Bunk Line

Sunny spells, 10°, moderate SW.

A walk out along the Bunk line this morning and still very static.

A couple of Common Gull with a smallish Gull flock loafing near CSW and a largish flock of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling feeding in one of the cattle fields.

A handful of Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer and a single Grey Wagtail plus 4 Pied Wagtail.

A regular roosting flock of c250 Starling in the village and a couple of Redpoll along Greenlane recently and Cormorant and Kingfisher along the Thames. Per Alan.

A Fieldfare using a pouncing method to acquire prey.

forgive the photo quality as shooting into the sun.

Kingfisher & Cormorant courtesy Alan

Merry Christmas

 

Mildish

Cloudy, 4°, light S.

Time for a change as milder weather arrives.

Alan out at Lollingdon and the “Long Ditch” areas. Little Egret, several Golden Plover still present and Lapwing still moving south.

Raven, Common Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Stonechat and Kingfisher.

Not much else noted as a bunch of clowns with shotguns killing things .

Photos courtesy Alan

Still a bit cold

Another sunny but cold day. 0°, light NNW.

Alan out along the “Long Ditch” area and myself along the Bunk line.

Whilst along the Bunk I bumped in to Roger Wyatt who was also out birding and had found a Chiffchaff at CSW and a Woodcock nearby.

Not much else noted other than a Sparrowhawk, a few Fieldfare and Redwing and several Skylark.

Alan on the other hand found 4 Stonechat, a Water Rail, several Reed Bunting and Corn Bunting, 20+ Skylark, c25 Lapwing over and a flock of c20 Golden Plover.

Woodcock courtesy Roger Wyatt

Grey Partridge courtesy Roger Wyatt

Golden Plover courtesy Alan  ↕

Grey Heron courtesy Alan

Freezing

Hazy sunshine, 0°, light N.

Another pretty cold day and fairly quiet out.

There has been some recent movement of Lapwing and Golden Plover with several flock seen flying south and west in search of less frozen ground.

Maybe to coastal areas or even further south to continental Europe to escape the freezing conditions.

4 Redpoll seen by Alan recently along Green lane and the odd Common Snipe found by flowing water bodies.

A few Teal in the Cholsey Marsh area and Treecreeper and Nuthatch around Bow Bridge.

An increase in sighting of Blackbird and Song Thrush over the last few days. Maybe an influx from further north or that they are more noticeable in the colder weather?

If you put out food for birds you have probably noticed an increase in visitors to the garden as Alan has with both Redwing and Song Thrush feeding on Pyracantha berries and also a visiting female Blackcap.

Song Thrush & Redwing courtesy Alan  

To snow or not to snow

Misty, -2°, minimal air movement.

A busy time at home at the moment so just some observations from the garden.

With this freezing weather we have been ensuring we have some water available in the garden for whatever needs it. Even though there is a brook within 100m from home.

Anyway back to the birds. The garden has been a hive of activity for the past few days with the regular Tit flock spending a lot of time in the hedgerow and feeding stations.

So, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Goldfinch, also the regulars of Blackbird, Stock Dove, Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Dunnock, Robin and Wren. Plus a Chiffchaff nearby.

Robin

Dunnock

Nuthatch

Coal Tit

Blue Tit

Great Tit

I think winter may have arrived

Sunny, 1°, light ENE.

Another relatively quiet day out and a little chilly with all the wet areas frozen over.

Alan found a/the Peregrine again and once more stationed on one of the pylons. Presumably a good spot for observing prey.

Lollingdon hill had a flock of c100 Fieldfare and Redwing roaming the hill but little else present.

A flock of c60 Linnet and 20’ish Chaffinch in fields to the north of the hill and a Water Rail in one of the ditches.

A couple of Lapwing flocks (16+14) flying high west, a Little Egret, a Common Snipe, several Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer and a Mistle Thrush in song.

Peregrine & Little Egret courtesy Alan

Brrrrr

Sunny, 3°, light NW.

Quite settled out at the moment the only influx noted is of Common Snipe with around 10 seen in the last few days scattered around flooded areas.

Bunk line fairly quiet with a Chiffchaff at CSW and a couple of Grey Heron prowling the fields and a Sparrowhawk and 2 Kestrel hunting. 2 Herring Gull present and a scattering of Lesser Blackback and Black-headed Gull.

Alan out along the “Long Ditch” with a couple of Stonechat, a Peregrine, Kingfisher, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, Skylark, Corn Bunting, and the usual Gulls.

