Bits & Pieces

Overcast with rain later, 8°, light SW.

Lollingdon Floods: c250 Lapwing over, only 2 birds on the floods and they were Common Gull. c20 Corn Bunting nearby. AD.

A Song Thrush has started singing in the meadow at dawn and dusk this week. PC.

A Barn Owl hunting between Wallingford Road and Caps Lane yesterday. HP.

Still fairly quiet

Sunny spells, 6°, light WSW.

Bunk area very quiet today: 50+ Fieldfare, c20 Redwing, a Song Thrush, a Grey Wagtail, several Black-headed Gull, Lesser Blackback Gull and a single Herring Gull, etc.

Cholsey Meadows/Marsh: Goldcrest, Coal Tit, many Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Kingfisher, Nuthatch, Raven over, Reed Bunting and Water Rail.

AD & PC.

All photos courtesy Alan

Coal Tit

Fieldfare

Red Kite

Kestrel

Little Egret

Floods

Overcast, 13°, light S.

Lollingdon Floods: c250 Lesser Blackback Gull, c400 Lapwing, 2 Common Snipe, a Little Egret, c100 Black-headed Gull and 3 Common Gull.

Moreton Floods: c100 Lesser Blackback Gull, a Shelduck, 6 Little Egret, Sparrowhawk and 15+ Common Snipe. Per Alan.

Shelduck courtesy Alan

Little Egret courtesy Alan

A couple of bits

Overcast, 10°, light S.

Tail-less Red Kite over Ilges Lane yesterday. Per Geoff Wyatt and a Barn Owl Cholsey Marsh today. Per Alan.

Settled

Bright at first then clouding over, 11° light WSW.

Going through some settled times at the moment with not a lot of movement going on.

Bunk area: c8 Grey Wagtail, 2 Chiffchaff, c100 Fieldfare, c50 Redwing, several hundred Starling, 2 Yellowhammer, a Raven over, a Sparrowhawk, 100+ Black-headed Gull, 4 Herring Gull, 100+ Lesser Blackback Gull, etc.

AD & PC.

Sparrowhawk

Buzzard

Grey Wagtail

A Dismal day

Overcast with some light rain, 6°, light SE.

A dismal day and the birding wasn’t much better.

Plenty of Fieldfare and Redwing around along the Bunk area, a Sparrowhawk, a Chiffchaff and 3 Grey Wagtail of note.

Yesterday a male Merlin seen on Cholsey Hill. Per Geoff Wyatt.

The Floods

Overcast, 7°, light ENE.

Lollingdon floods: c500 Lapwing, c100 Black-headed Gull and a handful of distant large Gulls, 20+ Pied Wagtail and a Little Egret.

Nearby, 3 Corn Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer, the usual Fieldfare and Redwing and 4-5 Redpoll near the Bullshole.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

After the Storm

Mainly cloudy, 7°, breezy NNE.

A particularly quiet day, Bunk area was very light on birds. Just a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing and a Meadow Pipit and Grey Wagtail of note.

Out towards Lollingdon, c15 Corn Bunting, many Skylark a Stonechat and a Grey Wagtail.

c50 Lapwing on the flood plus 30 Teal, a Raven overhead and both “Winter Thrushes” in evidence.

A dead Badger in the ditch along Green Lane, coincidently, in the same place as a load of dead Rabbits dumped last year.

I don’t believe in coincidences though!

AD & PC.

Corn Bunting courtesy Alan

Out on the floods

Hazy sunshine, 9°, light WSW.

Lollingdon floods and the Long Ditch area covered today: 5 Stonechat (3m & 2f), 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Mistle Thrush, good numbers of both Fieldfare and Redwing, 2 Kingfisher, 40+ Skylark, several Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail, a Common Snipe, c400 Lapwing, c250 Black-headed Gull, 3 Herring Gull, 1 Common Gull and 400+ Lesser Blackback Gull.

A Redshank heard yesterday by Alan from the flooded area.

First 3 pics, all Lapwing, 4th, 2 Mistle Thrush.

Bunk & Lollingdon

Overcast, 8°, light SSW.

Bunk area very disappointing today with very little around. Apart from plenty of Starling, Corvids and Gulls, just c50 of each Fieldfare and Redwing, a single Yellowhammer and the lone Egyptian Goose.

Alan had better luck on the Lollingdon floods: c600 Lapwing, c250 Lesser Blackback Gull, 3 Herring Gull, 2 Common Gull, c80 Black-headed Gull, a Little Egret and c30 Teal.

AD & PC.

Common Gull with Lesser Blackback Gulls courtesy Alan

Egyptian Goose

Heavy going

Mainly sunny, 8°, breezy W.

A walk out to Lollingdon, heavy going through the mud and flooded fields.  

Lollingdon floods: 1000+ Gulls, c500 Lapwing, 100+ Pied Wagtail, 50+ Meadow Pipit, 6 Mistle Thrush and several flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing, etc.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Bunk, Meadows & Marsh

Sunshine, 8°, light SSE.

Bunk area: Peregrine, 3 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, Goldcrest, Yellowhammer, 6 Mistle Thrush, 50+ each of Redwing and Fieldfare, 40+ Meadow Pipit, several Pied Wagtail and Skylark, 100+ Lesser Blackback Gull, 60+ Black-headed Gull, 4 Herring Gull, an Egyptian Goose, etc.

