Thrushes dominant

Cloudy with a few sunny spells, 12°, light SE.

Not a great deal of variety around today! Plenty of “Winter Thrushes” around with in excess of 200 Fieldfare and 50+ Redwing scattered around Lollingdon.

A single Kestrel on the hill, 2 Yellowhammer and a single Reed Bunting and the usual Skylark and Meadow Pipit out in the fields and a single Raven over.

A single Herring Gull mixed in with the Gull flock out on recently worked fields and a few more Pied Wagtail around.

22 Goldfinch on the garden feeders yesterday. The biggest count yet!

Butterflies: a single Large White and 2 Red Admiral seen that were flying quite strongly south west.

Fieldfare (above & below)

Redwing

Chilly end to October

Sunny, 8°, light NNE.

A bit chillier than of late and the 2 Stonechat still present on the hill along with a Green Woodpecker.

Elsewhere plenty of Fieldfare and Redwing, c50 Starling and a single Siskin flew over.

Several Jay, Pied Wagtail and a single Grey Wagtail present out at Lollingdon.

Unfortunately not a lot else of note.

Redwing (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Grey Wagtail

 Wren

Pied Wagtail

GSW

2 Great-spotted Woodpecker in the garden together, plus 2 Nuthatch.

Kingfisher

Kingfisher near Cholsey Marsh

(courtesy Alan Dawson)

Sleepy Hollow again

Following on from the "Headless Kite" we now have a "Headless Kestrel"

courtesy Alan Dawson

Halloween

We have the "Tailless" Red Kite around Cholsey and now the "Headless" Red Kite 😊. This Kite settled briefly on a tree in the garden and Loren was the first to react but it took off before we could get any decent shots. Halloween and Sleepy Hollow spring to mind 💀 .

Red Kite (courtesy Loren Chaplin)

Skylark (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Stonechat (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Inside looking out

Light cloud, 12°, light NW.

The 2 Stonechat still present on the hill today and some movement of Thrushes and Starling with approx. 300 Fieldfare, 20+ Redwing, 200+ Starling and a single Mistle Thrush.

Several Goldcrest seen around the hill and a single Chiffchaff present.

A mixed flock of Buntings also present with a mix of Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting and Corn Bunting. Approx. 40 birds in total.

Another flock of Yellowhammer out on the stubble fields of roughly 20 birds.

2 Herring Gull loafing on a recently worked field out at Little Lollingdon with c100 Lesser Blackback Gull and c150 Black-headed Gull.

Dragonflies: 1 Common Darter.

Wren, spider hunting.

 Fieldfare

 Reed Bunting

 Stonechat (above & below)

Peacock (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Stonechats again

Cloudy with a few bright spells, 14°, breezy WNW,

2 Stonechat still present on the hill today and a flock of approx. 50 Fieldfare, 3 Redwing and 20 Starling.

2 Raven flew south east after spending a couple of minutes mobbing a Buzzard.

A Kingfisher present around a nearby pond.

A Wheatear on Cholsey Hill yesterday (22/10). Per Brian Wyatt.

The “Tailess” Red Kite still being seen regularly over the village with at least 4 different sightings.

Dragonflies: 4 Common Darter.

Butterflies: a Comma. Per Alan Dawson.

Stonechat

 Fieldfare (above & below)

 Stonechat (above & below)

 Comma (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Common Darter

Otmoor

Sunny, 14°, light WNW.

A visit to Otmoor this afternoon, initially struck by the lack of wet areas presumably as a result of the dry summer and subsequently a lack of birds!

2 Marsh Harrier seen quartering the reed beds and the odd Red Kite and Buzzard overhead.

Very few duck species seen, Mallard, Teal and Wigeon were the only ones noted and a few Common Snipe were the only waders.

Everything was quite distant so a lot of cropping on the photos.

A Cetti’s Warbler heard and quite a few Starling coming in presumably to roost but did not stay ‘til too late.

first 4 photos courtesy Loren.

 No Duck

2 Duck

A few Duck

 Common Darter

 Wigeon & Common Snipe

 Marsh Harrier (above & below)

Lapwings

The first flock of Lapwings of the autumn arrive in Cholsey with up to 300 birds present today.

Photos courtesy Alan Dawson.

Quiet times

Foggy at first, 3°, then fog clearing with sunshine, 14°, light NNW.

The hill was rather quiet today with a handful of Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting and 6 Corn Bunting present.

The Linnet flock is gradually growing in number with around 30 birds present. Also several Meadow Pipit and Skylark moving around.

A single Cormorant flew north overhead.

Off the hill there were a few Redwing and Fieldfare in nearby fields but no significant numbers as yet.

3 Chiffchaff represented the only summer migrants still present.

Still around 30 Yellowhammer around the stubble fields.

Dragonflies: 10+ Common Darter which included a pair egg laying.

Butterflies: 1 Small Tortoiseshell and 2 Red Admiral.

 Reed Bunting

 Chiffchaff (above & below)

Cormorant from yesterday drying out in the sun (courtesy Alan Dawson)

 Common Darters egg laying in tandem

Stonechats

Cloudy, 14°, light SW.

A brief visit today due to a late start and not much difference from yesterday’s visit.

2 Stonechat still present on the hill and flighty, a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing on the hill and a small flock of 15 Starling over the hill (the first I’ve seen in a few months). Up to 12 Corn Bunting present and a few Yellowhammer and 2 Reed Bunting.

3 Siskin overhead and a single Chiffchaff seen.

A pair of Jay in the garden this afternoon.

Dragonflies: 1 Common Darter.

Butterflies: 1 Peacock.

Thrushes moving

A hazy day with low cloud cover, 18°, light SW.

2 Stonechat on the hill this morning but only briefly before moving off. A Sparrowhawk, several Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting and 8 Corn Bunting.

A handful of Fieldfare and Redwing present nearby and most have appeared to have moved on. However still more to come. An increase in the number of Blackbird and to a lesser extent Song Thrush noted.

4 Chiffchaff noted and a few Siskin overhead.

2 Nuthatch making frequent forays into the garden recently.

Dragonflies: 1 Common Darter.

 Nuthatch

Shaggy Inkcap