“Winter Thrushes” scattered throughout the whole area.

Tony Williams has reported 2 female Blackcap visiting his garden so some of our wintering Blackcaps appear to be in.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Corn Bunting courtesy Alan

Robin

Grey Heron

Peregrine courtesy Alan

Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Meadow Pipit courtesy Alan

Kingfisher courtesy Alan

Not a lot

Mainly cloudy, 7°, light NNE.

Another quiet day. The floods out at Lollingdon held a moderate gull flock with the usual Black-headed and Lesser Blackback Gulls plus singles of Herring Gull and Common Gull.

A Sparrowhawk, Raven and 8 Corn Bunting over were the only other notable birds.

Alan visited the river and again relatively quiet. 2 Chiffchaff, Kingfisher, Cormorant, Sparrowhawk and other regulars.

Bunk line

Cloudy with early mist lifting, 5°, light NNE.

Still little change out and Bunk line area somewhat quiet.

5 Herring Gull plus a handful of Lesser Blackback and Black-headed Gull, 2 Grey Heron and a Sparrowhawk and the usual Winter Thrushes and several Yellowhammer.

A flock of 56 Skylark flew north and a single flyover Lapwing.

A Barn Owl seen later in the day by Alan.

Yellowhammer

Grey Heron

Sparrowhawk

Winter is coming

Light cloud, 8°, light E.

3 of us covering Lollingdon and the river today: Tony W, Alan and myself.

Lollingdon produced a Little Egret, 3 Egyptian Geese, a Chiffchaff, several Stonechat, a Peregrine, 2 Raven, several Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer, 50+ Pied Wagtail and a Grey Wagtail.

The river area: 2 Kingfisher, a Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting and 3 species of Goose.

Grey Wagtail

Egyptian Goose courtesy Alan

Pied Wagtail

Gone quiet again

Cloudy with some sunshine, 8°, light SW.

A repeat of last weeks places but rather quieter.

2 Little Egret out at Lollingdon along with a Grey Wagtail and several Gulls frequenting the flooded field. A Raven over but little else other than the regular Fieldfare and Redwing.

A similar situation on the route out from the Bullshole via Aston to Lollingdon. A few Stonechat, Water Rail, Chiffchaff and other regulars.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Alan & Paul.

2 Little Egret

Grey Heron courtesy Alan

Dunnock courtesy Alan

? 😊

Pleated Inkcap

A late Darter and a dead Kittiwake

Sunny, 11°, light SW.

A repeat of Wednesday with both Alan and myself out in the Lollingdon area.

I decided to stick around the flooded field area whilst Alan covered the long ditch and areas around Lollingdon.

Unfortunately I found a dead Kittiwake along the margin of the flooded field, only the 2nd record of this species in Cholsey. The last being in November 1957 also deceased. Would be nice to see a live one here!

A Little Egret commuting between the flooded field and the cattle field and a couple of Raven in the area.

2 Chiffchaff at 2 sites, several Siskin also seen at 2 sites, Stonechat, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Reed Bunting, a few hundred Starling, a Peregrine, Water Rail, Kingfisher, Sparrowhawk, approx. 50 Pied Wagtail scattered around the wet fields and c250 Lesser Blackback Gull and up to 50 Black-headed Gull.

Dragonflies: a surprise late record of a Common Darter.

Common Darter

Kittiwake

Little Egret courtesy Alan

Little Egret

Pied Wagtail

Buzzard

Lollingdon

Sunny with rain later, 11°, breezy SW.

An area between Lollingdon and Aston covered today by both Alan and myself and quite a productive day.

A Redshank (1st of the year), 11 Lapwing, a Little Egret, a Water Rail, , 6 Stonechat, a Little Owl, 1 possibly 2 Raven, 12+ Pied Wagtail, several Meadow Pipit, good numbers of Skylark and several Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting.

A female Merlin landed on the flooded field briefly and started to drink but was eventually chased off by a couple of Gulls.

Good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing and an increase in Blackbird numbers, 2 Kestrel, several hundred Lesser Blackback and Black-headed Gull and c300 Starling.

Garden also busy late afternoon, with Sparrowhawk, Nuthatch, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Jackdaw, both Collared and Stock Dove and assorted Finch and Tit species.

Several Siskin yesterday, Caps Lane. Per Tony Rayner and also yesterday along Bunk: Raven over, several Redpoll, Grey Wagtail and Common Snipe. Per Alan.

Photos courtesy Alan.