End of Month Insects

Tony Rayner has caught 16 Small Elephant Hawk Moth in his trap over the last few days. A record number in such a short period.

A Roesel's Bush Cricket found by Alan, a Cinnabar Moth found by Loren and a Large Skipper by Tony R.

Small Elephant Hawk Moth (courtesy Tony Rayner)

Roesel's Bush Cricket (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Cinnabar Moth (courtesy Loren Chaplin)

Cockchafer

Large Skipper (courtesy Tony Rayner)

Another sunshiny day

Another sunshiny day, 24°, light E.

Lollingdon hill relatively quiet today albeit a light passage of Swift and House Martin.

A mixed flock of c50 Swift and House Martin drifted over heading north at around 10:30 and then a thin trickle of Swift and a few House Martin over the next hour numbering around another 100 birds.

All the usual suspects present.

A pair of House Sparrow nesting in bushes and away from any buildings on the route out to Lollingdon. A little unusual?

Farmers are cutting fields for hay at the moment and I wonder how many Skylark and Corn Bunting nests get destroyed along with anything else living there?

Are Swallows and House Martins having a hard time of it at the moment as there is very little mud around for them to collect for their nest building process?

Dragonflies: a female Emperor hunting on Lollingdon Hill and a male Emperor hunting over a bean field just south of the railway.

Butterflies: Large Skipper, Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma and Speckled Wood.

Moths: A couple of Cinnabar Moths.

Large Skipper

A female Emperor dragonfly hunting on the hill this morning. Could not get a photo with the long lens as flight too erratic. Tried phone camera and did not capture her either but to my surprise caught her shadow!

Meadow Grasshopper (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Just liked the pattern of the bark on this Downy Birch.

Wildlife in Cholsey

A few photos from Cholsey in the last few days including a very scarce Lime Hawk Moth photographed by Katherine Ryecroft.

Other photos by Alan Dawson.

Lime Hawk Moth

 Grey Wagtail

 Roe Buck

 Red Fox ↕

Common Whitethroat

A warm one

Sunshine, 23°, light WNW.

A female Sparrowhawk over Whitehead Meadow being mobbed by a Mistle Thrush, 2 Swallow and 2 House Martin. She eventually drifted off east.

The walk out to Lollingdon was fairly uneventful with a single Yellow Wagtail overhead and the usual songsters still at it.

And the hill was a little slow but for a Garden Warbler in song. I thought I heard one last week but was unsure but today it was in full song and visible albeit briefly.

Common Whitethroat and Blackcap still singing well along with Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting and an immature Lesser Blackback Gull flew west overhead.

4 breeding pairs of Pied Wagtail established between Church road and Lollingdon and probably more around the village. Seem to be doing quite well this year.

Not seen the Little owls recently and very few Swift noted locally!

No mammals today, difficult to see them now the crops and grasses are high.

Dragonflies: a male Banded Demoiselle in the garden.

Butterflies: still low numbers, 1 Brimstone, several Large and Small White, 1 Orange Tip, 1 Small Tortoiseshell and 1 Comma.

 Reed Bunting

 Common Whitethroat

Pied Wagtail

 A collage of Great-spotted Woodpeckers at nest site. (they fledged today) (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Burnet Companion Moth (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Beautiful or Banded?

Demoiselles are a group of fluttery dragonflies of which there are 2 British species.

The one you are most likely to see in Cholsey is the Banded Demoiselle which is found in habitats of slow moving rivers and streams with muddy bottoms.

The Beautiful Demoiselle is quite rare in Cholsey and its preferred habitat is rivers and streams with gravelly bottoms.

This year both Alan and I have found female Demoiselles that resemble Beautiful.

Some females appear to be difficult to identify to species and I have little experience of Beautiful Demoiselles. 

Fortunately we have some photos. See below.

Beautiful Demoiselle (f) ↕ top photo by Richard Lewington of one near Appleford and the bottom photo by Alan Dawson in Cholsey.

Banded or Beautiful Demoiselle ? Cholsey

Breezy

Sunny spells, 19°, breezy SW.

A little cooler than of late and a stiff south westerly blowing as a low pressure system passes through.

Still a few songsters in full flow out there so I thought I would count on the way out to Lollingdon

Numbers as follows: 15 Common Whitethroat, 11 Yellowhammer, 7 Blackcap, 5 Chiffchaff, 4 Corn Bunting, 3 Reed Bunting and 1 Lesser Whitethroat. None were photogenic enough to allow a photo today unfortunately.

The hill itself was somewhat quiet with just as few Buzzard and Red Kite soaring above and a steady flow of Rooks flying over to the pig fields.

And a large unidentified Gull flew north over the hill.

An adult Black-headed Gull (ringed) quartering the Millennium field on the walk out and a Goldcrest heard singing in the Millennium Wood.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: 1 female Banded Demoiselle near the Bullshole.

Butterflies: again very few and poor diversity: 1 Brimstone, a handful of Large and Small White and a Speckled Wood in the garden.

 Black-headed Gull ↕ leg ring seen on bottom photo.

Yellowhammer

Tuftie

Sunny, 24°, light S.

A Tufted Duck on the river today and a scarce bird in Cholsey as they are usually present on lakes, reservoirs etc. Per Alan.

Otherwise all the usual suspects present birdwise.

