All quiet

Sunny, 22°, light SW.

Well, it doesn’t feel like October yet and a pretty poor show along the Bunk and gravel pit.

4 Coot, 2 Tufted Duck, a Grey Wagtail and 10 Little Grebe at the gravel pit and elsewhere, a Grey Heron, 2 Yellowhammer, 2 Jay and 8+ Chiffchaff.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: several Small White and 2 Red Admiral.

A Hummingbird Hawkmoth in garden.

Not a lot

Sunny periods, 20°, breezy SSW.

Lollingdon and The Lees: pretty quiet all round except for one busy patch out by the Lees.

6 Stonechat out near the Lees, 2 Reed Bunting and a Grey Heron and 10+ Chiffchaff and 8 Skylark on walk.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: A Migrant Hawker and several Common Darter.

Butterflies: 4 Clouded Yellow, Lollingdon and 10+ in the usual field near the Lees plus 6 Common Blue and 1 Red Admiral and a couple of Small White.

1st Oct: Chiffchaff, Common Darter, Common Blue & Red Admiral in garden and a Skylark, Jay, 2 Greylag & Buzzard over.

September bows out

Sunny periods, 22°, breezy SSW.

A pretty disappointing slog up to the gravel pit.

4 Lapwing, 10 Little Grebe, 12 Tufted Duck, 4 Coot and a Grey Wagtail.

Elsewhere very quiet, 2 Yellowhammer and 6 Chiffchaff.

c30 House Martin over Station Road allotments: per LC.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: several Small White and a Red Admiral.

The Lees, Long ditch and Cholsey Hill

Sunny spells at first the clouding up, 22°, ESE.

The Lees, Long ditch and Cholsey Hill:

A Wheatear by the barns near the Lees and 2 Stonechat along the long ditch. Plus, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer, 5 Chiffchaff, a Kestrel and c200 Gulls loafing in the fields.

A Merlin on Cholsey Hill spooking lots of small birds, c30 Skylark, 40+ Linnet, 6+ Corn Bunting and 50+ Meadow Pipit.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: A Migrant Hawker and several Common Darter.

Butterflies: Up to 20 Clouded Yellow in the usual field. On the way back the cloud cover had increased and the temperature had dropped by 4° and not a single one seen. Also several Small White, 10+ Common Blue and 4 Speckled Wood.

Saturday: Grey Wagtail visiting and Common Darter egg laying in a pond, Per Richard James and Clouded Yellow & Small Tortoiseshell on Station Road allotments.

2 Chiffchaff bathing in garden.

Bunk & Gravel pit

Sunny periods, 22°, light SSW.

Gravel pit was busy with machinery working but some activity on the water with, 6 Little Grebe, 4 Shoveler, 4 Tufted Duck, 2 Coot and 5 Lapwing.

c500 Gulls appeared to be flushed from a pit further away and 3 Grey Heron.

Nearby, a single Firecrest, a Willow Warbler, 3 Blackcap, 10+ Chiffchaff, 5 Yellowhammer, 2 Meadow Pipit, a Hobby and 3 Kestrel.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: singles of Clouded Yellow, Small White, Red Admiral and Peacock.

Autumn Equinox

Sunny spells, 22°, breezy NW.

Pretty quiet generally. Lollingdon Hill particularly so with just 9 Yellowhammer and a couple of Chiffchaff present.

2 Stonechat near Little Lollingdon and in total 20+ Chiffchaff on walk.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: 4 Clouded Yellow, Small White, Red Admiral, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth near football pavilion.

Notes from the 21st Sep: Painted Lady in garden and a single House Martin over.

8 Pied Wagtail on roof with solar panels, Church rd.

c1100 large Gulls north east at dusk and a Noctule feeding overhead.

A Green Sandpiper over Wallingford rd. per MP.

Southern Green Shieldbug found by James Beaumont near the Station rd allotments.

Sat/Sun.

Saturday: Mainly cloudy, 22°, Breezy SW.

Cetti's Warbler singing on Wallingford Rd opposite the end of Green Lane (just inside gate into the sheep field). Per RB.

16:30 – 18:00 600+ House Martin and 5 Swallow south over Church road.

Sunday: Sunny, 19°, light SW.

Common Darter, Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady and Red Admiral on allotments.

Chiffchaff in garden.

Bunk etc.

Cloudy with light rain, 18°, breezy SW.

Thanks to the gravel pit staff who have cleared the vegetation and opened up the view onto the pit.

Not a lot going on though. 2 Cormorant, 2 Coot, 8 Tufted Duck, 5 Little Grebe and several hundred Geese.

Elsewhere: 4 Yellowhammer, 5 Chiffchaff, a single Blackcap, 2 Kestrel and c70 House Martin.

