A quiet one.

Cloudy, 11°, light WSW.

Alan on his usual patch along the river today. 20+ Siskin, Water Rail, Redwing, Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Kingfisher, 2 Little Grebe, Treecreeper, 2 Stonechat plus other regulars.

Bunk line/Green Lane: Good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing, Mistle Thrush, 2 Herring Gull, Jay, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Meadow Pipit and 100+ Black-headed Gull at CSW.

20+ Lapwing and a couple of Golden Plover on Cholsey Hill.

Forgot to mention a Barn Owl along the Bunk yesterday. Per Alan.

Mistle Thrush

Siskin courtesy Alan

A Cold One

Cold and cloudy, 2°, light SW.

A light covering of snow this morning, slowly melting.

Rather quiet all round today, a single Stonechat on Lollingdon hill along with a scattering of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling.

A definite increase in Blackbird numbers with up to 30 on the north side of the hill and good numbers scattered elsewhere and a couple of Mistle Thrush.

Alan along the River and Bunk line: 2 Stonechat Cholsey Meadows area and the usual Thrushes scattered all over but little else.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Blackbird

Common Buzzard

Redwing courtesy Alan

Fieldfare courtesy Alan

Stonechat courtesy Alan

Stonechat

Overcast, 6°, light WNW.

Alan along the river initially then out at Lollingdon with myself.

River/Cholsey Marsh: Cetti’s Warbler, Fieldfare, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Water Rail, Reed Bunting, Stonechat and Kingfisher.

Lollingdon: a single Stonechat still present between Little Lollingdon and Lollingdon.

Also: Raven, Little Owl, Fieldfare, Redwing, Mistle Thrush and Jay.

A Misty walk and the Garden

Misty, 6°, light N.

A misty morning’s walk along the Bunk line today with not a lot seen.

Plenty of Redwing and Fieldfare around, approx. 200 of each. A Raven heard but not seen, a Grey Wagtail and Grey Heron was about all of note.

The garden was very active this afternoon with a Great-spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch and Coal Tit and good numbers of Blue and Great Tit.

Stonechats & Darters

Sunny, 8°, light N.

A little chillier over the last couple of days but the sun is shining and a few larger insects still to be found around some sheltered areas.

Alan out yesterday and found 2 Stonechat around Cholsey Meadows area, a Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail and Corn Bunting.

Today I made the trek out to Lollingdon. Very little on the hill other than Fieldfare and Redwing moving overhead and a couple of Buzzard and Red Kite soaring.

Off the hill and single Stonechat between Little Lollingdon and Lollingdon and the usual Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Skylark and Jay. And a Kestrel nearby.

Alan along the Bunk line area, Redwing, Fieldfare, Sparrowhawk and Bullfinch.

The ponds at Cholsey Meadows, 2 Stonechat, Reed Bunting, Mistle Thrush and Chiffchaff near the marsh.

Mammals: Stoat & Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: 2 Common Darter sunning at SU571854 and Alan had a few by the ponds at Cholsey Meadows.

Butterflies: a Comma yesterday and a Red Admiral today. Per Alan.

Stonechat

Common Darter

Stonechat courtesy Alan

Grey Heron courtesy Alan

Quiet day

Overcast, 12°, light W.

Bunk line/Green lane/Gravel pit today: a few hundred Redwing scattered around and approx. 100 Fieldfare.

34 Pied Wagtail in the cattle field (although the cattle had just been moved out), a Grey Wagtail, 2 Bullfinch, a Kestrel, Mistle Thrush, Jay, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Grey Heron, c150 Starling, 50+ Lesser Blackback Gull, 120 Black-headed Gull, 2 Herring Gull and 2 Sparrowhawk (m & f).

Alan along the river: Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, 2 Little Grebe, Kingfisher, Reed Bunting and 30+ Siskin.

Anyone seen a Great-crested Grebe along the river lately? No confirmed sightings since the spring!

Mammals: Stoat.

Lollingdon & The Thames

Mainly cloudy, 13°, light WNW.

Fairly quiet on the walk out to Lollingdon today. Good numbers of Fieldfare with several flocks of 100+. Fewer Redwing but still 100+, a single Raven over and the usual Meadow Pipit, Skylark and Yellowhammer. 2 Mistle Thrush around the Brook meadow.

