A windy end to January

Cloudy, 11°, fresh SSW.

A windy day out today, rain coming later.

A fairly quiet time out at Lollingdon. A flock of around 100 Starling appeared over the hill in a tight defensive ball. Alerted to a possible predator, and then a male Merlin appeared flying in from the south and went directly for the flock. It passed straight through without taking anything and continued north followed by the Starlings and they all disappeared from view over the hill!

Good numbers of Winter Thrushes around, a Kestrel and 2 Sparrowhawk also noted.

The berries on the Cotoneaster bush/tree by Cholsey Church are slowly going. Fieldfare, Redwing and Wood Pigeon seen feeding on them.

2 Mute Swan flew high NW over Church road @ 15:00.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Sparrowhawk

Bunk Line/Green Lane

Overcast with rain showers, 11°, light SW.

Earlier in the morning there were a lot of Gulls on the flooded field along Church road. c250 Black-headed Gull, 3 Herring Gull (ads) and 2 Great Blackback Gull (1 ad & 1 1stw).

When I got back most Gulls had dispersed and just 40 odd Black-headed Gull present.

A Peregrine flew over Green Lane, putting a flock of Rook and Jackdaw to flight and a Kestrel hunting nearby.

Good numbers of Thrushes around. I stood by a gateway and watched c500 Thrushes fly past over a period of around 30 minutes. 90% Fieldfare and 10% Redwing. A small flock of around 50 Starling in the area and 2 Pied Wagtail and a single Yellowhammer flew overhead. 2 Mistle Thrush in song, 1 towards Winterbrook and the other close to the village. Also a couple of Song Thrush singing.

Mammals: Roe Deer & Brown Hare.

 Sparrowhawk (courtesy Alan Dawson) ↕

 Starlings

Yesterdays Red Admiral (courtesy Tony Rayner)

Chiffchaff

a series of photos from Alan of a Chiffchaff at Cholsey Marsh today.

Rain again!

Cloudy with rain showers, 8°, light SSW.

Well, another quiet day out at Lollingdon. Just the usual Thrush flock and feeding in the cattle field area today and the usual Finch flock on the hill.

Kestrel and Sparrowhawk both seen but little else.

Both male and female Blackcap feeding in TW’s garden and a Stonechat at Cholsey Marsh recently. Per TW.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Thames @ Cholsey

A bright start, clouding over with rain p.m., 8°, light SW.

Alan took a walk along the Thames this morning.

2 Raven, a Chiffchaff, Water Rail, Reed Bunting, Buzzard, Great Crested Grebe, Egyptian Goose, Kingfisher etc.

 Kingfisher

 Great Crested Grebe

Egyptian Goose

Lollingdon

Overcast, 7°, light SW.

An interesting time out at Lollingdon today. Firstly as I was making my way up the hill I noticed a Red Kite fly off and drop something on the track. By the time I got to the location, whatever it was had gone!

I moved further up the track approx. 50m and stood in cover and watched. Around 5 minutes later a Brown Rat appeared on the track. It was obviously injured, presumably by the Kite. I could see a couple of Carrion Crow in the trees taking an interest when suddenly a Buzzard swooped down, grabbed the Rat and flew off with it.

A flock of around 200 Fieldfare feeding on the hill and a Finch/Bunting flock feeding in a shelter crop. Mainly Linnet and Chaffinch with 5 Yellowhammer, 2 Reed Bunting and a handful of Goldfinch, probably more but could not see it all.

A single Corn Bunting in song to the south of the hill.

Around midday a group of shooters arrived and started banging away nearby. Time to leave, too noisy, wildlife running and flying scared and also I don’t like shooters!

Closer to the village a female Sparrowhawk hunting near the Bullshole and several Redwing and 2 Mistle Thrush nearby.

A couple of Treecreeper heard in song this morning, a Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming and a vocal Green Woodpecker noted. Signs of spring? We shall wait and see!

Mammals: Roe Deer, Muntjac Deer, Brown Rat and Brown Hare.

Few birds around

Overcast, 8°, light ESE.

A walk along the Bunk line/Green lane proved somewhat quiet on a gloomy old day.

Apart from good numbers of Corvids there were very few birds around.

A handful of Fieldfare and Redwing, the odd Song Thrush singing and a single Mistle Thrush.

A Grey Wagtail, a few Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit, a pair of Bullfinch, a Goldcrest, a female Sparrowhawk drifted over and a small flock of Black-headed Gull and 2 Herring Gull.

There were 3 Tawny Owl around Church road last night, all conversing with each other.

Bullfinch (F)

Resident & Visitor

Foggy at first then bright, 5°, light W.

A couple of shots from the garden today.

One of our resident Robins is always on the lookout for food that might just be dislodged (with a bit of help) from one of the feeders.

And a resourceful visiting Jackdaw on the fat ball feeder.

The Barn Owl seen on Cholsey hill yesterday, Per Richard Broughton.

Winter doldrums

Sunshine, 5°, light NW.

A frosty start and still rather quiet out there.

