A chilly old day

Cloudy and hazy, 8°, light NNE.

A chilly day than of late and very little noted by both Alan and me, both out at Lollingdon.

A Peregrine Falcon seen atop one of the pylons between Little Lollingdon and Westfield Road.

The hill was very quiet with 5-6 Red Kite and a couple of Buzzard around, nearby a small flock of Fieldfare and several Chiffchaff but that was about it.

Mammals: Brown Hare and a Hedgehog in the garden tonite.

When there is little else around a Red Kite is always on hand. Bottom one courtesy Alan.

Rain for a change

Overcast with early rain, 9°, light NNE.

The Bunk line area was fairly quiet this morning, 8 Tufted Duck and 6 Canada Geese at the Gravel pit along with 3 Black-headed Gull.

A few Yellowhammer in song to brighten up an otherwise dull day plus a couple of Chiffchaff.

Alan covered Lollingdon and noted Little Owl and a singing Blackcap. The river produced a Cetti’s Warbler, another Blackcap, Chiffchaff and a Grey Wagtail.

Bill Nicholls sent me some pics of a pair of Starling nest building in his garden.

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Full marks to Alan for this. Whilst out birding recently he saw a sheep in the distance on its back with its legs in the air. Curiosity got the better of him as he thought it was dead so he decided to approach it.

He cautiously navigated over the electric fence and as he got near, he noticed some movement. He grabbed the sheep and righted it and after a few wobbly moments the sheep made off to join the flock.

The sheep was very pregnant and this time of year has a full fleece. It is possible that due to movement of the youngster and the weight of the fleece the sheep lost balance and fell and ended up on her back and for a sheep in this condition that is almost impossible to recover from. As it was at the latter end of the day the sheep may have not been seen in time and may well have died overnight.

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A Reeve’s Pheasant was seen again from Westfield Road. Per Paula Kennedy.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Starling courtesy Bill Nicholls

Golden Plover from yesterday, beginning to look smart as they come into summer plumage. courtesy Alan.

Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Bunk & Lollingdon

Misty at first then clouding over, 16°, light ENE.

Alan up at Silly Bridge early with a few Corn Bunting and Skylark.

Later along the Bunk line and Gravel Pit. 2 Shoveler and 4 Tufted Duck present on the pit.

And 100+ Fieldfare along the Bunk, plus a Little Owl, 2 Herring Gull, 40’ish Golden Plover, a Grey Wagtail and several Chiffchaff.

I trekked out to Lollingdon. The flooded field, now almost dry had a flock of 40+ Meadow Pipit and a few Pied Wagtail feeding.

The Hill was fairly quiet other than 100+ Fieldfare that flew over in a couple of flocks.

Nearby, a handful of Redwing, more Fieldfare, 2 Little Owl, several Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer.

Sparrowhawk and Wren in the garden today. The Wren is regular and the Hawk an opportunistic visitor.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Brimstone and Peacock.

A Wren systematically searching the garden pots for prey

Pied Wagtail

Reed Bunting

Roe Deer courtesy Alan

Still waiting

Sunshine, 18°, light N.

Another quiet day and a walk out to Lollingdon, I know it is still a bit early but still waiting for some summer migrants to appear.

First time for a while, no "winter thrushes" seen today.  

A Raven flew south over the hill but very little else around!

Alan reported 2 Great Crested Grebe along the river (first of the year) this afternoon but appeared to be just passing thru.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Peacock and Red Admiral.

Getting warmer

Sunshine again, 18°, light SE.

Alan did the tour today visiting Lollingdon, Silly Bridge and the River but as of late birdwise, it is very quiet.

Corn Bunting, Meadow Pipit and Skylark at the first two sites and Cetti’s, Warbler, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, Little Grebe and Water Rail along the river.

I took an early afternoon walk along the Bunk line. The Gravel pit has a lot of work going on and was virtually deserted by birds, apart from a few Black-headed Gull and Lesser Blackback Gull.

Good numbers of Yellowhammer and Linnet present in the hedgerows and several Chiffchaff and a Little Owl noted.

Numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing have decreased markedly over the last few days. Probably all headed back north of the wall!  

Butterflies: Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Comma.

Yellowhammer

Corn Bunting courtesy Alan

Small Tortoiseshell courtesy Alan

Greylag Goose courtesy Alan

Yellowhammer

No jacket required

A sunny day, 15°, light SE.

A warm day and a pleasant walk out to Lollingdon and back, however another quiet day and even quieter than yesterday.

A mix of Rook, Jackdaw, Starling, Fieldfare and Redwing feeding out amongst the sheep and up to 6 Red Kite and 2 Buzzard soaring around over the hill but little else going on.

Elsewhere on route much the same as yesterday.

Alan out along the river with Cetti’s Warbler, Water Rail and several Chiffchaff.

Mammals: Roe Deer and Brown Hare.

Butterflies: plenty of Brimstone, a Small White, and several Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Comma.

Not much at all

Cloudy with sunny intervals, 14°, light SE.

A day for not finding much at all. Apart from a small influx of Chiffchaff last week and a LRP at the gravel pit there has not been anything in the way of migrants yet!

Lollingdon was particularly quiet with very little on the hill, however the song of Skylark was always in the air.

Nearby a small flock of c40 Redwing and a couple of Fieldfare present and the Little Owl in its usual spot.

The walk also produced a singing Reed Bunting, several Yellowhammer and Chiffchaff.

Alan checked out Sill Bridge area and apart from several Corn Bunting, very little to speak of.

The gravel pit also quiet birdwise but noisy due to work going on there.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Comma and Peacock and a Small Tortoiseshell on the allotments yesterday.

Brown Hare ↕ (lower courtesy Alan)

Redwing

A Butterfly day

Mainly sunny after a misty start, 14°, light E.

A quiet day on the hill today with just a few Meadow Pipit and several small flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing passing thru.

Nearby the Little Owl showing and a single Lapwing on the flood. Skylark were in good voice in most areas.

Alan had a similar day on Silly Bridge with a few Corn Bunting and Cholsey hill also fairly quiet with 3 Lapwing.

Mammals: Roe Deer and Brown Hare.

Butterflies: A Good day with many Brimstone on the wing plus a Peacock and a Small Tortoiseshell.

LRP

Sunny periods, 12°, light WSW.

The Gravel pit hosted our first Little Ringed Plover of the year today, along with a Green Sandpiper, 5 Tufted Duck, a Mute Swan and Little Grebe.

Elsewhere along the Bunk Line, Little Owl, 2+ Chiffchaff, 2 Reed Bunting, 15+ Yellowhammer, several Meadow Pipit and Skylark and a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing. (PC & AD).

c100 Gulls loafing in a field, mainly Black-headed Gull, c30 Lesser Blackback Gull and a Herring Gull.

Little Ringed Plover courtesy Alan

Little Ringed Plover      

Lesser Blackback Gull

Black-headed Gull

Just another day

Mainly sunny, 13°, light SSE.

Fairly quiet out at Lollingdon today. A few small flocks of Redwing and just a couple of Fieldfare.

The usual Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting plus 6-8 Chiffchaff in song.

One of the Little Owl seen in its usual spot and heard calling and a pair of Pied Wagtail back in their breeding area.

A Peregrine Falcon seen high over Church Road early afternoon. Per Richard Broughton.

Alan up at Silly Bridge initially with Several Corn Bunting, Meadow Pipit and Skylark. Then along the Marsh with, several Chiffchaff in song plus Water Rail and Reed Bunting.

Tony W, up until recently has been visited by at least 6 different Blackcap in the garden.

Mammals: Alan found 2 Otter this morning along the stretch of river between Bow Bridge and the 4-Arches.

Also, today Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Butterflies: a good number of Brimstone (all sites) and a Peacock (per RB).

Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Wet & Windy

Wet and windy, 11°, light to moderate rain, breezy SE.

Not a lot seen today along the Bunk line area.

