Butterflies & Birds

Sunny, 15º, yes 15º, a T-shirt day, light S!

A good day weather wise and several species of butterfly on the wing, Brimstone, Peacock and Comma all noted, first butterflies of this year also a couple of Buff-tailed Bumble Bee seen.

Back to the birds, I walked along the Bunk line to Winterbrook, ten Lapwing in the meadows there, the last breeding site in Cholsey for them, also a few Meadow Pipit, Skylark and Yellowhammer.

I got to the river at Bradford Brook and managed to walk the length of the Thames path for the first time this year, still a bit soggy in places but mainly dry (rain due tomorrow though).

A  ♂ Shoveler and a couple of Tufted Duck on Carmel lake a couple of Nuthatch in the gardens near Bow Bridge and one maybe two Marsh Tit in Bow wood along with a couple of Long-tailed Tit also both Green and Great-spotted Woodpecker.

Just one Fieldfare seen today.

A good day for the larger Raptors a lot of high altitude interplay between Buzzards and Red Kites today and a few Kestrel and Sparrowhawk seen, also some higher altitude movement of Gulls noted.

Cholsey marsh is still quite wet and a few Teal and Common Snipe present, two Kingfisher nearby and a couple of Great Crested Grebe on the river.

A pair of Mallard in the garden this evening and a pair of Moorhen this morning and a Goldcrest singing nearby.

Some news from the South Moreton floods, a Meditteranean Gull recently and a Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, approx eight hundred Lapwing, six hundred Golden Plover and one hundred and twenty Teal today. Thanks to Bob Wyatt for the info.

 

Comma

One thing that struck me today was the appalling amount of rubbish that has been left after the flooding on the marsh, a lot of plastic that has drifted down but a lot that has been dumped by visitors and fisherman, empty bottles of spirits and beer, beer cans, coke cans, carrier bags, polystyrene cups, the ubiquitous plastic bottles and discarded fishing line and tackle, I’m sorry to say! I even heard the other day of a fridge/freezer seen floating down the river. Please take it with you and don’t dump it in our country side!

Some of what was there I managed to gather in one spot and arrange for it to be collected and disposed of by the site manager at Cholsey Meadows. Thanks.

There has also been some illegal fishing taking place on that stretch, if noted please call the Environment Agency on 0800807060.