2 Firecrest found near the Millennium wood. Per Richard Broughton.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth in garden.

The Lees

Sunny spells, 20°, breezy WSW.

Decided to check the area that Richard visited yesterday.

2 Stonechat still present at the back of the field along with 9 Corn Bunting a handful of Meadow Pipit, a couple of Chiffchaff, a few Linnet and 2 Kestrel.

As for the Butterflies there were at least 11 Clouded Yellow seen in one sweep of the field, possibly 20+ present in total. Plus 14 Common Blue, 2 Painted Lady and a Red Admiral.

Dragonflies: 3 Migrant Hawker and several Common Darter.

2 Hummingbird Hawkmoth in garden.

Spot Fly, Stonechat & Clouded Yellow

" A staggering (for me) 13 Clouded Yellow, at least, in this and next field of agri-environment scheme legumes. Two Spotted Flycatcher and a pair of Stonechat too. @oxonbirder.bsky.social"

Per Richard Broughton

Bunk

Mainly cloudy, 23°, light SW.

Bunk:

Gravel pit is slowly shrinking as in-filling is taking place.

24 Tufted Duck, 6 Little Grebe, a Coot and 2 Egyptian Geese amongst others.

Elsewhere, both Chiffchaff and Blackcap in low double figures, a Hobby, 6 Yellow Wagtail, 32 House Martin and 26 Swallow.

Dragonflies: A Migrant Hawker and several Common Darter.

Butterflies: 3 Clouded Yellow, several Small White and a Peacock, and Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

Bunk: Cattle Egret

Mainly cloudy, 21°, light WNW.

Bunk area:

A Cattle Egret in cow field opposite school, the highlight of the day and just the 5th record plus 2 Yellow Wagtail present.

Gravel pit: 15 Lapwing, 6 Little Grebe, 4 Tufted Duck and a Coot. 500+ large Gulls seen high and most descended in to the GP area and lost from view.

Elsewhere: a Hobby, initially seen consuming a dragonfly, c20 Chiffchaff, 10+ Blackcap, 8 Swallow, 2 Yellowhammer, 2 Kestrel and a Grey Heron and c250 Starling in the vicinity of CSW.

A Kingfisher seen flying over the brook from the garden and 2 Tawny Owl calling near garden tonight.

Blackbird: I have hardly seen a Blackbird in the last 3 months. I’m guessing they have been affected by the Usutu virus which has a high mortality rate.

First detected in 2020 in the UK and is spreading. A Mosquito born pathogen which has expanded the mosquitos range north, driven by climate change.

Butterflies: a single Small White and the Hummingbird Hawkmoth in the garden.

Dragonflies: Migrant Hawker, Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Lollingdon

Mainly cloudy, 18°, light to breezy NW.

Lollingdon: Common Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, 8+ Blackcap, a Garden Warbler, 6 Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, 5 Yellowhammer, 2 Kestrel and a Jay and my first local Bullfinch of the year.

A very light passage of c50 Swallow and a few House Martin.

A Blackcap, Nuthatch and Coal Tit in the garden.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker and several Common Darter.

Butterflies: only ones seen on the wing today were Small White and a single Clouded Yellow.

 

A bit of VizMig and the Bunk

Mainly cloudy, 20°, breezy WSW.

VizMig 12:00 – 16:00, c200 Hirundines, a Tree Pipit and 4 Mistle Thrush over.

Passage fizzled out around 16:00. Then approx. another 50 Swallow around 18:00.

A brief walk later along Bunk produced a Willow Warbler, 3 Chiffchaff, 4 Yellow Wagtail and 5 Yellowhammer.

Yesterday 6th Sep: Chiffchaff, Migrant Hawker, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Peacock and Common Blue in garden. Church Road Swallows appeared to have left.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: a few Whites, 2 Common Blue, 2 Peacock and a Red Admiral. Plus the Hummingbird Hawkmoth in the garden.

Cholsey

Cloudy, 22°, breezy SW

12:00 – 14:00, 6 Swift, 32 Swallow and 24 House Martin south over Church Road.

2 Swallow still feeding young, Church Road.

Chiffchaff, Migrant Hawker, Common Darter, Small White, Peacock, Red Admiral, 2 Painted Lady and Hummingbird Hawkmoth in garden.

"A Whinchat on the long ditch just beyond the Lees this afternoon.

Lots of passage Yellow Wagtail are being attracted by the cattle along the Bunk/Church Rd lately. Numbers vary day by day, but have had up to 30 together over the past week, and there was about 30 Meadow Pipit with them for one morning only.

The female Reeves’s Pheasant still around. Per Richard Broughton."

There is a lot of Shooting on Cholsey Hill this evening. Presumably after the Canada Geese and no doubt that they will also shoot other species of Geese. Why?