Cholsey Wildlife: Cholsey, 16th May

Wednesday, 16 May 2012

Cholsey, 16th May

Sunny spells, 14º, light to fresh NW. Still a little chilly!

Farmland, a few more Whitethroats around now, also Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Yellowhammer, Skylark and Linnet frequent.

A family group of Long-tailed Tits mobbing a Tawny Owl that flew across a track in front of me and disappeared into an Ivy covered tree.

One field of Oil seed had 8 singing Reed Buntings in and a pair of Yellow Wagtail present.

The “reedy ditch” had 7 singing Sedge Warbler and a Reed Warbler, another Reed Warbler seen also.

2 Hobbys seen over the Lees and a fair number of Buzzards around Red Kite, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel seen.

Lollingdon Hill now rather quiet, just the usual 2 Pied Wagtail (carrying food now), 2 Grey Partridge and a few Linnet. Corn Buntings (3 singing), Yellowhammers (2 singing), 2 Whitethroats and a Blackcap nearby.

Swallows, Swifts and House Martins regular overhead hawking insects.

The Garden also quieter now, a pair of Robins collecting food and a Wren seen carrying food as well. A couple of House Sparrows (unusual) in the garden this afternoon along with the 2 Mallards that are regular visitors and at least one of the garden nest boxes has a pair of Blue Tits in residence.

Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Goldfinch still visiting feeders but in lesser numbers and 3 Dunnock and a pair of Great Tits regular.

A Grey Squirrel present in the garden and intimidating the Wood Pigeons present but no match for the regular pair of Carrion Crows nor the Mallards’ that are quite capable of seeing the squirrel off.

One of the 2 House Martins nests at Marymead is in use so far this year.

Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Starlings and up to 6 Blackbirds feeding in the meadow and a Moorhen regular, Yellowhammer, Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and Blackcap heard singing nearby and a Green Woodpecker heard calling.

2 Hedgehogs visiting garden regularly for the past week.

A note on the 6 White Storks that visited Cholsey on the 26^th April. They were first seen near on the 17^th April near Abberly in Worcestershire, at that point there were 9 White Storks, then 6 seen near Colwyn Bay and Holywell in North Wales before tracking back and being seen on Cholsey Hill. From there they were tracked over Moreton, Didcot and Abingdon before settling down in the Newbridge/Standlake area where unfortunately one of them died after hitting some power lines.

They were then seen in East Sussex (Sidlesham) and tracked across Hampshire to Dorset and seen over Weymouth and Portland (the day after I left Portland) and then flew to Mordon Bog in Dorset on 6^th May. I have no further information from that point.