The usual flocks of Fieldfare out at Lollingdon and a few Redwing. A single flyover Raven and a Corn Bunting on the hill.

Lots of Gulls seen distantly around the pig fields and between Lollingdon and Aston, maybe 1000+ birds.

A small flock of Black-headed Gull and a single Herring Gull on the flooded area near Church road.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Week End stuff

Sunny, 3°, light SW.

A few pics on a bright but cold week end.

3 Teal over Cholsey (courtesy Alan Dawson)

 A Red Kite with another Chicken. I guess someone is feeding them as Kites cannot kill prey this large and rarely take live prey. (courtesy Alan Dawson)

The Sparrowhawk with prey (a Goldfinch). taken at a very acute angle thru a window, hence the poor quality shot.

Hard going

Cloudy with a few sunny spells and showers, 7°, fresh WSW.

It’s been hard work birding this week, wind, rain and very muddy underfoot with some of the areas very waterlogged.

Fortunately the garden has been very active with regular Nuthatch, Coal Tit, Treecreeper and Sparrowhawk amongst others.

Today I managed to come across a 2 Yellowhammer on Lollingdon hill, the first ones for a couple of months.

Apart from loads of Fieldfare and a few Redwing there was very little else around.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Kestrel & Heron

Bright at first then rain, 10°, light to breezy SW.

A couple from Alan today.

Wet n' windy

Wet n’ windy, 9°, breezy S.

Fairly quiet along the Bunk line area today and not surprising given the weather conditions.

About 1km into the walk I noticed all the Corvids, Pigeons and Thrushes etc. all up in the air and scattering. On scanning the horizon it was down to a Peregrine flying over heading south.

A female Sparrowhawk hunting the hedgerow along Green lane and a Kestrel nearby.

Good numbers of Fieldfare and Starling in the area but very few Redwing.

The usual Black-headed Gull (c50) on the flooded areas and 2 Herring Gull present.

Little Wittenham Whoopers

2 Whooper Swan seen and photographed today by Alan at Little Wittenham, found by Brain Wyatt. Spooked by a quad biker and dog and flew off towards Long Wittenham with a couple of Mute Swan.

Stonechat

Sunny intervals, 7°, light W.

Very quiet and still out there today, the odd Mistle and Song Thrush singing but little going on.

Alan found a Stonechat out to the north west of the village. And a Buzzard feeding on what appears to be a dead chicken.

2 Mistle Thrush on the playing fields.

A scattering of Fieldfare and Redwing but no large flocks noted.

Around 1000 Gulls settled near the pig fields but too distant for ID.

Mammals: Roe Deer, and a couple of Pipistrelle seen flying to the south of the village earlier this week! Per HM.

Butterflies: a Brimstone seen yesterday in the village. Per Geoff Wyatt. Only the 10th January and 2 butterfly species seen!

Cholsey Hill & Garden

Sunny intervals, rain later, 10°, light to breezy SW.

A large flock of waders (400+ seen flying over Cholsey Hill towards the floods out at Moreton. Appeared to be mainly Golden Plover and Lapwing and some smaller waders with them.

The male Sparrowhawk visited the garden again but had no luck and eventually settled in a corner of the garden for around 20 minutes before flying off.

A quiet start to the year

Cloudy with a few sunny spells, 8°, breezy SSW.

Bunk line/Green lane.

A lot of Starling today with the majority seen flying direct south east in small flocks totalling around 400 birds. Another flock of around 100 birds mixed with Fieldfare and Redwing feeding in nearby fields.

2 Raven being hassled by a Red Kite.

c250 Black-headed Gull and a single Herring Gull feeding around CSW and a Chiffchaff in a hedgerow nearby.

3 Little Egret with a Grey Heron reported on floods by the Thames between Wallingford and Cholsey. Per Victoria Barlow.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Wren in the garden

Thrushes & Gulls

Overcast and a chilly wind, 8°, breezy SSW.

A Little Owl heard calling out at Lollingdon and a single flyover Raven seen.

Lots of Thrushes still around the area with several hundred Fieldfare, c100 Redwing and a few Mistle Thrush.

1000+ Gulls in the area with most around the pig fields or loafing on flooded areas. One of the floods was close enough to get reasonable views with 60+ Lesser Blackback, 2 Great Blackback and a single Herring Gull present.

Another close flood had 8 Lesser Blackback Gull and 24 Lapwing on.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Cholsey: 3rd Jan

Sunny, 8°, light NW.

Still rather quiet out there. 200+ Thrushes and 80+ Starling on Lollingdon hill, thrushes were mainly Fieldfare with a few Redwing and 2 Mistle Thrush.

A few Meadow Pipit and Skylark moving around and a couple of Kestrel present.

3 Shoveler flew over the Wallingford road this afternoon. Per Richard Broughton.

40 Golden Plover and a Barn Owl, Cholsey Hill. Per Alan Dawson.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

A few photos today. Alan's are the Lapwing, Golden Plover and Barn Owl.