September bows out

Overcast with a few light rain showers, 15°, breezy SSW.

A blustery day and summer migrants fast disappearing and negative for dragonflies and butterflies today and both Alan and I along the Bunk line/Green lane.

Several Chiffchaff noted were the only warbler species seen today. A single Yellow Wagtail, several Skylark, Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit. A Sparrowhawk, 2-3 Jay, 2+1 Raven, and 3 Mistle Thrush.

A few small flocks of Swallow and House Martin feeding in the lee of the weather before moving on.

Alan along the river p.m.: 15+ Mistle Thrush, Kingfisher, Chiffchaff and Reed Bunting.

Getting Cooler

Sunny spells, 14°, breezy NW.

Lollingdon fairly quiet today, 4 Raven over the hill and a small number of Swallow and House Martin still trekking south,

Both Meadow Pipit and Skylark in the area plus several Chiffchaff and a few Blackcap on the wooded side.

Several Jay out at Lollingdon, Bullshole and Whitehead meadow and a couple of Mistle Thrush out at Lollingdon.

Alan along the Bunk line: Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Meadow Pipit and Skylark and both Swallow and House Martin moving thru.

10 Lapwing over Cholsey hill pm. Per Loren.  

Mammals: Brown Hare,

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Red Admiral & Speckled Wood.

Mistle Thrush courtesy Alan ↕

Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Comma

Hoverfly & Honey Bee on Ivy

Common Darter ↕

Sort of Quiet

Cloudy with a few sunny spells, 15°, breezy S.

Sort of quiet today, Alan out beyond the Lees and found 2 Stonechat, a few Reed Bunting, Meadow Pipit and Skylark.

I took a hike along the Bunk/Green lane area, 8+ Blackcap still feeding on Elder berries, plus several Chiffchaff, 10+ Swallow and 2 House Martin and an increase in Skylark numbers and a small number of Meadow Pipit.

Butterflies: 1 Large White, several Red Admiral, 1 Comma and 1 Speckled Wood.

Skylark

Stonechat courtesy Alan

A little quieter

Sunny, 22°, light WSW.

Lollingdon rather quiet today, 4 Raven on the hill for a time mixing with the Red Kite and Buzzard thermalling overhead.

Several Chiffchaff present with some in song, a single Blackcap, Little Owl, several Meadow Pipit and Jay and 2 Kestrel.

A few House Martin and Swallow over.

Alan out and about on the other side of the village with Jay, Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting, Cetti’s Warbler, Sparrowhawk, Kingfisher and Swallow.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Willow Emerald, Brown Hawker, Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker, Ruddy Darter & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Red Admiral, Peacock & Speckled Wood.

Ivy Bees courtesy Alan

Willow Emerald courtesy Alan

The Lees

Overcast, 20°, breezy W.

Both Alan and I out beyond the Lees this morning. I overslept so arrived a bit later and missed most of it!

3-4 Stonechat, a Peregrine and several Reed Bunting and Meadow Pipit.

3 Corn Bunting and several Chiffchaff.

A Sparrowhawk along the Bunk line.

I keep forgetting to add Jays to the mix with quite a few seen and heard over the last few weeks.  

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: several Large White, 2 Small White and 2 Speckled Wood.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawkmoth (Alan’s garden).

Photos courtesy Alan

Peregrine

Stonechat

Lollingdon & Bunk

Sunny intervals, 20°, light WSW.

2 Stonechat on the hill today along with several Meadow Pipit, 10+ Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap and a Common Whitethroat.

Up to 50 Swallow overhead and a Little Owl, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel nearby.

Bunk line with Alan: Meadow Pipit, Yellow Wagtail and Stonechat.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Red Admiral, Comma & Speckled Wood.

Stonechat ↕

Wryneck near Wantage courtesy Alan

Any ideas what spider? courtesy Loren

Meadow Grasshopper courtesy Loren

Southern Hawker courtesy Alan

Summer leaving and Winter arriving

Sunny intervals, 19°, light NNW.

Looks as though most summer breeders have now moved on, a walk along the Bunk line today turned up just a few Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Yellow Wagtail and a few Swallow passing overhead.

2 Grey Heron, a Little Owl and several Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail logged.

Alan at Cholsey Marsh/Meadows: Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, Yellow Wagtail & Stonechat.

