Not a Lot!

Overcast (rain earlier), 9°, light W.

Very little seen along the Bunk line today, a small flock of around 60 Fieldfare and Redwing, 2 Herring Gull, 5 Lesser Blackback Gull, a Grey Heron and 2 Mistle Thrush.

A Stonechat up near the gravel pit, c100 Lapwing Cholsey Hill and a Little Owl at an undisclosed site. Per Alan.

Yesterday, 2 Stonechat Halfpenny Lane, 2 more Lollingdon, a Little Egret and 17+ Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit. Per Michael Pocock.

Solo

Overcast with light rain showers, 9°, light SSW.

Alan was the only one out today braving the mud and floods.

2 Little Egret out near Little Lollingdon and 10+ Corn Bunting and 20+ Yellowhammer of note.

More Blackcap reported with 2 Cross Road. Per BD, 1 Station road, Per HP and another Honey Lane, Per RH.

Thanks for the info.

Corn Bunting

Little Egret

Thrushes everywhere

Sunny, 3°, light W.

A walk out to Lollingdon and back today and there seemed to be Fieldfare and Redwing everywhere foraging in the fields and hedgerows.

The 2 Stonechat still present on the hill and c80 Meadow Pipit and 20+ Pied Wagtail in the sheep field.

A single Raven flew north and 8 Common Snipe on one of the floods and a Chiffchaff with a Tit flock in the cattle field.

The Little Egret seen out near the Bullshole and that or another seen by Alan flying from Green lane towards the Church.

Alan out today on the other side of the village today with a Raven, Herring Gull, Goldcrest and Blackcap amongst others.

Plus 2 Stonechat, a Water Rail and a Barn Owl, Cholsey Marsh.

Blackcap popping up quite widely now with 3-4 in TW’s garden, 1 in TR’s garden, 1 in my garden, 2 in Alan’s garden, 1 in a garden out at Lollingdon and another along Green lane. How many more are there?

4 Stonechat along Halfpenny lane. Per MA.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Fieldfare

Little Egret courtesy Alan

Stonechat

Fieldfare & Redwing

Fieldfare

Snow!

Snow, 1°, light SE.

A few hours of snow this morning left a covering of a couple of centimetres but nothing to write home about and starting to thaw by the afternoon.

The garden became very busy from around 10:00 with 4 Stock Dove, 6 Wood Pigeon, a Magpie, Song Thrush,4 Redwing, 6 Fieldfare (high in the trees), a Grey Wagtail, 2 (m & f) Great-spotted Woodpecker, 5 Robin, several Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Goldfinch, several Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit and a single Coal Tit and the Blackcap. A Green Woodpecker nearby.

The Redwing, Blackcap and Wood Pigeon were feeding on Ivy berries as well as the food put out in the garden.

Alan found a pair of Stonechat at Cholsey Marsh, a Common Snipe, Water Rail and Barn Owl.

Tony Rayner also reporting a Blackcap in his garden and some of the first lepidopterae of the year with a Mottled Umber, Winter Moth and Chestnut Moth (early). Also a Buttoned Snout Moth found, a bit early for this one but it was in his living room!

Blackcap

Great-spotted Woodpecker (f)

Redwing

Song Thrush

Blackcap

Long-tailed Tit

Great-spotted Woodpecker (m)

Mottled Umber courtesy Tony Rayner

Another cold one.

Sunny with some cloud, 2°, light WNW.

Not a lot to report on today, only Alan was out.

A flock of 50-60 Lapwing on Cholsey Hill along with 12 Grey Partridge and a Barn Owl present around dusk at Cholsey Marsh.

A scarce sighting of 2 Starling in the garden today.

A Frosty one!

Sunny and frosty, 2°-7° clouding up later, light SW.

A trek out to the Lees today with Loren, still heavy going underfoot.

5 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Stonechat and a single Great Blackback Gull with the Lesser Blackback Gull flock.

Both Green and Great-spotted Woodpecker heard along with a couple of Jay and a small flock of Linnet and the usual Fieldfare and Redwing noted.

Loren found the remains of a Rook. Maybe taken by a Peregrine?

Alan noted Nuthatch, Treecreeper and Siskin.

Also 4 Golden Plover near Silly Bridge yesterday. Per Michael Pocock.

Great-spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper and Blackcap in the garden today along with the regulars.

A couple of clusters of 7-spot Ladybird found.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Photo courtesy Loren

7-spot Ladybird courtesy Loren

Nuthatch courtesy Alan

Female Great-spotted Woodpecker

Male Blackcap

In & Out

On and off rain showers, 12°, moderate SSW.

