Summer arrivals

Mainly cloudy, 10°, light S.

Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Willow Warbler and Common Whitethroat, Cholsey Marsh. Per Brian Wyatt.

Bunk area: on the walk out there were 10+ House Martin feeding high over CSW. On the way back the numbers had grown to 20+ House Martin, 5+ Swallow and several Sand Martin, this time feeding a lot lower over the beds.

The Gravel pit hosted a Mute Swan, 2 Shelduck, 4 Gadwall, 3 Oystercatcher and 30+ Lapwing, c12 House Martin, 5 Swallow and several Sand Martin.

2 Peregrine over. I think I’ve mentioned these before and I believe these 2 males to be the ones raised in South Stoke last year. I’ve seen them together on several occasions this year and they appear to hunt together. Maybe a successful survival strategy.

Elsewhere on the walk: 2 Common Whitethroat, several Blackcap and Chiffchaff and a couple of Jay etc.

Butterflies: just a couple of Brimstone and Peacock.

Mallard & Muntjac both in garden today

Is it Spring yet?

Overcast, 14°, mod W.

Lollingdon Hill was somewhat quiet with just a small flock of Linnet and Goldfinch feeding on Dandelion seeds and several Skylark in song.

Nearby a male Common Redstart, heard calling and then flew off towards the Amwell Spring area.

The Lollingdon flood is now the mud, as it mainly dried up. Just 2 Lapwing in the vicinity.

On the walk out, a Common Whitethroat, 5 Blackcap, 9 Chiffchaff, 4 Yellowhammer and 10 Fieldfare.

Geoff Wyatt had 2 Ringed Plover fly north over Ilges Lane repeatedly making alarm calls. A Sparrowhawk had just flown over heading north with Starlings mobbing and alarm calling.

A Swallow over Church Road c18:00 and Loren had one cross her path on Cholsey Hill a little earlier and a Raven heard “kronking” over home at 19:30.

Butterflies: very few on the wing, Brimstone, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

A warm one

Sunny, 23°, light W.

A couple of hours well spent up by the gravel pit today:

3 Shelduck, an Egyptian Goose, 2 Gadwall, 2 pair of Mallard with 18 young between them, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Little Ringed Plover, a Dunlin, 7 Lapwing, a Peregrine and 2 Grey Heron over, a Sedge Warbler, a Swallow and 2 Sand Martin.

On the walk out: a Willow Warbler at CSW, a Common Whitethroat, Green Lane, 4 Blackcap and 5 Chiffchaff.

A single Fieldfare flying alongside the road on Cholsey Hill.  

Good to see Michael P at the pit today. yesterday he had 3 Wheatear on Lollingdon Hill, 6 Fieldfare nearby and a singing Cetti’s Warbler on Cholsey Marsh.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

Birds & Butterflies

Sunny, 12°, light SSE.

4 Wheatear and 2 Raven, Lollingdon Hill. Per Tony Williams.

Holly Blue, Orange Tip and Brimstone in garden. The former 2 are new for the year.

Spring at Pagham Harbour

Sunny periods, 12°, breezy WSW.

A trip down to Pagham harbour NR today with Loren. one of my first out of county birding spots from many years ago.

A bit of a blustery day on the sea shore but some areas were very sheltered and quite warm.

Did not count any numbers, just noted some of the species seen.

Mute Swan, Shelduck, Shoveler, Teal, Gadwall, Great-crested Grebe, Cormorant, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Coot, Oystercatcher, Avocet, Ringed Plover, Gey Plover, Knot, Turnstone, Dunlin, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, 5 Gull species, Sandwich Tern, Sand Martin, Swallow, Wheatear, Blackcap, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff and Reed Bunting etc.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Small White, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock.

Thanks to Loren for the Dunnock pic and the Little Egret Vid and to Sian Chandler for the Turnstone pic, taken further along the coast in Hampshire.

LRP & O's

Cloudy, 15°, breezy WSW.

Cloudy, cool, breezy WSW… classic April conditions that often keep things subdued but can still turn up a few movers.

Not a great deal around today, the gravel pit was fairly quiet, a Little Ringed Plover, 2 Oystercatcher, 3 Lapwing, 3 Tufted Duck, a Grey Wagtail and around 50 Gulls including a Common Gull.

I had a feeling a fair number of birds were out of sight in other pits.

Nearby, 3 Chiffchaff and a Blackcap.

Butterflies:2-3 Brimstone and a Speckled Wood, is pretty respectable given the weather. Brimstones especially seem to appear even when everything else is hiding.

Lollingdon

Overcast, 13°, light WNW.

Lollingdon was pretty quiet, a Little Ringed Plover and 2 Lapwing on the flood. The hill was deserted apart from several Skylark overhead.

Nearby 18 Fieldfare and 2 Redwing and 8 Chiffchaff and 2 Blackcap on walk out.

