A few more migrants

Sunny intervals with high cloud, 19°, light S.

Another trek out to Lollingdon today. A Willow Warbler and a Blackcap in song near the hill and 3 Wheatear present in a ploughed field to the west of the hill.

The hill itself was pretty quiet, 3 Corn Bunting in song, a mobile Chiffchaff and a couple of Yellowhammer present.

A male Kestrel seen on the walk back and the Bunting/Finch flock near Little Lollingdon appears to have broken up with the birds spreading out along adjacent hedgerows.

Several Great-spotted Woodpecker heard drumming and a couple of Green Woodpecker heard.  

Alan out along the Bunk line, 2 Little Owl, 2 Lapwing, several Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting, both Green and Great-spotted Woodpecker, Sparrowhawk plus the usual suspects.

Also 3 Wheatear on Cholsey hill and a Barn Owl towards the 4-Arches.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Only Peacock seen today and Alan had a Small Tortoiseshell as well.

Reed Bunting

Redstart & Willow Warbler

Sunny, 21°, light SSE.

Could not find a single Wheatear on the hill today, presumably they all moved off overnight to continue their journey.

However more than made up for it when I found a smart male Common Redstart on the top of the hill in the Hawthorn bushes.

Always stayed high on the hill and distant and heard calling frequently.

Earlier in the day I received a phone call from Tony Rayner to say he had a Willow Warbler singing in his garden and Alan found another at the top end of Caps Lane.

A singing Cetti’s Warbler Cholsey Marsh plus a singing Blackcap there and another singing Blackcap Millennium field,

2 Raven over Lollingdon Hill seen by Alan and heard by me.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell & Peacock.

Common Redstart (courtesy Alan above)

A Swallow & a few other bits

Sunny spells and warming up, 17°, breezy SW.

My first Swallow of the year today, flew north-west over Lollingdon Hill this morning.

10+ Wheatear still present around the Hill (10 present yesterday per Michael Pocock) and 2 more near Silly Bridge today (Michael Pocock) and 1 along the Bunk Line (Alan Dawson).

3 Raven, a Peregrine Falcon and Kestrel flew south-west over the hill and 12+ Red Kite and 4 Buzzard enjoying the thermals in the area.

A Little Owl seen out at Lollingdon and another along the Bunk line by Alan.

Plenty of Chiffchaff in song around the parish and Nuthatch, Grey Wagtail and Kingfisher along the river.

Just a few Fieldfare and Redwing noted today.

As the day warmed up butterflies started to appear with Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock in evidence.

Mammals: Brown Hare, Roe Deer and Muntjac Deer.

Peacock on Grape Hyacinth courtesy Emily Dawson (Alan's granddaughter)

2 of the Wheatear on the hill

Little Owl

Muntjac Deer

Kestrel courtesy Alan

Fieldfare courtesy Alan

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Wheatears arrive

Mainly cloudy with a few sunny spells, 10°, light to breezy WSW.

A message from Alan this morning of numbers of Wheatear on Lollingdon Hill so I took a steady walk out there to find 11 on the south face of the hill.

Alan also had at least another 4 to the north-west as well as the number on the hill. Alan also visited again and found 14 on the hill so quite probably numbers in the low 20’s but maybe more? 

The majority are males.

The Northern Wheatear breeds mainly in western and northern Britain with small numbers in the south and east. The ones seen today are probably on their way further north in the UK and maybe northern Europe.

The “Greenland” race of Northern Wheatear has the longest migration of any passerine species. Wintering in Sub-Saharan Africa and migrating north and west to Greenland, Canada and Alaska. This race tends to pass thru the UK later in spring than the nominate race.

A large Bumblebee seen this morning, possibly a Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)? Looked right with a white rear end.

A mix of both mine and Alan's pics

Rain & Shine

Cloudy with light rain and sunny intervals, 12°, light SSW.

Alan up on the Downs today with 2 Wheatear not far from the parish boundary so maybe expect to see a few passing thru in Cholsey shortly.

Fairly quiet along the Bunk line today, small numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing still around and 2 Lapwing in an adjacent field.

The usual Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Meadow Pipit, Skylark etc around and approx. 10 Chiffchaff in total.

Several Brimstone butterfly in the garden this afternoon.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

A Chiffchaff day

Cloudy, 12°, light SW.

Chiffchaff take the day with well over 12 singing from Cholsey Marsh, Bulls Hole/Whitehead Meadow and Lollingdon today. With quite a few more spread around and Alan even had 6 in one tree at Cholsey Marsh.

No other summer migrants noted yet!

Other than that relatively quiet around as we have covered the Bunk Line, Cholsey Marsh and Lollingdon in the last couple of days.

A few small flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing scattered around and the usual Bunting and Finch flock out at Little Lollingdon and a couple of Jay heard.

2 Sparrowhawk (m & f together) flew south over Lollingdon Hill this morning but not a lot else present on the hill. A Raven and Little Owl nearby

2 Lapwing overhead Bunk line plus Little Owl, Yellowhammer, Treecreeper, Fieldfare, Redwing, Grey Wagtail and Meadow Pipit noted.

Another Sparrowhawk over Cholsey Marsh and Skylark in song all over and quite a few Greenfinch in song.

A Grey Heron heard flying overhead last night whilst listening for nocturnal migrants at approx. 20:45 last night but nothing else.

Tonight a Grey Plover heard passing overhead at 22:25 flying south, 2nd record for Cholsey.  

And a Hedgehog in the garden.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Thank you to Alan for his input.

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff in full song courtesy Alan

Meadow Pipit courtesy Alan

Short-eared Owl on the Downs courtesy Alan

Greenfinch in song courtesy Alan

Female Mallard came to check me out in the garden

Female Blackbird collecting nesting material

A Spring like day

Sunshine, 12°, light W.

