Samhain

Cloudy, 11°, breezy ESE.

A Raven seen by Alan flying over Cholsey Church whilst photographing Jackdaws.

And a Nuthatch amongst several species on the feeders in the garden.

A male Blackcap and a Goldcrest in the Church yard on Tuesday, Per Alan,

A Ringed Plover heard calling over Church road @ 19:55 yesterday.

 Jackdaws

Raven

Nuthatch

Not a lot

Overcast, 9°, light NE.

A walk along the Bunk line did not produce much today. Good numbers of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling in very mobile flocks, approx. 20 Mistle Thrush and a distant small flock of 8 waders that flew south. Too distant to identify but may have been Godwits of some description.

Alan saw a Peregrine out towards Aston.

Apart from some Roe Deer nothing else to report.

One of the increased number of Robin around today.

Garden stuff

A sunny day at last, 10°, light NW.

At last a sunny day but currently of limited mobility due to a pulled calf muscle making it painful walking. So having to rest up until it improves 😞 !!!!!

Observations from the garden today with a brief visit of a male Sparrowhawk, but did not catch anything.

And visits from a Great-spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Coal Tit, several Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Long-tailed Tit.

The usual Wren and 2 Robin present.

Before the rain

Light to moderate rain, 12°, light SW.

Alan was out before the rain started today and had a total of 5 Stonechat (Bunk line/Cholsey Hill/4 Arches) plus a Cetti’s Warbler Cholsey Marsh.

Less Thrushes today

Cloudy with the odd sunny spell, 13°, light ESE.

Quieter out at Lollingdon today, far fewer Thrushes around only c200 seen in several mixed flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing.

An increase in the number of Chaffinch, Linnet, Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit noted.

15 Mistle Thrush, a Sparrowhawk and Green Woodpecker.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Butterflies: 2 Red Admiral.

Green Woodpecker

Roe Deer (ad female with 2 young)

Brown Hare (saw me coming)

Stonechat

Stonechat still present out at Lollingdon. Alan Dawson.

Merveille du Jour

A couple of Moths caught by Tony Rayner last night. Photographed and released.

 

Merveille du Jour

Info link

Fieldfares arrive in force

Cloudy, 12°, breezy N.

Fieldfare arrived in their hundreds today, I saw close on 500 between the village and Lollingdon and Alan had 500+ along the Bunk line/Green lane/Cholsey hill area. Also good numbers of Redwing with several hundred around the same places. Fieldfares also noted by RB along the Wallingford road.

20+ Mistle Thrush out at Lollingdon and Song Thrush and Blackbird in with the Thrush flocks moving over.

A Sparrowhawk took one of the Thrushes along Green Lane and put a large flock into panic mode.

A couple of Bullfinch and 3 Chiffchaff around the Bullshole and a singing Corn Bunting on the hill..

Fieldfare ↕ (courtesy Alan)

More Fieldfare

Fungi foray

Cloudy, 10°, light N.

A visit for Loren and myself to the Warburg Nature Reserve today. Mainly looking for Fungi but also whatever else is on show.

Quite a lot of Fungi found and with 300+ photos taken between us it will take a while to process and identify the species so they will be in a posting for another day.

However we did find our 2 target species of Fly Agaric and Magpie Inkcap.

As for the birds: 2 Raven, 60+ Redwing, several Bullfinch, 1 Siskin, 3+ Marsh Tit, several Nuthatch and 6+Jay were birds of note.

Photos courtesy Loren Chaplin.

 Magpie Inkcap ↕

 Fly Agaric ↕

Common Puffball

Marsh Tit (photo by me)

Breezy

Sunny spells and breezy, 14°, fresh SW.

A hike along the Bunk line today, a bit breezy and cool and most small birds were sticking to hedgerows.

A Raven flew east and a Common Gull (scarce here) loafing with a flock of c80 Black-headed Gull.

Quite a few Redwing around and several small flocks of Starling, 3 Chiffchaff heard and both Green and Great-spotted Woodpecker seen.

Butterflies: Red Admiral, Comma & Peacock, singles of each.

Comma

Red Admiral

Jay (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Stonechat & Little Egret

Cloudy, bright spells and rain, 12°, light to breezy S.

A Stonechat on the hill today, way down along the track to Sheephouse Farm, 5 Mistle Thrush to the west and 2 Reed Bunting in the hedge.

Another Stonechat found by Alan today along the Bunk line/Green Lane area.

A Little Egret in the cattle field and several Chiffchaff in nearby hedgerows roaming with the Tit flocks.

Quite a few Redwing around but very mobile, a Kingfisher by the pond and a Grey Heron nearby.

