Floods

Sunny spells, 9°, light WNW.

Well, very quiet out at Lollingdon today. One saving grace was the flooded field and peripheral field margins that were fairly active.

With 90 minutes of watching the area it produced 2 Lapwing, a Grey Heron, 63 Black-headed Gull, 3 Herring Gull, 2 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Common Gull and a Great Blackback Gull.

In areas closeby were several Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and Skylark with several flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing moving thru the area, plus a Kestrel hunting nearby.

Alan out later along the Bunk: Lesser Blackback Gull, Herring Gull, Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Fieldfare, Redwing, Skylark, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Lesser Blackback & Greater Blackback Gull

Common Gull courtesy Alan

Lapwing

Moorhen, a now daily visitor to the garden with up to 3 present

Lollingdon

Mainly cloudy, 7°, light NNE.

It has been very quiet locally so far this year and today was no change. A walk out to Lollingdon produced a Chiffchaff, 2 Raven and a few small flocks of Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Linnet, Fieldfare and Redwing.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

A few pics from Bill Nicholls garden trailcam.

Blackcap (F)

Starlings

Goldfinch

Still a bit chilly

Misty, 3°, light WSW.

The river and Bunk line covered today by both Alan and myself. Still relatively quiet.

2 Chiffchaff on the Marsh and a Stonechat nearby.

Plenty of Gulls around with 200+ Black-headed Gull. Several Herring and Lesser Blackback Gull and a Common Gull.

A single Lapwing and a scattering of Fieldfare and Redwing plus 5 Song Thrush and 2 Jay.

3 Moorhen, a Pheasant and a Carrion Crow in the garden plus the regular visitors.

Cold & Quiet

Sunny, 3°, light N.

A very quiet day out at Lollingdon with very little noted. Alan had more luck along the Bunk and River with a Lapwing, Kingfisher, Nuthatch, Reed Bunting and Goldcrest.

Tony W along the Caps Lane area with 25+ Siskin and 50+ Skylark and a female Blackcap in his garden.

Mammals: Roe Deer, Muntjac Deer & Brown Hare.

photos courtesy Alan

As you were

Sunny, 5°, light NW.

As you were out there today, very quiet. Both out along the Bunk line and very little noted.

Approx. 150 Black-headed Gull. 4 Herring Gull, 1 Common Gull and 1 Lesser Blackback Gull.

Several smallish flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing, a Grey Heron, a Kestrel and c50 Lapwing flew south.

That was about it!

Herring Gull & Black-headed Gulls

Herring Gull

Tailless Red Kite

The/A “Tail-less” Red Kite has been seen recently over the north side of the parish after an absence of a couple of years.

If this is the same one it has been seen in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire since leaving Cholsey but appears to be back in the area.

The bird in question appeared to have been hatched without a pygostle (parsons nose) and therefore unable to grow tail feathers. We do not know if it is a male or a female as impossible to tell in the field.

However it survived well and held its own but maybe had problems finding a mate, hence its wonderings.

photo courtesy Alan

A bit chilly

Hazy sunshine, 3°, light NW.

Lollingdon and the Lees area covered today by Alan and myself. Totals include, 11 Common Snipe, 9 Lapwing, a Water Rail, 2 Stonechat, 50+ Skylark, c100 Pied Wagtail, 50+ Meadow Pipit, 100’s of Fieldfare and Redwing, 3-4 Mistle Thrush, a couple of Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer, a Raven over, 2 Jay, a Kestrel, several Buzzard, a Sparrowhawk and a couple of drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Buzzard

Reed Bunting

Fieldfare courtesy Alan

Getting colder

Sunny, 4°, light WNW.

Alan out along the Bunk line today with numbers of Gulls present. Lesser Blackback Gull, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull and Herring Gull. Plus a Raven overhead and several Fieldfare and Redwing and a Grey Wagtail.

A Barn Owl seen at the weekend (Per Loren) on Cholsey Hill plus c 20 Lapwing (per Alan).

Reptiles: unfortunately Alan found a dead Grass Snake.

Common Gull courtesy Alan

Grass Snake courtesy Alan

Barn Owl courtesy Loren

Thursday & Friday

Sunny spells, 10°, breezy WSW.