Also Alan reports more butterflies on the wing today with: Brimstone, Orange Tip, Small Blue, Common Blue, Marsh Fritillary and Speckled Wood. 

Tufted Duck f (courtesy Alan)

We have a pair of Stock Dove breeding in the garden this year and it has been interesting in observing the dynamics between the Doves and the Wood Pigeons.

Up to about a month ago the Doves were quite subservient to the Pigeons and were often quite bullied.

Since they started nesting the Doves have become more aggressive and are now chasing off the Wood Pigeons even though they are a smaller bird.

 Stock Dove

Wood Pigeon

a few photos from yesterday by Alan.

 Common Blue Damselfly

 Swollen-thigh Beetle

 Blue Emperor

Red-eyed Damselfly

White Storks and the rest

Wall to wall sunshine, 25°, light S.

The first thing to start with is that 2 White Stork were seen drifting SW over Cholsey this morning at 09:45. Seen by a Benson birder who was at Cholsey Meadows.

There has been a White Stork seen earlier in the year around the Day’s Lock/Dorchester/Wittenham area. So it may be that one teamed up with another as some of the Storks from the Sussex release scheme have been wandering quite widely.

There is a lot of chatter on Wallingford Piper on FB regarding Storks being seen all over. Some of the reports refer to Egrets and Herons that are being misidentified as Storks. Although some reports are accurate.

Anyway back to feet on the ground in Cholsey as I was on a walk out to Lollingdon today and Alan was along the river and Cholsey Marsh.

A singing Sedge Warbler along Cholsey Brook at the millennium field,  a singing Willow Warbler on Lollingdon Hill and this evening Richard Broughton had a Reed Warbler singing by the Church road bridge over the brook. were unexpected and may actually be new arrivals.

House Martins heard calling over Lollingdon Hill but initially not seen. It was not until I scanned overhead with binoculars that I saw them flying very high in a southerly direction and at least 20 birds.

Also a single adult Lesser Blackback Gull overhead and a Yellow Wagtail.

A Lesser Whitethroat heard singing near Amwell Spring and all the usual suspects noted.

A Sparrowhawk seen thermalling over the village mid-afternoon and being mobbed by Swallows and House Martins. And a Mistle Thrush singing away near the Church.

Mammals: Roe Deer and Brown Hare.

Butterflies: again, very few. I wonder if last week’s cold weather had any effect on butterflies and insects in general? A single Brimstone and Orange Tip, a few unidentified Whites, 1 Common Blue and 1 Holly Blue.

Alans tally down by the river was:

Birds: Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting, Swift, Swallow, Corn Bunting and Grey Wagtail.

Dragonflies: Red-eyed Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly, Blue Emperor , Four-spot Chaser and Broad-bodied Chaser. 

Butterflies: Marsh Fritillary, Common Blue and Peacock.

 Left: White Stork, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret & Little Egret.

Right: Grey Heron & Little Egret.

All have been seen in Oxfordshire in recent months.

 Brown Hare

 Sorry, a Corn Bunting again 😀

A pair of Stock Dove.

Warmer and Quieter

Sunshine, 23°, light W.

A walk along the Bunk line expecting to seen some butterflies but was disappointed with very few being seen.

The usual songsters present, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and Yellowhammer.

Also 2 Yellow Wagtail in the fields and 6-8 Swallow and a couple of House Martin feeding overhead.

an adult Herring Gull still frequenting CSW.

Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Orange Tip and Small White.

 Yellowhammer

 Dunnock or Hedge Sparrow but is actually an Accentor!

 Beautiful Demoiselle (I did not realise the id of this until it was pointed out. The first BeauDEm I have seen in Cholsey)

Jackdaw

Lollingdon-Aston-The Lees

Sunny, 21°, light WSW.

A loop walk today out to Lollingdon and skirting Aston and back via the Lees.

Fairly quiet out there today although all the regulars heard or seen. Common Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Yellowhammer, Corn Bunting and Reed Bunting, the odd one out at Lollingdon and 5-6 along the “reedy ditch and “Long ditch”, and both Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler along the “Reedy ditch”.

Several Buzzard and Red Kite over the hill as usual and a Kestrel and Sparrowhawk nearby.

A couple of Yellow Wagtail and good numbers of Skylark. Swallows fairly widespread and several House Martin and Swift over the village.

Quite a few Starling noted today gathering food but no young yet.

Stop press: 21:00: 2 Common Tern, a Common Sandpiper and a Barn Owl, Cholsey Marsh. Per Paul Rainsden.

Mammals: Stoat, Brown Hare, Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Orange Tip, Small White, Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral.

 Buzzard ↕

 Red Kite

 Buzzard

 Sedge Warbler doing its best to hide.

 Reed Bunting

Pied Wagtail

Bill Campbell 1905 - 1994

W.D. (Bill) Campbell, Naturalist and Teacher was Headmaster at Cholsey School in the 50’s & 60’s.

He was an inspiration to a lot of pupils from Cholsey School to take an interest in the Natural World. Including me.

He would take classes on a "Nature Walk" on a Friday afternoon and point out Birds and Plants to his pupils.

Two books were written by Bill and he also wrote a “Country Diary” weekly column in the Guardian from 1964 to 1994.

Tony Rayner’s book “Wild about Cholsey” has a few of the articles written by Bill for the Guardian.

There is also a book about Bill’s life written by two of his friends.

Bill Campbell (c60's)