An “in” day for me and an “out” day for Alan today.

Little Egret, Little Owl and 2 Stonechat present at Lollingdon amongst the usual suspects out there.

A few species in the garden today including the male Blackcap.

Little Egret and Stonechat pics courtesy Alan.

Little Egret

Blackcap

Great Tit

Jackdaw

Collared Dove

Stock Dove

Stonechat ↕

A bit of a slow day!

Cloudy, 7°, light SSW.

Somewhat quiet along the Bunk line this afternoon. 100+ Black-headed Gull spread around some of the floods and singles of Lesser Blackback and Herring Gull.

The usual flocks of Winter Thrushes and Starling and a few Yellowhammer and Meadow Pipit plus a small flock of 16 Pied Wagtail.

Alan along the river again with 2 Water Rail and a Common Snipe.

A lone Lapwing seen on the floods by Church road yesterday. Per Michael Pocock.

Mammals: a few Roe Deer and a Wood Mouse grubbing around in some leaf litter.

Redpolls

Cloudy, 6°, light W.

Michael Pocock has reported a Barn Owl at Cholsey Marsh last night and further upstream a major Corvid roost comprising a rough guess of 5000 birds seen distantly.

“The Rooks and Jackdaw come in once it was nearly dark and swirl like a murmuration of starlings”.

Alan found a small flock of 4-5 Lesser Redpoll on Cholsey Marsh today, first ones since November last year that we know of.

Water Rail and Barn Owl present.

After the rain

Cloudy with a few sunny spells, 9°, light W.

A walk out to the Lees this afternoon with Loren, Alan was out there this morning and the river area this afternoon.

Alan saw a Peregrine and 2 Stonechat this morning and we saw the 2 Stonechat this afternoon along with a flock of c300 Gulls, mostly if not all Lesser Blackback Gull but too distant to pick out much else.

2 skeins of approx. 200 Canada Geese flew over to the south of us, heard calling initially and they were about a kilometre or more away.

And a Red Kite in Whitehead meadow this morning devouring the remains of what appeared to be a Wood Pigeon.

Along the river was a Chiffchaff, Meadow Pipit, Water Rail and Reed Bunting.

A female Brambling reported by Mike A in his garden.

A male Blackcap still visiting the garden and the Blackcap pair still at Alan’s.

Mammals: 20+ Roe Deer.

Med Gull & Stonechats

Cloudy with some sunshine later, 2°, light ESE.

A second for Cholsey today found by Richard Broughton on the flood in the field by Church road.

A 1stw Mediterranean Gull, it was in the company of Black-headed Gulls but flew off south before it could be photographed.

The only other record of Med Gull was a 2ndw in March 2013 out near Lollingdon found by Roger Wyatt.

Also a pair of Stonechat along the Bunk line near the Church.

Med Gull is a little larger than Black-headed Gull with a shorter but stouter bill and broader wings.

A Barn Owl seen hunting along the Bunk line yesterday. Per Brian Wyatt.

Not a great deal else seen today by either Alan or myself.

The pair of Stonechat still present on Lollingdon Hill roaming widely and 250+ flock of Fieldfare and Redwing out with the sheep.

A Raven heard calling to the south of the hill but not seen. The usual Yellowhammer, Meadow Pipit and Linnet flocks out near Little Lollingdon.

Alan saw the Barn Owl again late afternoon hunting near the gravel pit.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

A muddy walk

Overcast with a few light rain showers, 10°, light W.

A very quiet period for birding locally at the moment with very little movement going on, so a walk along the Bunk line with Loren today was somewhat subdued.

Having said that there was still birds to look at etc.

At the gravel workings they are pumping water from the new digs out into the field. Creating a flooded area that had attracted around 60 Gulls, mainly Lesser Blackback Gull and a handful of Black-headed Gull, .all using it for a wash and brush-up!

The usual flocks of Starling, Fieldfare and Redwing noted along with a couple of small flocks of Pied Wagtail.

A Green Woodpecker and a “drumming” Great-spotted Woodpecker and a Jay calling, the odd Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer and 2 Mistle Thrush around the church.

Alan out today with, a Kestrel, Winter Thrushes, Song and Mistle Thrush, Blackcap, Black-headed, Lesser Blackback and Herring Gull.

Nice to see some Snowdrops coming thru!

Snowdrops courtesy Loren

Lesser Blackback Gull ↕

Kestrel courtesy Alan

A few scenic shots courtesy Loren