Dragonflies: Willow Emerald, Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Red Admiral, Comma, Speckled Wood and a single Meadow Brown.

Moths: A Hummingbird Hawkmoth in Alan’s garden.

Meadow Pipit

Migrant Hawker courtesy Alan

Out of interest Alan photographed this Wryneck at Lark Hill near Wantage today. A species of migratory woodpecker, Breeds across Europe and Asia but now lost to the UK as a breeding species.

Lollingdon, Bunk & Cholsey Meadows

Sunny spells, 19°, light NNW.

2 Wheatear and a few Meadow Pipit (first ones of the autumn) on Lollingdon hill this morning plus a few Chiffchaff (only sp of warbler noted) and a handful of Swallow overhead.

A Little Owl and a Kestrel nearby were the only birds of note.

Alan logged some more Meadow Pipit and 6+ Yellow Wagtail along the Bunk line and a Stonechat near the gravel pit. And checked out the Willow Emeralds again.

Several Egyptian Geese flew over Church road just after dark this evening.

Mammals: Short-tailed Vole, Stoat & Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Willow Emerald, Migrant Hawker, Southern Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Common Blue, Red Admiral & Speckled Wood.

Someone operating a drone over the Bullshole this morning and flew off towards the Church!

Willow Emeralds courtesy Alan ↕

Wheatear

Damsels & Dragons

It has been a good year for Dragonflies in the Cholsey area so far, with 3 new species and another 1 that was a rare visitor. We also have the latest Odonata year record for Oxfordshire with a Common Darter out at Lollingdon on 20th November 2014.

If you are a regular here you will have read of the 2 new species found in the last week. Actually 3 have been found recently all at the same site.

Willow Emerald Damselfly and Small Red-eyed Damselfly. The former found by Alan Dawson and the latter by Michael Pocock.

A Small Red Damselfly had been found in July of this year at the same site by Roger Wyatt.  

All 3 found at Cholsey Meadows which is a relatively new habitat.

Of the other 1, Beautiful Demoiselle has become a regular in the last 2 years with regular summer records at several locations.

With climate change upon us there are a few other species that could well turn up soon? These are Southern Migrant Hawker, Yellow-winged Darter and Red-veined Darter to name a few. All have been recorded in Oxfordshire before.

Cholsey is not blessed with water bodies, however we have the Thames and Cholsey Marsh plus a myriad of brooks and ditches crisscrossing the parish and a few large ponds, a spring and the new gravel pits. These are all good habitats for a selection of Dragons.

In the past we had a sizable marshy/boggy area out beyond the Lees but this was drained in the late 60’s. So we have lost that environment and some species of Dragons that once were there.

For Oxfordshire Dragonfly information please visit Stephen Burch’s excellent site: Oxfordshire Dragonflies

Small Red Damsel courtesy Roger Wyatt (dated July 2021)

Willow Emerald Damsel courtesy Michael Pocock

Small Red-eyed Damsel courtesy Michael Pocock

Beautiful Demoiselle

Willow Emerald courtesy Alan

Have had to do some re-editing of the recent dragonfly posts as there was some inaccurate information. Totally my fault.

Ruddy Darter

Sunny spells, 19°, light to breezy S.

Another good one from Alan today with a Ruddy Darter Dragonfly. A common dragonfly that is often overlooked. And the Willow Emerald Damsels seen again.

Also Chiffchaff and a flyby Kingfisher.

Alan along the Bunk line earlier, again fairly quiet, 10-15 Yellow Wagtail, 9+ Chiffchaff plus the usual.

A fairly quiet but pleasant walk out to Lollingdon and back today.

A couple of Common Whitethroat, Blackcap and Chiffchaff around Lollingdon, plus a Little Owl and a Sparrowhawk.

A good day for thermals as numbers of Lesser Blackback Gull, Red Kite and Buzzard spiralling over the hill.

Another steady flow of Hirundines moving south, up to 80 birds with 90% Swallow and the rest House Martin.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Willow Emerald Damselfly, Migrant Hawker, Southern Hawker, Common Darter & Ruddy Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Red Admiral, Comma & Speckled Wood.

Moths: a few notable ones from Tony Rayner recently: Gypsy Moth, Clifdon Nonpariel, Jersey Tiger & Lime Hawk Moth. Also a Hornet Robberfly.

