Thursday, 7 February 2013

Cholsey marsh, 7th Feb

Overcast, 4º, light rain, light winds.

A couple of hours at Cholsey marsh this evening was rather quiet; a Barn Owl hunting the north end of the marsh was a highlight.
The flooding has subsided a great deal now but with rain on and off over the next week who knows! The marsh is still quite flooded and is draining in to the Thames at a few places and will probably take several weeks of dry weather to get back to normal, the footpath is navigable but very muddy. I noted today that the floods at South Moreton are around 40% of what they had been.

A Sparrowhawk flew through but prior to the buntings arriving and continued down river.
Approximately sixty Corn Bunting at the roost and twenty odd Reed Bunting and a pair of Yellowhammer.

Two Egyptian Geese flew over and a Grey Heron a little while later, there was a Chiffchaff calling on the marsh and several Water Rail squealing away at dusk.
Small numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing still roosting nearby also. A single Great Crested Grebe and a Little Grebe on the river and that was about it!

A bit of gardening done today, the Blackcap still visiting along with a single Stock Dove, two Robins a permanent feature now so probably a pair and still quite a few Blackbird around but the Song Thrush less frequent now.


A distant pic of the Barn Owl

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