Good passage of birds

Cloudy with light rain showers and infrequent sunny spells. 17°, light to breezy NE.

A good passage of Hirundines today seen by Alan out at Lollingdon and Silly Bridge and myself along Bunk Line/Green Lane.

Upwards of 200 birds, mainly Swallow with a good number of House Martin and 3 Swift.

Alan saw between 60-70 Swallow resting up on wires and surrounding bushes out at Lollingdon. Also Little Owl, Sparrowhawk and Chiffchaff and 2 Wheatear in the Silly Bridge area.

Outside the parish boundary Alan had also found 5 Whinchat and a good number of Wheatear.

Green Lane was quite busy with a couple of good Tit flocks with 10+ Blackcap, c7 Common Whitethroat and c15 Chiffchaff and singles of Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler.

All the Corvids in the area suddenly too to the air and scattered as a male Peregrine Falcon zipped thru. Then 5 minutes later the Peregrine was flying leisurely overhead with prey in its talons.

A single Yellow Wagtail over and a Sparrowhawk over Church road.

Dragonflies: 2 Southern Hawker.

Butterflies: a few of each, Large White, Speckled Wood & Meadow Brown.

Moths: Orange Swift.

Chiffchaff

Lesser Whitethroat

Swallows courtesy Alan

Whinchat courtesy Alan

Orange Swift

A bit cooler

Cloudy, 18°, light NE.

A few bits and pieces on the hill today with 2 Wheatear, a few Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and Chiffchaff. 3 Yellowhammer and a Corn Bunting.

2 Raven again nearby and a Yellow Wagtail, several Swallow and a Peregrine Falcon over.

Alan along Bunk line yesterday: Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Swallow & House Martin.

Insects few and far between today.

Dragonflies: a single Southern Hawker today & Common Darter yesterday.

Butterflies: a single Large White and several Speckled Wood & Meadow Brown with similar yesterday.

Wheatear

Common Whitethroat

Kestrel courtesy Alan

Speckled Wood courtesy Alan

Common Darter courtesy Alan

A reasonable mix

Cloudy, 18°, light to breezy NNE.

A fairly quiet day all round but with one or two birds popping up.

A Tit flock on Lollingdon Hill of around 20+ birds had 2 Common Whitethroat and a single Lesser Whitethroat accompanying them along with a couple of Chiffchaff and at least 1 Blackcap.

A Yellow Wagtail overhead on the hill, a couple of Raven in the area and a Little Egret flew west.

Alan found a Wheatear out there later in the day, just popped up for around 10 seconds before disappearing.

Both Grey Wagtail and Yellow Wagtail along the Bunk line this morning. Per Alan.

Mammals: Brown Hare,

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: a real drop in numbers today. Large White, Common Blue, Speckled Wood (lots) & Meadow Brown.

Photos courtesy Alan.

Bunk line & Lollingdon

Sunny spells, 18°, breezy NNE.

A walk along the Bunk line proved rather fruitless. A single Yellow Wagtail, a couple of Blackcap and Chiffchaff and several Swallow and House Martin over.

Alan had more luck out at Lollingdon with a Wheatear, Stonechat, a Little Owl and a couple of Yellow Wagtail.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker.

Butterflies: Large White & Meadow Brown.

Photos courtesy Alan

Wheatear

Stonechat ↕

Redstarts

Sunny spells, 20°, breezy NE.

2 very elusive Common Redstart on the hill today. Initially heard calling and waited for over an hour before I finally got a view of one. A male, but did not see the other.

Also present were a few Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and Chiffchaff and a few Swallow over, apart from that it was rather quiet.

Again fairly quiet along the Bunk line and Silly bridge. Per Alan.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Weasel.  

Dragonflies: Brown Hawker, Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker (Alan’s garden) & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Small Copper (Alan's garden) Speckled Wood & Meadow Brown.

Male Common Redstart from yesterday on the Oxfordshire Downs courtesy Alan.

Migrant Hawker courtesy Alan

Not much

Sunny spells, 21°, light NE.

Rather quiet out at Lollingdon today. A couple of Common Whitethroat and Blackcap on the hill, several Chiffchaff nearby and 3 Yellow Wagtail and 2 Raven overhead.