Alan along the river: Water Rail, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Siskin, Reed Bunting, Jay, Stonechat, Treecreeper plus Fieldfare, Redwing and Mistle Thrush.

Dragonflies: a single Common Darter, Lollingdon and several Cholsey Meadows.

Butterflies: Red Admiral along the Thames.

Raven ↕

Fieldfare

Green Woodpecker courtesy Alan

Common Darter courtesy Alan

Bunk and the Thames

Sunny spells with light cloud, 11°, light W.

Alan along the river today: Kingfisher, Teal, Cetti’s Warbler, 20’ish Siskin, Common Snipe, Raven, Reed Bunting, Fieldfare, Redwing, Grey Wagtail, Mistle Thrush, Jay and Meadow Pipit.

Bunk line: Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Grey Heron, Fieldfare, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Jay, several Siskin, Meadow Pipit, Skylark and Pied Wagtail.

Dragonflies: Alan had 4+ Common Darter at Cholsey Meadows.

Siskin courtesy Alan

Common Darter courtesy Alan

Kestrel

Pied Wagtail

distant Fieldfare

Magpie

Siskin courtesy Alan

Lollingdon & The Bunk

Mainly cloudy, 10°, light SSW.

Lollingdon hill was very busy this morning with 300+ Fieldfare, approx. 50 Redwing and 200+ Starling foraging on the hill and surrounding fields.

Nearby a single Chiffchaff, a couple of Siskin flew over, a few Jay calling and a singing Mistle Thrush. Plus a count of 15 Song Thrush and 40+ Skylark.

Alan’s persistence in checking the 50+ Chaffinch flock near the Bunk line paid off when he found a Brambling with them.

Also, Fieldfare, Redwing, a Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, Jay and a Mistle Thrush in song,

Dragonflies: during a bout of sunshine, a single Common Darter flew by in the usual spot.574856.

Grey Wagtail courtesy Alan

Jay courtesy Alan

Mistle Thrush

Rather quiet

A dull cloudy morning brightening up later, 12°, light N.

Pretty quiet all round today.

Yesterday Niall and Alan took on a Bat walk and recorded the following:

“By far the most common bat in the Cholsey area, with about 70% of detections, is the Soprano Pipistrelle. In joint second are the Common Pipistrelle and Noctule.

There are though also Common Serotine, Daubenton's, Nathusius' Pipistrelle, Natterer's and Brown Long-eared.

Detections are tailing off now as the weather is cooler and the nights longer.”

Back to today: Bunk line was rather quiet this morning. Good numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare as usual, a few Song Thrush and approx. 20 Pied Wagtail feeding amongst the cattle and a couple of Jay present.

Bunk line area this afternoon with Alan: 2 Kingfisher, usual Thrushes, a Blackcap and c30 Chaffinch.

And pretty quiet along the river this morning.

Mistle Thrush courtesy Alan

Great-spotted Woodpecker courtesy Alan

Pied Wagtails

?

A damp day

Mainly cloudy with a few light rain showers, 14°, light to breezy SW.

Alan, Tony W and myself out today covering the Bunk line/Green lane and River.

The Bunk line was rather quiet although 200+ Redwing along Green Lane and 100+ Fieldfare. Most of the Redwing were busily feeding on Haw berries whereas the Fieldfare were on the move.

A Grey Heron present and a Kingfisher were worth a note. And all the usual stuff present.

The River produced 3 Little Grebe, 3 Cettis’s Warbler, several Siskin and good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing plus the usuals.

Approx. 50 Lapwing and some Golden Plover on the hill this afternoon.

Negative for larger insects today. Not surprising given the weather.

Grey Heron ↕

Little Grebe courtesy Alan ↕

A little quieter

Sunny intervals, 13°, light S.

A little quiet out at Lollingdon today, a mixed flock of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling on the hill but soon moved off south west.

A couple of Siskin flew overhead and a Chiffchaff calling, a Kestrel and a Mistle Thrush, several Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer but little else of note.

Alan covered the usual, Redwing, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Cetti’s Warbler, Reed Bunting, Corn Bunting, 3 Green Woodpecker, Grey Wagtail and Meadow Pipit.

7 Buzzard in one field!

Mammals: Stoat.

Dragonflies: 3 pair of Common Darter still egg laying and a couple of individuals.

Butterflies: Red Admiral.

Pics courtesy Alan Dawson

Green Woodpeckers

Mistle Thrush

Buzzard ↕