A Large flock of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling between the line and Cholsey Hill numbering around 500 birds.

The Little Owl seen in its usual haunt and the Green Sandpiper seen around the gravel pit but the only ducks present were 3 Mallard.

2 Herring Gull, 50+ Lesser Blackback Gull and 100+ Black-headed Gull in the area.

Just a single Chiffchaff noted.

No butterflies seen today but several Brimstone and a Peacock seen yesterday by Alan.

A good colony of Lesser Celandine just coming into flower.

Chiffchaffs

Sunshine, 10°, light SSE.

Appears to have been a small influx of Chiffchaff, with 1 heard singing at the end of Papist Way, 1 Cholsey Marsh, 2 along the Bunk line, 2 near the Gravel Pit and 2, Bullshole/Millennium Wood.

Alan covered the River and Bunk line today and I went out to Lollingdon.

Kingfisher, Reed Bunting, Water Rail and Chiffchaff along the river.

Little Owl and 2 Chiffchaff along Bunk line and 2 more near the Gravel pit and the Green Sandpiper still present.

Little Owl and Little Egret out at Lollingdon (the Egret seen earlier on Amwell Spring).

A couple of Song Thrush in song on Lollingdon Hill and a flock of 100+ Starling, Fieldfare and Redwing on the wooded side.

More “Winter Thrushes” scattered elsewhere, excess of 250 birds.

2 Chiffchaff Millennium Wood and 2 Mistle Thrush on football field.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Butterflies: Female Orange Tip in garden.

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff ↕ courtesy Alan

Sound recording of a

Song Thrush, Lollingdon Hill 8th Mar 2022

No surprises

Fairly sunny but chilly, 7°, light E.

In Wallingford early this morning and walked back via the River/Winterbrook and Bunk line.

A Cormorant drying itself on a dead tree on the opposite bank but very little else on the river.

A quick check of the gravel pit revealed just 2 Little Grebe.

Further on 2 Chiffchaff, Kestrel and good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing and c20 Yellowhammer, a few Meadow Pipit and several Skylark.

Alan out along the river with Water Rail and a flyover of c50 Golden Plover.

Later checking out the gravel pit with the Little Grebe still present and the Green Sandpiper again.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

I didn’t have my usual lens with me so had to make do with what I had.

Cormorant

Green Sandpiper ↕ courtesy Alan

Dunnock

Roe Deer

Chiffchaff

Yellowhammer

Ducks and stuff

Cloudy, 7°, light NNW.

Both out at different times along the Bunk line area.

The Gravel pit had 3 Tufted Duck, 2 Shovelor Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Mallard and a Green Sandpiper, 2 Herring Gull, a handful of Black-headed Gull and Lesser Blackback Gull.

Worth keeping an eye on this area over the next few months for migrating Waders and Terns etc.

Elsewhere along the Bunk, a Chiffchaff, Little Owl, a Kestrel, 2 more Herring Gull plus good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing.

Distantly a field on Cholsey hill was being ploughed and had in excess of 500 birds present incl Lesser Blackback Gull, Black-headed Gull, Rook and Jackdaw and the odd Red Kite patrolling.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Tufted Duck (photos from previous encounters)  

Buntings

Light cloud, 10°, light SE.

Another generally quiet day. Bunk line and Gravel pit area turned up c300 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Tufted Duck, Green Sandpiper and a Little Grebe.

The River/Marsh: Cetti’s Warbler, Stonechat, Reed Bunting, Fieldfare, Redwing and Yellowhammer.

Cholsey Hill: c45 Golden Plover, Skylark and Corn Bunting. Per Alan.

Lollingdon was somewhat quiet apart from large numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing in the treetops chattering away presumably preparing to move on.

2 Bullfinch on Lollingdon hill and the odd Skylark, Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer.

Nearby a flock of 24 Corn Bunting flew west and several more Yellowhammer and a couple of Reed Bunting.

All 3 Bunting species heard in song today.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Reed Bunting

Corn Bunting courtesy Alan

Corn Bunting

Yellowhammer