A Little Owl and 2 Kestrel noted.

Alan reports that the Silly Bridge area and the Bunk line were similarly quiet today.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Speckled Wood & Meadow Brown.

Common Whitethroat

Warming up

Overcast then brightening up, 20°, light NE.

Michael Pocock found a Whinchat up by Silly Bridge this morning, Alan also saw it a little later along with 4 Wheatear and a Yellow Wagtail.

Lollingdon was a little quieter with several Common Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and 6+ Mistle Thrush.

A handful of Swallow, House Martin and a single Swift overhead and 2 Kestrel hunting.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker, Brown Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: when it warmed up after midday a few started to appear. Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Peacock, Speckled Wood and Meadow Brown.

Kestrel

Common Darter

Red Fox courtesy Alan

Wheatear ↕ courtesy Alan

Kestrel

A few moving thru

Cloudy with sunny spells, 22°, light NW.

A message today from Alan to say he had found a Wheatear out at Lollingdon, plus and 3-4 Spotted Flycatcher and Hugh Pope found a Wheatear up near Silly Bridge.

Alan also found a Common Sandpiper at the gravel pit yesterday.

Numbers of House Martin and several Swallow seen moving thru both today and Yesterday.

A dead Hedgehog found at the back of the Forty yesterday in an area that had recently been strimmed. Not sure if that was the reason for the dead Hedgehog BUT!

Common Sandpiper courtesy Alan

Spotted Flycatcher courtesy Alan

The Lees

Cloudy, 21°, light SW.

A walk with Loren out to the Lees this afternoon. Somewhat quiet birdwise with a Peregrine Falcon on one of the pylons and 2 Yellow Wagtail and a Common Whitethroat but little else.

Loren focussed more on insects of which she found quite a few.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Gatekeeper & Meadow Brown. 

Anyone up for ID'ing the insects?

Peregrine

Stonechat and some!

Mainly cloudy with the occasional sunny spell, 19°, light SW.

I’m guessing there could have been some carrion on Lollingdon hill today as there was a swarm of birds *kettling over a small area on the top of the hill.

Comprising 15 Red Kite, 5 Buzzard, 4 Raven and briefly a Sparrowhawk and 2 Crow and several Magpie on the periphery.

The Raven appeared to be the dominant species as they seemed to work as a team with 1 or 2 presumably going down to feed whilst the others were busy hassling the Kites and Buzzards.

[*I know kettling is a controversial police tactic but the term was used back in the 1970’s in an ornithological context.]

2 Kestrel also on the hill but minding their own business hunting for Grasshoppers.

Also present, a juvenile Stonechat, an adult male Common Redstart and several Chiffchaff and Blackcap.

Almost a constant flow of Hirundines with a couple of large flocks passing overhead, 150+ House Martin, 100+ Swallow and a handful of Swift in 3 hours and continued thru the afternoon as noted from the allotments.

3 Nuthatch & 2 Coal Tit visiting the garden today 😊.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper & Meadow Brown.

Stonechat ↕

A few of the Ravens plus Red Kite

Nuthatch

A little livelier

Cloudy with a few sunny spells, 20°, breezy W.

Still rather quiet although a bit more activity along the Bunk line.

At least 1 Spotted Flycatcher near CSW and several Chiffchaff and Blackcap around.

Still a reasonable passage of Hirundines happening with 40+ House Martin, 30+ Swallow and a single Sand Martin noted.

A Little Owl heard calling and 2 Kestrel present and a stream of around 100 Starling all moving south!

Nuthatch and Coal Tit still regular visitors to the garden.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Southern Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Peacock, Gatekeeper & Meadow Brown.

Chiffchaff ↕

Hornet Hoverfly

Oh So Quiet

Mainly cloudy, 17°, breezy NNW.

Still very quiet locally birdwise. A trickle of Swallow and House Martin moving south over Lollingdon Hill today and a single Chiffchaff. The only migrants noted today.

Alan had very much the same along the Bunk line.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: low number, Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper & Meadow Brown.

Common Darter

Speckled Wood

Small Tortoiseshell

Brimstone

Red Admiral