Alan out over the last few days covering Lollingdon, the Long Ditch, River and Bunk line.

c300 Lesser Blackback Gull and Black-headed Gull on floods plus a brief Gadwall (a very scarce bird in Cholsey).

Reed Bunting, Goldcrest, 2 Stonechat, Redwing, Fieldfare and Little Egret.

 

All pics courtesy Alan

Gadwall

Little Egret

Brown Hare

Still very quiet

Sunny spells at first then clouding over with rain later, 9°, breezy SSW.

I don’t recall a quieter start to the year than at this time. Very little noted today with both Alan and I along the Bunk line area before the rain hit.

2 Chiffchaff at CSW, 2 Sparrowhawk, a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing, a few Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer plus 2 Reed Bunting. I did not see a single “Winter Thrush” today!

A small flock of Black-headed Gull and a single Herring Gull on some floods.

A Moorhen arrived in the garden during the rain this afternoon

No change

Sunny spells, 8°, Breezy W.

No change out there today and still relatively quiet. Little Egret still out at Lollingdon and numbers of Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit on the floods and good numbers of Redwing around but very few Fieldfare.

Alan covered the river and again very quiet. Sparrowhawk, the usual Geese but little Else.

Mammal: Brown Hare.

Brown Hare

Meadow Pipit

Barn Owl

Wet ’n’ windy, 10°, breezy SSW.

Loren was driving back home this evening when she encountered this Barn Owl along Church Road.

Video and pic courtesy Loren

Still pretty quiet

Mainly cloudy with a few sunny spells, 10°, moderately breezy SSW.

Another quiet day out at Lollingdon. The Little Egret in the cattle field then flew off towards the Astons. Approx. 200 Redwing and 50’ish Fieldfare in the area and several Siskin with a Goldfinch flock and 2 Raven overhead.

Plenty of Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit on the flooded fields and a scattering of Skylark and Linnet.

Lots of Gulls in the area but flocks too distant for ID and a Tawny Owl heard calling.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Linnet

Siskin

Stonechats & Buntings

Sunny spells with light rain showers, 12°, light SW.

Very quiet along the Bunk line/Green Lane area today with very little noted.

2 Chiffchaff, 1 CSW and another Green Lane. A single Goldcrest with a Tit flock and a Grey Wagtail with several Pied Wagtail. Just a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing, a single Kestrel, several Yellowhammer, a single Reed Bunting and a scattering of 3 Gull species.

Long ditch area, 2 Stonechat, Reed Bunting, Skylark, Chiffchaff, Little Egret and approx. 300 Lesser Blackback Gull. Per Alan.

Male & Female Stonechat courtesy Alan

Yellowhammer

Reed Bunting courtesy Alan

Sparrowhawk on a disappointing visit to the garden.

Quiet start to the new year

Sunny, 7°, light SW.

A quiet start to the year with a walk out to Lollingdon. Very wet out with a lot of flood water on the fields.

It would be nice to see this area between the village and Lollingdon revert back to the marshy area it once was.

Anyway, a Little Egret seen out with the cattle and a Raven and Peregrine overhead were notable birds today along with a Chiffchaff at the Bullshole.

A few large flocks around with 100+ Pied Wagtail spread over 3 fields and upwards of 600 “Winter Thrushes” noted with 400+ Fieldfare and 200’ish Redwing in the area, also a few Song Thrush and a Mistle Thrush.

c50 Meadow Pipit, several Skylark, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting and 5 Corn Bunting.  

Plus several large gull flocks, however too distant to sort out most of them but at least Black-headed and Lesser Blackback Gull present and a single Herring Gull noted.

Alan out along the river, the usual Geese, 2 Kingfisher, Little Owl, Reed Bunting, Sparrowhawk, Yellowhammer and 2 Nuthatch.

Around 50+ species noted today.

Alan found a Common Gull yesterday along the Bunk line yesterday and 9 Shoveler overhead.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Keep a lookout for Hare coursers around the village, especially out Lollingdon way. Some were spotted yesterday but disappeared quickly after they were rumbled.

Little Egret

Common Gull with Black-headed Gulls courtesy Alan

Fieldfare courtesy Alan

Redwing

Pied Wagtail

Happy New Year

 Have a good one 👍