Grey days

Overcast, 6°, light S.

Another dull, grey day, with Lollingdon and the Lees area covered.

4 Stonechat (all, quite mobile), several Skylark flocks totalling 100+ birds, a Reed Bunting, a Bullfinch, 40 Redwing, 1 Fieldfare, a Common Snipe, c350 Lapwing, c200 Lesser Blackback Gull, c150 Black-headed Gull, 6 Shoveler, c30 Teal, 5 Grey Heron etc.

Tony W saw a female Merlin out Lollingdon way yesterday.

2 Blackcap, regular on a feeder in Cross Roads.  

Moreton floods: 2 Shelduck, c100 Lapwing, c5 Snipe and c200 Lesser Blackback Gull.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

AD & PC.

Roe Deer

Shelduck courtesy Alan

Unfortunately, always distant Stonechat

Still a bit Chilly

Overcast, 2°, light S.

Still a bit chilly but most of the iced areas have melted.  

Bunk: 21 Yellowhammer, Bullfinch, Grey Wagtail, Goldcrest, 15 Fieldfare, 8 Redwing, 3 Song Thrush, 2 Mistle Thrush, usual large flock of Starling, Kestrel, a Grey Heron, 200+ Black-headed Gull, c50 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Herring Gull, etc.

Some of the 21 Yellowhammer

Long-tailed Tit

Robin

Fieldfare

Mistle Thrush

Alan was off to Henley road gravel pit today to see a male and redhead Smew. A rare visitor to Cholsey, the last was December 2010.

A cold one

Mainly cloudy, -2°, light ENE.

A cold, crisp day.

Bunk and River area: Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Siskin (9 noted yesterday. Per Alan), Reed Bunting, 2 Grey Wagtail, good numbers of Redwing and a handful of Fieldfare, a couple of Song Thrush, 400+ Starling, Teal, Cormorant, c200 Black-headed Gull, a Common Gull, 5 Herring Gull and c50 Lesser Blackback Gull, plus a Barn Owl yesterday.

AD & PC.

Siskin pics courtesy Alan

Slow going

Overcast, 2°, light E.

Lollingdon was very quiet today, with most of the floods frozen over. There were just around 50 Lesser Blackback Gull, a handful of Black-headed Gull, 6-8 Pied Wagtail, a Little Egret and a couple of Yellowhammer.

1, pos 2 Peregrine at distance.  

A good number of Redwing about with most feeding on Ivy berries and the odd Fieldfare.

Alan popped down to the river later, Water Rail, Reed Bunting and a Sparrowhawk.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Red Fox.

AD & PC.

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