A Merlin seen today flying low over a stubble field at the top of Westfield road. Per Hugh Pope.

A walk out to Lollingdon today produced, 3 singing Chiffchaff (5 in total), a Little Egret, Little Owl, c20 Meadow Pipit and 2 Raven and a handful of Fieldfare.

20+ Yellowhammer still around the Little Lollingdon area, plus 5 Reed Bunting and a flock of c30 Linnet. Several Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting flycatching from the hedge top.

Bunk line, Little Owl, Meadow Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Linnet, singing Chiffchaff and Goldcrest.

Update: Calls from at least 2 Common Scoter passing overhead moving north east at 20:48.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.  

Several butterfly’s on the wing today with Brimstone, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and Comma.

Alan also had a Dark-edged Bee-fly.

Peacock on Holly-leaved Berberis

Comma courtesy Alan

Dark-edged Bee-fly courtesy Alan

Chiffchaff doing its best to hide

Watching me watching you. A smart Roe Buck

Yellowhammer

Reed Bunting

A day in and a tennis ball

Overcast, 10°, light NNW.

My daughter Sian was telling me today that her partner Nigel was out walking the dogs today and threw a tennis ball for Spike (dog) and a Red Kite swooped down and picked up the ball. Fortunately only flew a short distance before dropping it and Spike then retrieved the ball.

Reminds me of a photo on twitter of a White-tailed Eagle recently photographed flying over Beachy Head carrying a tennis ball!

Stop Press: A flyover Little Ringed Plover (heard) shortly after 21:00 tonight.

A day in today and a few birds in the garden.

Male Blackcap still visiting the garden

One of several Greenfinch

And one of five Stock Dove in the garden

A little more action

Cloudy, 9°, breezy NE.

A little livelier out at Lollingdon today with Little Egret, Raven, 14 Corn Bunting, c200 Fieldfare, 20+ Redwing, 300+ Starling and a flock of 23 Yellowhammer, 3 Reed Bunting and 50+ Linnet out at Little Lollingdon.

A singing Chiffchaff near the top of Wallingford road. Per Michael Pocock.

Little Owl and Barn Owl. Per Alan.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Scoters

Around 21:30 last night both Michael Pocock and I were outside in our respective gardens unbeknown to each other and both heard calls from migrating birds overhead.

When I came back in I checked on the calls and came to the conclusion they were Common Scoter. Michael also arrived at the same conclusion and emailed me today regarding the calls.

Common Scoter are a sea duck that breed in Arctic Russia and Scandinavia and winter south to the English Channel, North Sea, Irish and Iberian coast. In spring they migrate back to the Arctic usually thru the North Sea and are increasingly heard and recorded migrating overland by birders listening for Nocturnal Migration (NocMig) and the odd individual or small flock will turn up on inland waters such as Farmoor reservoir in Oxfordshire.

We are both quite confident on our ID of the species and it is the first record of Common Scoter in Cholsey.

Interestingly on the night of 8th March a flock of Scoter were recorded flying over Headington, Oxford using a NocMig recording device.

Might have to get one of those devices myself! Beats sitting out in the garden on cold nights listening.

Back to today, both Alan and I along the Bunk line, morning and afternoon with little to show for it.

Little Owl, 2 Herring Gull, a single Lesser Blackback Gull and several Black-headed Gull, 25+ Fieldfare and 250+ Starling.

My only photo of Common Scoter taken off Portland, Dorset

What they actually look like (courtesy the Crossley ID Guide)

Back to earth with some local Starlings

Shorties again

Cloudy with a light rain shower, 10°, light N.

3 of us out and about today (Alan, Tony W, and myself), and all agreed it was somewhat quiet.

The Lees and Lollingdon were very quiet and even the Gulls had disappeared probably a consequence of the flooded areas drying up.

A flock of 30 Linnet out by the Lees, several Meadow Pipit and a few Skylark singing and both Green and Great-spotted Woodpecker.

Alan was also out along the river with only a Grey Wagtail and Chiffchaff of note to show for it.

Later in the day Alan went up on the Downs above Cholsey and found 2 Short-eared Owl hunting just outside the parish eventually seen flying north towards Cholsey.

A quiet day

Cloudy with occasional sunny spells, 14°, breezy NNW.

A quiet day by any standards today, Loren and I out along the Bunk line this morning and Alan there this afternoon.

Very few Fieldfare around, just the odd scattered flocks barely getting into double figures. A few flocks of Meadow Pipit, a few Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting in song, several Greenfinch chattering away and one in display flight.

Also Little Owl, Kestrel, Herring Gull, Lesser Blackback Gull and Black-headed Gull plus the usual suspects.

SEO

Light cloud with sunny intervals, 12°, NW.

A Short-eared Owl photographed by Roger Wyatt on Cholsey Downs yesterday was a good record for the local area.

A trek out to Lollingdon today proved rather quiet. A Little Owl heard calling, several Yellowhammer noted along with a couple of Reed Bunting and Linnet in song.

Very few Winter Thrushes seen with just a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing and a small flock of c20 Meadow Pipit.

Alan out along the Bunk line today: Little Owl, pair of Kestrel, Meadow Pipit, Stonechat, Herring Gull, Fieldfare, Redwing, Reed Bunting and a singing Goldcrest.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

A Good number of pics today. Thanks to Roger for the SEO and Alan for the Stonechats and Chiffchaff.

Short-eared Owl

Meadow Pipit

Stonechat

Chiffchaff

Stonechat

Duelling Rooks

Brown Hare ↕

Meadow Pipit ↕