Thursday, 19 August 2021

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

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