Good numbers of Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail scattered around.

 Stonechat

Little Egret

Ring Ouzel

Early rain then cloudy with sunny spells, 14°, light W.

A Ring Ouzel (m) found out at Lollingdon today feeding in a hedgerow near the paddocks. Initially heard calling, a call to me that sounds mid-way between a Blackbird and Fieldfare.

60+ Redwing also present in the area and an increase in Blackbird and Song Thrush numbers.

2 Swallow seen flying south on my way back. Also seen, Kingfisher, 2 Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, 2 Mistle Thrush and several Chiffchaff.

Alan saw 12-15 Mistle Thrush after I left and a flock of around 40 Redwing.

Lots of Redwing in Wallingford (Castle Meadow area) today. Per Alan.

Sparrowhawk visited garden again!

Mammals: Stoat with prey, Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: a single Hawker (poss Migrant) and several Common Darter.

Butterflies: a single Large White and several Red Admiral.

 Ring Ouzel

 Pied Wagtail

 Common Darter

Roe Deer

Sparrowhawk

Redwings arrive

Redwings have arrived in numbers now and awaiting Fieldfares.

Photos courtesy Alan Dawson

Redwing

Meadow Pipit

Wind & Rain and not much else!

Overcast with almost constant light rain, 16°, moderate SW.

At a peak time for rare and scarce birds with American land birds turning up from Iceland, thru the Scottish isles, west coast of Britain and down to the Azores. And a good influx of more Eastern rarities on the UK East coast and elsewhere.

However back in Middle Earth these things do not happen but we live in hope.

The south westerly winds this week have not been conducive to decent birding and today was no exception.

A Raven flew west near the Bullshole, a Little Owl heard calling out at Lollingdon, a Mistle Thrush, about the only bird on the hill, a Kingfisher and a handful of Chiffchaff!

A Stoat seen hunting out at Lollingdon.

 

This photo of a Little Owl taken on Portland a couple of years ago.

Still Windy

Cloudy, 15°, breezy SW.

A walk along the Bunk line to the bypass taking in Green lane.

6 species of Corvid seen that included 2 Raven and several Jay.

2 Redwing, 6 House Martin, several Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and Skylark, 4 Bullfinch, 5 Chiffchaff, a single Goldcrest and both Green and Great-spotted Woodpecker.

The last House Martins in Church road left today with at least 2 young fledged.

Dragonflies: 1 Common Darter.

Butterflies: 1 Red Admiral.

Long-tailed Tit

Shaggy Inkcap (courtesy Loren)

 a few examples of other Fungi found

Nothing much going on

Cloudy with a few sunny intervals, 13°, breezy SW.

A disappointing and windy day with very little seen!

Virtually nothing on the hill today, a Magpie and a Sparrowhawk going head to head with the hawk eventually flying off and a Kestrel hunting overhead.

6 Pied Wagtail and a few Chiffchaff to the north of the hill but little else of note.

6 House Martin over the garden late afternoon.

Butterflies: 6 Red Admiral active in sheltered spots.

Red is the colour

Cloudy with a few sunny intervals and showers, 13°, moderate SW.

Redwing & Red Kite feature today.

Well the Redwings have arrived with 5 seen yesterday and 25+ seen today by Alan. More will be arriving over the next few weeks and Fieldfares will be in soon.

A Red Kite in Whitehead Meadow took a Wood Pigeon, not sure if it scavenged it or made the kill.

We still have a pair of House Martin feeding young at a nest site in Church road and hopefully they will be on their way very soon.

A wet one

Cloudy with frequent showers, 14°, breezy S.

Not particularly good weather for birding today and a walk out to Lollingdon and back proved right.

The hill was pretty quiet on the ground, however a bit of vis-mig (visible migration) livened up the proceedings with 150+ House Martin moving south east and several Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail over.

A single Raven flew east and a Sparrowhawk high to the south.

Several Chiffchaff still roaming around with Tit flocks and a small flock of Yellowhammer out near Little Lollingdon and a Goldcrest in the Bullshole.

5 Redwing over Church road late afternoon.

 Chiffchaff

Blue Tit

Raven

 Don't get a lot of Fungi on farmland but found this today and as yet unidentified.

?

A bit of a wet one!

Cloudy with almost constant light rain, 14°, breezy WSW.

Typical, get back home around 14:00 and it starts to brighten up!

Not a lot today, a couple of Raven out at Lollingdon, good numbers of Chiffchaff around and a lot of Meadow Pipit. Very little else noted.

House Martins still present at nest site in Church road.

Mammals: a Stoat chasing a Rabbit (it got away) and Brown Hare.

Butterflies: a single Red Admiral.