Lollingdon to Winterbrook

Cloudy with a few sunny spells, 8°, light NE.

Lollingdon fairly quiet today. There were 5 Stonechat noted on Saturday by Michael Pocock but they appear to have moved on.

A scattering of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling and a possible Merlin seen distantly.

A Little Egret out near Little Lollingdon and a Goldcrest singing at the Bullshole.

Alan and I also covered the Bunk line area: A Raven overhead and several more flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing, plus several Herring, Lesser Blackback and Black-headed Gull.

Little Egret ↕

Blue Tit

Redwings ↕

Stonechats

Overcast, 8°, light NNE.

3 Stonechat on Lollingdon Hill today and a flock of c80 Chaffinch on the north side.

Elsewhere a scattering of Gulls and Winter Thrushes.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Stonechats ↕

A Hellebore sp in flower (poss Orientalis)

Bunk

Cloudy, 9°, light NW.

The usual species seen along the Bunk area today, several hundred Gulls of 3 species, a single Lapwing flew east and several Fieldfare and Redwing present but little else of note.

A pair of Stonechat yesterday but not present today. Per Alan.

Fieldfare

Gulls ↕

Black-headed Gull

False Spring

Sunny spells, 12°, breezy WSW.

Very mild lately but is it a false spring?  

Lollingdon still somewhat quiet. 2, possibly 3 Little Egret present and around 500 Fieldfare scattered around and approx. 50 Redwing plus a handful of Gulls. Little else of note.

Alan added a flyover Raven, a Sparrowhawk and a Chiffchaff plus many Gulls along the Bunk line.

A few Skylark in good song at both sites.

Alan had a flyover Oystercatcher yesterday.  

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Kestrel courtesy Alan

2 Little Egret

Lesser Blackback Gull

Siberian Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Herring Gull courtesy Alan

Feasting Red Kite courtesy Alan

Brown Hare courtesy Alan

Chiffchaffs

Breezy and sunny, 13°, moderate WSW.

Good to see Roger and Sue along the Bunk line today and as bonus they found 2 Siberian Chiffchaff as well as several Common Chiffchaff. Also a Merlin seen in the area a couple of day prior. Cheers.

Alan also found several Chiffchaff and a Goldcrest along Green Lane.

A flock of Gulls loafing in one of the fields until dispersed by a low flying Buzzard consisted of Lesser Blackback, Herring and Black-headed.

A Little Egret seen on the flood by Bunk Bridge and a Goldcrest nearby plus a scattering of Winter Thrushes and Starling.

Siberian "Tristis" Chiffchaff courtesy Roger Wyatt

Common Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Goldcrest courtesy Alan

Little Egret

Herring Gull courtesy Alan

Yellow-legged Gull courtesy Alan (from a few days earlier)

Stonechats

Sunny, 10°, light SSE.

Bunk line: 2 Stonechat, Grey Wagtail and Chiffchaff. Per Alan

"tail-less" Red Kite and other predators

Sunny spells, 11°, light SSE.

The local Starling murmuration’s are beginning to attract the attention of some predators.

This evening both Merlin and Sparrowhawk we noted attending and subsequently the Merlin left carrying a prey item. Per Geoff Wyatt.

As for the rest of the day, rather quiet elsewhere with the usual out at Lollingdon and the river.

The “tail-less” Red Kite seen again plus Treecreeper and Nuthatch.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Red Kite courtesy Alan.

  Richard Broughton has identified this Kite as a 1st winter bird, so it is not the one we have seen over the last few years. This bird also has no pygostyle, which makes it a very interesting condition to find in 2 separate birds?

Murmarations

A sunny day, 5°, light S.

Still not a lot happening out there. Lollingdon produced a Little Egret and a single Raven plus good numbers of Fieldfare and several Redwing and Starling and a 2 Mistle Thrush with the flocks.

Alan covered the river area with the usual Goose species, plus 2 Little Grebe, Kingfisher, Goldcrest, Nuthatch and Chiffchaff.

There have been a couple of Starling roosts in the village recently with a couple of small murmurations being seen in Papist Way and the Station Road area.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Starlings courtesy Bill Nicholls ↕

Mmmmm

Cloudy, 9°, breezy WSW.

Not a lot out at Lollingdon today, highlights were modest with a Little Egret and a Goldcrest with a supporting cast of Fieldfare and Redwing.

Alan didn’t seem to fair much better along the Bunk line with 4 Gull species being of note plus a pair of Grey Partridge.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Grey Partridges courtesy Alan

Too quiet

Sunny periods, 9°, breezy W.

One of the quietest days I can recall out along the Bunk line. Apart from 600+ Black-headed Gull and 2 Herring Gull there was very little else noted!