Winters still here!

Sunny intervals, a few snow flurries, -3°, breezy NNE.

Not a lot of snow around but the ground is frozen and some ditches and slower moving brooks have a layer of ice. Good to get out again even though its bloody cold out there!

A walk out to the Lees and a wide scattering of Lapwing (c200) and Golden Plover (50+) over the area also numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing out in the fields.

And have been seeing Lapwing flying over this afternoon and all heading south.

At least 1 Nuthatch with a 30 strong Tit flock out at the Lees (first time I’ve noted one there).

A large number of Gulls out towards Aston Tirrold but most too distant to ID. Of the closer ones most were a few Lesser Blackback Gull and Black-headed Gull and 1 Herring Gull.

A Grey Heron and a Sparrowhawk noted.

TW had a nice surprise yesterday with a Little Egret sat preening at the bottom of his garden. 5 Blackcap also feeding on apples in his garden.

A Green Sandpiper flushed from Cholsey Marsh on Saturday, Per EM.

If you feed the birds please also try and maintain a source of water for them. Water is needed just as much as food in this freezing weather. Ta!

Rear view of 2 Golden Plover.

Local roundup

Overcast, 3°, light NNE.

A little colder than of late and unfortunately not getting out at the moment so just a roundup of info gathered.

A male Brambling, 2 Siskin and a couple of Blackcap frequenting a West End garden this week. Per TW.

6 Redpoll on Sunday in a garden off Panters road. Per MP.

Another Brambling (a fem) still frequenting a garden near Waterloo Close. Per MA.

a male Blackcap spent the day in a garden along the Wallingford road on Weds. Per TR.

Song Thrush, Treecreeper and the usual pair of Stock Dove in our garden and our first Blackcap (a fem) for this winter turned up briefly this afternoon, so have put some apples out in the hope she will return.

A Little Egret seen later in the afternoon flying SSW over the meadow and several Redwing & Fieldfare in that direction later.

Female Blackcap (library picture)

Little Egret

Sunny spells, 6°, light NW.

A Little Egret spent around 30 minutes in the meadow but kept being flushed in to the trees by dogs and it eventually flew off south.

Robins & a Jay

Sunny spells, 6°, light SW.

2 Robin in close proximity to each other in the garden. Assuming they are a pair and a lone Jay about 100+ meters out in the meadow this morning.

Still quiet out there

Cloudy with a few sunny spells, 5°, light SW.

Still rather quiet out there and still very soggy underfoot.

A Little Egret seen across the other side of a field but went down in to a brook before I got the camera on it.

2 Mute Swan on Cholsey Brook in Whitehead Meadow.

Approx. 100 Lapwing and the usual Gulls in the flooded field and good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing around.

A small flock of c20 Yellowhammer around the hill and a couple of Buzzard around and a Tawny Owl heard calling.

There’s an old saying: If there is more than one Crow they are Rooks, if there is only one Rook it’s a Crow.

However today there were 9 Crows together feeding fairly close to each other. Maybe this time of year when food is scarce there is something to be said for numbering up to find food?

Woodcock

Thursday 8th February Ian Lewington happened to be in Cholsey and decided to do a bit of birding and subsequently discovered the first Woodcock of the year, also 3 Chiffchaff seen. Cheers Lew 👍

Photos courtesy of Ian Lewington.

Sunbathing weather Brrrr

Sunny, 3°, light NNW.

‘Sunbathing' is used by many birds as part of their routine feather maintenance.

The birds will invariably adopt a posture with either their body feathers fluffed up or one or both wings spread to gain maximum exposure of the feathers.

It is thought that exploiting the sun’s rays in this way does a couple of things: It helps to spread the preen oil across the feathers and also drives out parasites that inhabit the feathers.

Garden Stock Dove sunbathing

Static times

Cloudy with some sunny periods, 3°, light N.

Again fairly quiet out around Lollingdon today and a little colder.

Still good numbers of Thrushes around with Fieldfare most prominent and also a good scattering of Redwing.

Good numbers of Blackbird, 20+ Song Thrush including a small flock of 5 together and 6 Mistle Thrush in 3 pairs.

100+ Lapwing, c40 Lesser Blackback Gull and 80’ish Black-headed Gull on the flooded areas and 2 Grey Heron.

All a bit samey lately.

A Barn Owl seen by another observer out at Little Lollingdon today and a Brambling still frequenting a garden near Waterloo Close.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Quiet start to February

Sunny with variable cloud, 7°, light NNW.

Another relatively quiet day out at Lollingdon today. 3 Grey Heron seen along with a flock of c200 Lapwing, 30+ Lesser Blackback Gull and c100 Black-headed Gull.

Fieldfare and Redwing still widespread and flocks foraging in most fields with a mix of Chaffinch (50+), Goldfinch (50+) and Yellowhammer (25+)

A Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming..

3 Pied Wagtail and a Grey Wagtail near Amwell Spring and a Kestrel nearby.

Skylark becoming a little more vocal this week.