was so close I did not have the time to switch to close focus before it went out of sight. Hence the out of focus image.

Lollingdon

Sunny spells, 23°, light W.

Common Redstart still present out at Lollingdon. A large Tit flock came down the hedgerow, c40 strong and accompanying were 5-6 Chiffchaff, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Garden Warbler and at least 2 Blackcap. Possibly more species but feeding group very active and on both sides of hedge.

Nearby 2 Common Whitethroat and a couple of Yellowhammer but little else.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Red Admiral, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Not a good pic but at least you can ID it.

Still fairly quiet

Cloudy, 23°, light WNW.

Bunk area:

20+ Swallow, about the same for House Martin, a single Sand Martin and 10+ Swift, all drifting slowly south

A Little Ringed Plover flew overhead.

Several Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and Yellowhammer but little else of note.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Common Blue Damsel, Southern Hawker and a Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Clouded Yellow & Wasp Spider

Cloudy, 26°, light WSW.

Bunk: Not a great deal today, Kingfisher and Lesser Whitethroat of note and just c20 Swallow, 1 Swift and 5 Chiffchaff.

Others had more luck with a Wasp Spider found by Phil Dyson at the Church and 2 Clouded Yellow Butterfly found by Richard B near the Lees.

Courtesy Richard Broughton

Courtesy Phil Dyson

Swifts

Overcast, 21°, breezy NNE.

The Lees:

A large flock of Swift feeding in an area between the Lees, Lollingdon and the Astons, estimate around 200 birds, plus c80 House Martin and up to 50 Swallow in the same area.

5 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap, 1-2 Sedge Warbler, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer, 2+ Jay, a Mistle Thrush and 6 Skylark.

2 Grey Wagtail on Cholsey Brook and Sparrowhawk nearby.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle and Emperor.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Bunk

Overcast with light cloud, 23°, breezy NNW.

Bunk area:

Marsh Harrier seen over Cholsey Hill, Gull numbers on the increase with c50 Black-headed Gull, c30 Lesser Blackback Gull and a couple of Herring Gull.

5 Chiffchaff, 4 Blackcap, a Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, 1 pos 2 Spotted Flycatcher, a Yellow Wagtail, 4 Mistle Thrush, 15 Swallow, 8 House Martin, 3 Sand Martin, 20+ Swift and a Sparrowhawk.

Dragonflies: Common Blue Damsel and a Brown Hawker.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Lollingdon

Sunny spells, 25°, light to breezy SSW.

Common Redstart still present on Lollingdon hill although quite elusive and c50 Swift moving overhead away from a rain shower to the north, very little else present.

Nearby the usual Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Yellowhammer etc and the occasional Swallow and House Martin about.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

The Lees

Sunny spells, 27°, light SSW.

The Lees: another quiet one. A few Sedge Warbler and Reed Bunting along the Long Ditch. Nearby Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Yellowhammer etc.

Dragonflies: Beautiful and Banded Demoiselle, Southern Hawker, Emperor and an unidentified Darter.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Brown Argus, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.