2 Pied Wagtail breeding territories occupied locally and 75+ Jackdaw in the garden trees this evening having a pre-roost chat.

Hedgehog

 First Hedgehog of the year last night.

Swallows

Sunny spells, 11°, brisk NW.

Bunk and Gravel pit: 7 Swallow today, initially 2 then an hour later a small flock of 5. All spent around 5 minutes before moving off.

2 Mute Swan present along with a single Shelduck with 4 more flying in but landing on a pit that is not in view. 6 Gadwall, 8 Shoveler, 6 Tufted Duck, a Little Grebe, a Little Ringed Plover, an Oystercatcher, 15 Lapwing, 3 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 2+ Fieldfare and a single Redwing.

A Little Egret on the flood near Church Road.

Phil Dyson had a Swallow over the Thames at Cholsey Marsh this afternoon.

Lollingdon flood on Saturday - 1 Lapwing, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Little Egret. Per Michael Pocock.

Mammals: Hedgehog in garden.

Butterflies: a single Comma.

Swallow and Chiffchaff

A drizzly day

Overcast with drizzly rain, 12°, light SW.

Bunk and Gravel pit:

A Shelduck, eventually flew off high south east, c30 Shoveler, 5 Tufted Duck, 2 Gadwall, 2 Greylag Geese, 10 Lapwing, an Oystercatcher and Little Ringed Plover, 2 Jay, 3 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 2 Grey Wagtail and a Stonechat.

No camera today due to wet weather, so a Shelduck from a while ago.

Back to Winter?

Sunshine and showers, 8°, blustery WNW.

Bunk area very quiet. Gravel pit: 2 Mute Swan, 8 Tufted Duck, 4 Shoveler, 4 Gadwall, 12 Lapwing, a Common Gull, a Grey Wagtail and a Peregrine over plus the usual Gulls.

Who knows what is lurking in the 4-5 other pits that we do have a view of?

Just 2 Redwing, 2 Chiffchaff and 3 Yellowhammer on walk.

Monday very quiet also. 16 Lapwing on the flood at Lollingdon and 5 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap and a Meadow Pipit.

Butterflies: A Small Tortoiseshell and several Peacock on Monday.

Grey Wagtail collecting nest material from our roof

20-Plume Moth. Thanks to Michael P and Wyatt for the ID.

Saturday snippets

Sunny, 14°, light NE.

A Mandarin Duck flew south along the Thames at Cholsey Marsh and a couple of Teal present. Per James Beaumont.

A Small Tortoiseshell and several Peacock present on the Station Road allotments.

Rooks

A couple of years ago the local parish council got some tree surgeons to pollard some of the Horse Chestnut trees in the meadow adjacent to our garden.

The Rookery located in those trees subsequently moved to some trees further back and put them directly in line of sight to my bird feeders.

As Rooks are fairly large birds they descend on the feeders in a rather ungainly fashion and shake the feeders whilst trying to extract seeds from them sprinkling a lot to the ground.

The seeds on the ground are then scooped up by other Rooks, Ducks and Wood Pigeons.

I’ve tried to hide the feeders from the Rooks but they always find them and it is costing a fair bit as they can empty out feeders in a matter of hours rather than days.

Need to figure out how to outwit them without depriving other birds. This happens from approx late Feb to early May whilst incubating eggs to raising young.

Any thoughts welcome other than “don’t feed the birds” or “ buy some expensive rook proof feeders”.


By the Way the Rookery has over 30 active nests.

Ducks etc

Hazy sunshine, 12°, light ENE.

A few hours put in at the gravel pit today.

2 Little Grebe, a Great-crested Grebe, 2 Shelduck, 32 Shoveler, 16 Tufted Duck, 6 Gadwall, a Pochard, 20 Lapwing, an Oystercatcher, 1, pos 2 Little Ringed Plover, c60 Lesser Blackback Gull, 6 Common Gull, 12 Black-headed Gull, a Grey Wagtail and a Chiffchaff and Blackcap.

On the walk, 4 Lapwing near Green Lane, 2 Chiffchaff, 20 Fieldfare and 7 Redwing, 2+ Herring Gull in their usual spot at CSW.

This morning, on the Wally road flood, an Oystercatcher, a Lapwing, a Black-headed Gull, 8 Teal and last evening 2 Lapwing and 3 Gadwall. Per Michael Pocock.

Butterflies: just Peacock today.

Bunk & Gravel pit

Sunny, 15°, light E.

Bunk area pretty quiet today, a couple of Chiffchaff, a Blackcap and 10 Fieldfare.

Gravel pit a bit more productive until everything flushed by a couple of workers walking around the banks.

2 Shelduck, a Little Ringed Plover, 22 Shoveler, 4 Gadwall, 2 Teal, a Little Egret and 12 Lapwing.

Butterflies: More Peacock than Brimstone today.