WWW

A sunny day with light cloud, 20°, light NE veering SE.

A Whinchat and a Wheatear on the hill today along with a Willow Warbler along the hedge.

A couple of Blackcap and several more Chiffchaff off the hill.

A few flocks of Swallow and House Martin overhead, around 100 birds in total.

The Bunting flock still around Little Lollingdon and a few Chiffchaff in the hedgerow nearby.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

 Whinchat

Wheatear

 Chiffchaff

Yellow Dung Fly

Not a lot

Sunny spells, 19°, light NNW.

A disappointing visit out to the Lees this morning as the long ditch has had all the vegetation cut and looked quite bare and desolate except for some Bullrushes along the centre. Subsequently nothing present there apart from a couple of Wren.

Only other bird of note was a Peregrine distantly on one of the pylons.

A single Wheatear on Lollingdon hill today. per AD.

Peregrine

A Ring-necked Parakeet in a Wallingford garden (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Whinchats again

Cloudy with occasional sunshine, 19°, light NW.

A surprise find of a Grasshopper Warbler today out at Lollingdon. A small streaky warbler flying ahead of me in to vegetation and eventually got a good look to confirm it.

On the hill, 3 Whinchat and a Wheatear still present with the Wheatear eventually fling to one of the stubble fields.

100+ Swallow overhead all moving roughly south west.

At one point watching the Whinchats, one of them flew up after an insect, only for the insect to be taken by a passing Swallow!

The stubble fields out at Little Lollingdon held at least 18 Yellowhammer and 5 Reed Bunting.

2 Kestrel, 2 Blackcap, 3 Common Whitethroat and several Jay also noted.

Dragonflies: 1 Emperor Dragonfly, 2 Southern Hawker and several Common Darter. In addition Brown Hawker and a possible Migrant Hawker at Cholsey Marsh. Per TW.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White and Speckled Wood. Again Comma and Red Admiral on Cholsey Marsh. Per TW.

 Whinchats

 Wheatear

Red-legged Shieldbug (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Whinchats

Cloudy, 19°, light W.

3 Whinchat and a single Wheatear on the hill today and 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap, 3 Common Whitethroat and a Garden Warbler in the hedgerow.

A Sparrowhawk flew across the hill and everything disappeared for a time.

Elsewhere in Lollingdon, several more Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Common Whitethroat, 4 Jay and several small flocks of Swallow and House Martin moving through.

The pair of Swallow that nested out at Lollingdon have now departed. They raised 2 broods of young, about 10 in total.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: 2 Large White, several Small White, 1 Holly Blue and 3 Speckled Wood.

 Whinchats

Common Whitethroat

Sparrowhawk

Wheatears & Whinchats

Mainly cloudy, 19°, breezy W.

5 Wheatear and 2 Whinchat on the hill today along with a Kestrel and Green Woodpecker.

A steady flow of Swallow and House Martin overhead.

Nearby a single Willow Warbler and several Chiffchaff and Yellowhammer of note.

2 Raven around Church road either side of midday. Per RB, and I saw 1 over the garden and Rookery just prior to 14:00

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White and Speckled Wood.

Whinchat

 Wheatear lift off

 Wheatear

 Wheatear

 Brown Hare

 Common Darter

Raven (courtesy Richard Broughton)

Sparrowhawk visit

Moderate to heavy rain from around 07:00, 15°, breezy SSE.

Not much going on in the garden this morning, a few birds visiting the feeders and a young Moorhen in.

Around 13:30, alerted by a Blackbird alarm call a Sparrowhawk had burst into the garden and grabbed what I think is a Chaffinch. The Sparrowhawk stayed for around 2 minutes before flying off with its catch.

I managed to get a few photos through rain spattered windows.

Wheatears

4 Wheatear on Lollingdon Hill today.

All photos courtesy Alan Dawson.

Birds on the move

Mainly cloudy, 18°, breezy WSW (rain later).

Quite a breeze blowing on to the hill today and subsequently little there. A Common Whitethroat was about it.

Quite a few Hirundines passing through today, flocks were congregating and feeding in the lee of the hill for 5-10 minutes before heading off to the south west.

Estimated totals were 150 Swallow, 60 House Martin and 2 Sand Martin.

Nearby 5 Spotted Flycatcher, 3 Whinchat, 3 Yellow Wagtail (over), 10+ Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 2 Blackcap and a Hobby.

Several Jay heard and a flock of c20 Buntings feeding in the stubble field, mainly Yellowhammer with at least 3 Reed Bunting. 

Nuthatch and Green Woodpecker in the garden.

Dragonflies: 1 Migrant Hawker and 5 Southern Hawker.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White and Speckled Wood. A Brown Argus and Small Copper recently per GS.

Whinchats

Spotted Flycatchers

Hobby (rear view)

Spotted Flycatcher & Whinchat

Southern Hawker

Odds & Sods

A few pics from today courtesy Alan Dawson.

 Kestrel

 Migrant Hawker (above & below)

Different view of a Chiffchaff

and one from me.

Yellow Shell

Out and About

Cloudy, 22°, light WSW.

The hill is still very quiet with only a Kestrel present and a few Swallow moving through.

Earlier a loose flock of 42 House Martin were overhead, they then bunched up in to a tight flock, gained altitude and moved off high to the south west.

Off the hill in Lollingdon: the Spotted Flycatchers still present along with 10+ Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap and several Common Whitethroat.

A Yellow Wagtail flew overhead, a couple of Jay, a single Raven and the (almost white) Buzzard seen for the first time in a while and a Little Owl heard calling.

A Grey Heron seen on the way back and several Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting.

Mammals: Stoat.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker. 

Butterflies: Large White, Small White and Speckled Wood.

Buzzard

Chiffchaff

 Spotted Flycatcher

 Chicken of the Woods ?

Grey Heron

Spot Flys again

A cloudy start but brightening up, 23°, light SSW.

The hill was pretty quiet today with just a few Swallow passing over and a Common Whitethroat present.

Nearby 4 Spotted Flycatcher still present out at Lollingdon and with quite a few Chiffchaff around. Several Common Whitethroat and Blackcap also noted.

A couple of Jay heard and a Kingfisher, 3 Green Woodpecker and a Great-spotted Woodpecker seen.

A Green Woodpecker visiting the garden regularly.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Muntjac Deer.

Reptiles: 1 Common Lizard seen scurrying off the path in front of me.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, 4 Common Blue, 1 Holly Blue, 3 Red Admiral, 1 Small Tortoiseshell, 1 Peacock and Speckled Wood.

Spotted Flycatcher

Common Darter

 Spotted Flycatcher

 Small Tortoiseshell

Goldfinch