Cholsey Meadows/Marsh: Water Rail, Common Snipe, Mistle Thrush, Redwing, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Coal Tit, Nuthatch, Blackcap and Meadow Pipit.

AD & PC.

Peregrine Falcon courtesy Alan

Egyptian Goose

Lesser Blackback Gull & Egyptian Goose

Black-headed Gull

Nuthatch courtesy Alan

Wet, wet, wet.

Mostly sunny with the odd rain shower, 11°, breezy SSW.

So much surface water and mud on the fields today made for hard going out to Lollingdon.

The floods were a bit disappointing, 100+ Lapwing scattered around the fields and 3-400 Gulls.

Nearby, a few small flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing roaming the hedgerows, several Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and Skylark, a Little Egret, 6 Egyptian Geese, Mistle Thrush, Kestrel, etc.

AD & PC.

Great-spotted Woodpecker courtesy Alan

A bit chilly out there

Cloudy at first then sunny, 3° light N.

Bunk area pretty quiet today, a scattering of Fieldfare and Redwing, a Raven and 2 Mute Swan overhead. A few Gulls around and 2 Grey Heron.

Chiffchaff and Yellowhammer of note.

All 5 Thrush species around Cholsey Church feeding on Yew and Holly berries.

Lollingdon flood also relatively quiet, a Little Egret over and a few Teal and a Common Snipe.

A single Lesser Blackback Gull on the Moreton Flood!

AD & PC.

Autumnal/November Moth. Thanks to John Lindley for the ID.

Shooting disturbance?

Sunny, 2°, light NW.

Very little on the Lollingdon flood. 20 Lapwing, c 20 Teal and 10 Black-headed Gull.

Moreton floods: Not one bird! I did think I heard shooting coming from that way earlier.

Little Owl.

AD.

Little Owl, courtesy Alan

Moreton Floods

Overcast with light rain, 8°, light SE.

Moreton floods: Grey Plover still present, c500 Golden Plover, c300 Lapwing, 1 Dunlin, plus Fieldfare and Redwing.

AD.

Grey Plover with Golden Plover, courtesy Alan

Lollingdon Flood

Mainly cloudy, 11°, light WSW.

Lollingdon floods: 2 Golden Plover, 1 Little Egret, c40 Lesser Blackback Gull, c20 Black-headed Gull, 1 Common Gull, 1 Herring Gull, 15 Egyptian Geese, c50 Teal and a Sparrowhawk over.

AD.

Golden Plover courtesy Alan

Bunk & Moreton Floods

Cloudy with a few sunny spells later, 9°, light SSW.

Bunk area: 10+ Yellowhammer, c50 Fieldfare, 20+ Redwing, 2 Treecreeper, a Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, 50+ Chaffinch, Little Owl, 500+ Starling, c200 Lesser Blackback Gull, 50+ Black-headed Gull and 5 Herring Gull.

Moreton Floods: Grey Plover, c500 Golden Plover, Dunlin, Common Snipe and Stonechat.

Dragonflies: a single Common Darter.

AD & PC.

Grey Plover courtesy Alan

Yellowhammer ↕

Fieldfare, Redwing & Starling

Fieldfare

Grey Plover, with Golden Plover & Lapwing courtesy Alan

Grey Plover still around

Mainly cloudy with a few sunny periods, 12°, breezy NE.

South Morton Floods: Grey Plover still present with c300 Golden Plover, c200 Lapwing and 2 Dunlin.

Lollingdon Floods: Usual Teal present, c50 Gulls, mainly Lesser Blackback, a Single Common Gull and several Black-headed Gull, a few Mistle Thrush over and a Raven over.

AD.

Teal courtesy Alan

Lollingdon Flood

Mainly sunny, 11°, light N.

Time spent watching the flood area and surroundings out at Lollingdon. A lot of comings and goings but a good number of birds present. Alan covered this afternoon.

Approx. 200 Lesser Blackback Gull, 100+ Black-headed Gull, 3 Herring Gull, 2 Common Gull, c50 Teal, 2 Dunlin, 57 Lapwing, a Common Snipe and a couple of Pied Wagtail.

Nearby, a few Redwing and Fieldfare, 1 possibly 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Yellowhammer and several Meadow Pipit.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: 2 Red Admiral.

AD & PC.

Sunny but colder.

Sunny spells, 11°, light N.

The floods out at Lollingdon proved to be quite active today for Alan, with c400 Lesser Blackback Gull, c30 Black-headed Gull, a couple of Herring Gull and 4 Common Gull.

Plus, 100+ Teal, 15 Egyptian Geese, c70 Lapwing, several Common Snipe, a Kingfisher, a Stonechat, Chiffchaff, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Redwing and Fieldfare.

And Coal Tit and Goldcrest, Cholsey Meadows.

I, on the other hand took a walk along the Bunk area, with very little noted, a single Yellowhammer, a handful of Redwing, a Grey Heron, a Greylag Goose and a single Shoveler overhead.

Tawny Owl calling near Church road, just after dark.

Dragonflies: good numbers of Common Darter, Lollingdon and Cholsey Meadows.

Common Darter courtesy Alan

A not so common, Common Gull, courtesy Alan

Greenfinch

Greylag Goose

Teal courtesy Alan