June bows out

Cloudy, 18°, light N.

Bunk line today on a warm and cloudy day.

Birdwise was rather quiet this afternoon, just Blackcap and Yellowhammer in song.

A couple of Yellow Wagtail around and several Swift and Swallow feeding overhead and a flock of 10+ House Martin appeared to pass thru.

Alan out later in the day with a trek out to the Lees and back to the village via Lollingdon.

Yellow Wagtail, Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting, Sedge Warbler and Chiffchaff etc.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle. Alans: Beautiful Demoiselle, Emperor & Four-spot Chaser.

Butterflies: Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Red Admiral, Marbled White, lots of Meadow Brown and a couple of Small Heath. Alans: Large Skipper, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Marbled White, Speckled Wood & Meadow Brown.

Other Insects: Hornet Hoverfly & Meadow Grasshopper.

Marbled White on Scabious

Large Skipper on Vetch

Red Admiral

Peacock Caterpillar courtesy Alan

Beautiful Demoiselle courtesy Alan

Yellow Wagtail courtesy Alan

Meadow Grasshopper courtesy Alan

Hornet Mimic Hoverfly

Dryad's Saddle

A Grey Day

Cloudy, 16°, light to breezy NNE.

Rather quiet out at Lollingdon today, a pair of Common Whitethroat have fledged at least 3 young and a few Swift feeding overhead and that was all of note. All the regulars present, plus a Little Owl seen.

No dragonflies or butterflies this morning as probably a bit too cool.

Alan out this afternoon along the river and having a bit more luck as it got warmer. (Bunk line yesterday).

Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer and Goldcrest.

Mammals: Brown Hare & a Red Fox yesterday.

Reptiles: Grass Snake yesterday.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Azure Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, White-legged Damselfly, Emperor, Black-tailed Skimmer.

Butterflies: Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Comma, Marbled White, Meadow Brown & Ringlet.

Photos courtesy Alan

Ringlet

Red Fox

Black Rabbit

Birds, Butterflies & Dragons

Mainly sunny, 20°, light W.

10K walk today out to the Lees and around to Lollingdon Hill and back to the village.

Again good numbers of Yellow Wagtail between the Church and out beyond the Lees, plus Common Whitethroat, Yellowhammer, Corn Bunting and Reed Bunting.

Several Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler along the “Reedy Ditch”, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Linnet.

5 Raven (2ad & 3 yng) on Lollingdon Hill, eventually spiralling up and moving North.

Usual Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer and Common Whitethroat present.

Alan was down along the river with the regular Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting etc and a long time no see Bullfinch.

River Dragonflies: Azure Damselfly, White-legged Damselfly, Red-eyed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Emperor, Four-spot Chaser & Black-tailed Skimmer.

Dragonflies: Azure Damselfly, Emperor and Black-tailed Skimmer all around a flooded field area.

River Butterflies: Large Skipper, Green-veined White, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Marbled White & Meadow Brown.

Butterflies: apart for plenty of Meadow Brown, 2 Painted Lady, 2 Small Tortoiseshell, 3 Speckled Wood and 2 Small Heath.

Insects: Hornet Robber Fly.

A lot of photos today!

Yellow Wagtails

Meadow Brown ↕

Marbled White courtesy Alan

Large Skipper courtesy Alan

Knot Grass ? courtesy Alan

Comma courtesy Alan

Black-tailed Skimmer courtesy Alan

Goldfinch feeding on Thistle 😊

Painted Lady

Black-tailed Skimmer

Song Thrush

A little of everything

Sunny spells, 19°, light N.

Bunk line quiet today, a small flock of Swift, Swallow and House Martin feeding over CSW and 200+ Starling present with most eventually flying towards the village.

A Kingfisher flew along the Bunk line towards Winterbrook and a Lesser Whitethroat seen close to Church road.

5 singing Yellowhammer were about the only birds still in song!

Alan, again along the river: Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Common Whitethroat and Yellowhammer.

Mammals: Hedgehog in garden.  

Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle.

River Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Azure Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, White-legged Damselfly, Emperor & Black-tailed Skimmer.  

Butterflies: Low numbers, Large Skipper, Small Tortoiseshell, Marbled White, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown & Small Heath.

River Butterflies: Large Skipper, Brimstone, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Marbled White, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown & Small Heath.

Common Poppy

Agrimony

Song Thrush

Large Skipper

Meadow Cranesbill

Pyramid Orchid

Small Heath

Yellowhammer

Footy Fly

Cloudy with the occasional sunny spell, 15°, breezy NNE.

A routine walk out to Lollingdon today, no surprises. A few Swallow and Swift feeding over the hill and surrounding farmland and the usual songsters present.

Alan along the river: Nuthatch & Kingfisher to name a couple and all the regulars.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Stoat.

River Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle & Banded Demoiselle.

Lollingdon Butterflies: Large Skipper, Small White, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood & Meadow Brown.

River Butterflies: Small Tortoiseshell, Marbled White, Meadow Brown & Small Heath.

The Footballer Fly, somewhat appropriate at the moment (courtesy Alan)

Marbled White, first of the year, courtesy Alan

Another wet one

Overcast with light rain, 13°, light NE.

A good find on Saturday was a Large Alder Sawfly along Caps Lane by James Shaw.

This appears to be a somewhat scarce insect throughout Europe yet alone the UK and fairly local in abundance. Possibly a first record for Cholsey?

A Hobby seen yesterday by Tony Rayner over his garden.

Anyway back to today: Bunk line fairly quiet with a few Yellow Wagtail around and several Swallow and House Martin feeding close to trees and hedgerows.

Blackcap, Yellowhammer, Common Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff and Reed Bunting.

Alan covered the Lees and Bow Bridge with several Yellow Wagtail between the Church and the Lees, Pied Wagtail, Corn Bunting, Skylark, Linnet, Swift and Swallow plus a Peregrine Falcon.

Bow: Hobby, Kingfisher, Swallow, Chiffchaff, Common Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler and Yellowhammer.

The Mallard with four ducklings still around in the garden and the House Martins seem to have left the Church road nest site!

Large Alder Sawfly courtesy James Shaw

Yellow Wagtail courtesy Alan ↕

Starling courtesy Bill Nicholls ↕

A quiet Day

Mainly cloudy, 21°, light N.

A quiet time along the Bunk line this morning, a couple of pair of Yellow Wagtail around and the usual present.

A pair of Blue Tit nested in one of the traffic lights on Bunk bridge and have since fledged.

And a lot of Stag Beetle recorded recently. Per Richard James.  

Butterflies: Peacock & Meadow Brown only.

A variety of mainly distant shots today.

Swallow

Song Thrush

Swallow again

Green Woodpecker

Meadow Brown

Yellowhammer

The Thames & The Lees

Prolonged sunny period, 25°, light SSW.

A walk out to the Lees and surprised how many Yellow Wagtail around, 14 counted possibly comprising 5-6 pairs?

Several Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Skylark, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and a single Grey Heron.

Alan along the river, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting, Nuthatch etc.

Mammals: Muntjac Deer.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Large Red Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Emperor Dragonfly.

River: Banded Demoiselle, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, White-legged Damselfly, Emperor, Four-spotted Chaser, and Black-tailed Skimmer.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Orange Tip, Common Blue, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown & Small Heath.

River: Brimstone, Brown Argus, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Small Heath.

All butterflies in small numbers.

Black-tailed Skimmer courtesy Alan

Reed Bunting

Yellow Wagtail

Reed Bunting

Sedge Warbler

Painted Lady

Pied Wagtail