Ruddy Darter pics courtesy Alan.  

Comma

Little Owl

Willow Emerald Damsel

Sunny intervals, 20°, light WSW.

The highlight of today has to be the discovery of 4-5 Willow Emerald Damselfly at Cholsey Meadows by Alan.

The first time this species has been recorded in Cholsey.

“Just a decade ago, the Willow Emerald Damselfly had only been reliably recorded in the UK on 2 occasions, in 1979 and 1992. A single individual was then recorded in south east Suffolk during 2007, followed in 2009 by a sudden boom of 400 records of the species from this same general area (SE Suffolk/NE Essex). Since this time, the Willow Emerald has spread rapidly across the south-east of England, gaining footholds in new counties on a yearly basis.”

Info courtesy British Dragonfly Soc.

Congrats to Alan for finding these!

A complete waste of time with my visit to Lollingdon Hill today with a farm hand and tractor cutting down everything in sight that was growing more than 10cm above ground and then cutting the hedgerow back. WHY at this time of year when there are still so many fruits on the hedgerow plants?

A walk back and continued along the Bunk line that proved more fruitful.

Alan found a Whinchat along the Bunk earlier but not present this afternoon.

A good number of Chiffchaff noted by both Alan and myself today, a few Blackcap, 1 Common Whitethroat and 20+ Yellow Wagtail.

A trickle of Hirundines still passing thru with 70-80 birds logged today.

Little Owl, Sparrowhawk and Grey Heron also noted.

Mammals: Stoat & Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Willow Emerald Damselfly, Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue & Speckled Wood.

Back to normal

Sunny intervals, 20°, light NW.

A mere fraction seen along the Bunk line area today compared with yesterday.

Around a dozen Blackcap, 5 Chiffchaff and 2 Common Whitethroat and a handful of Swallow overhead.

Still around 30+ Yellow Wagtail present commuting between the cattle fields and a Jay seen for the first time since spring, a single Pied Wagtail and a Grey Heron in the area but not a lot else.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Red Admiral, Comma & Speckled Wood.

Yellow Wagtail

Southern Hawker

Moving South

Early rain then overcast, 19°, light NNE.

A Bunk line walk today where Alan and I overlapped on 3 visits between us. Alan also checked out Cholsey Meadows area.

Large numbers of Yellow Wagtail around today with probably up to 100 birds spread out in flocks from the cattle fields to CSW. Also good numbers around Cholsey Meadows.

A heavy passage of Hirundines (Swallow & House Martin) today with several flocks of 100+ as well as smaller flocks passing thru. 1000+ is a conservative count and there were more passing over Cholsey Meadows! Some were feeding very low whilst others were high enough to be not visible with the naked eye.

A Whinchat, 2 Common Redstart, a Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Corn Bunting, c20 Yellowhammer and Sparrowhawk (that took a Yellow Wagtail) logged along with numbers of Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and Chiffchaff plus c200 Starling.

The Little Egret also seen in the morning near CSW and again in the afternoon flying into the Brook meadow.

Mammals: Stoat.  

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker & Migrant Hawker.

Butterflies: Large White, Speckled Wood & Small Heath.

Whinchat ↕

Yellow Wagtail courtesy Alan ↕

Swallow ↕

Spot Flys

Cloudy, 19°, breezy ESE.

A relatively quiet day.

2 Spotted Flycatcher on Lollingdon Hill, a few Chiffchaff and Yellowhammer but little else. 2 Mistle Thrush and a couple of Kestrel in the vicinity.

A steady trickle of Swallow and House Martin passing thru, 150+ birds in total.

A single Blackcap was the only other warbler species logged today.

The Little Egret in the Brook meadow early afternoon.

Alan out along the Bunk line and Lollingdon this evening. 25-30 Yellow Wagtail Bunk line and a Wheatear and a Stonechat Lollingdon.

Searched high and low for the 2 above at Lollingdon this morning but no sign. Just goes to show how birds can be very elusive even though they are closeby!  

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: several Large White, 1 Comma & several Speckled Wood.

Spotted Flycatcher ↕

Wheatear courtesy Alan

Devil's Coach Horse courtesy Alan

Little Egret courtesy Alan

Speckled Wood