January bows out.

A dullish day with occasional sun, 10°, breezy SSW.

Still a bit samey out there. Lollingdon Hill was virtually birdless, however loads of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling feeding in the fields nearby.

Also 5 Yellowhammer, a Reed Bunting, 15 Meadow Pipit and 3 Teal flew in on the flooded field.

2 Raven overhead and nice to hear a Skylark in song and a Jay calling in the Brook meadow.

Alan, Cholsey Hill flood area: Lesser Blackback Gull, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, c300 Lapwing, Meadow Pipit, Yellowhammer and Common Snipe.

At least 1 Tawny Owl visiting the garden most nights, 2 Pheasant on Saturday and the Song Thrush still singing well at dawn and dusk.  

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Teal

Redwing

Cetti's Warbler

Hazy sunshine, 6°, light SW.

River area: Cetti’s Warbler, Water Rail, c25 Siskin, Reed Bunting, Chiffchaff, Kingfisher, Common Snipe and the usual Geese. Per Alan.

Cetti's Warbler courtesy Alan

First Butterfly of the year

Sunny, 8°, light SW.

Both out along Bunk today with Alan on the early shift and me on the late shift.

1-2 Chiffchaff, a Goldcrest, 4 Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, 4 Common Gull, 2 Herring Gull, several Black-headed and Lesser Blackback Gull, 4 Mute Swan, 2 Raven, a Grey Wagtail, several Pied Wagtail and c100 Fieldfare and Redwing.

Alan also saw 2 Little Owl in the Hithercroft area.

Butterflies: a single Red Admiral (first of the year) sunning itself on the track ballast on the railway.

AD & PC.

Robin

Fieldfare

Common Gull courtesy Alan ↕

Wet 'n' Windy

Cloudy and windy and rain, 12°, breezy SW.

Alan along the Bunk: Common Gull, Lesser Blackback Gull, Black-headed Gull, a Common Gull, Herring Gull, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, Lapwing, 2 Golden Plover, 2 Mute Swan still in the same field.

Mammals: Stoat.

Photos courtesy Alan.

Common Gull

Herring Gull

Waxwings

 5 Waxwing flew NE over Green lane at approx 14:50. Per Alan Dawson.

Waxwings in Bucks

Sunny, 2°, light SE.

Alan succumbed to seeing some Waxwing today with a small flock in Buckinghamshire.

Just thought I would post some of Alan’s pics of this iconic species.

Bunk & River

A sunny day, 2°, light NNW.

A brief walk along the Bunk this afternoon. Little change other than the floods are receding quite a bit.

14 Lapwing, c50 Pied Wagtail, 2-300 Gull, a number of Fieldfare and Redwing and 2 Mute Swan on one of the larger floods and were soon put up by an overflying male Peregrine. Only the 2 Swans stayed put.

A Chiffchaff seen nearby but little else of note.

River area, Per Alan: c200 Lapwing, a Blackcap, a Chiffchaff, Siskin and Nuthatch.

Siskin courtesy Alan

A few from the Week End

Overcast, 5°, light NE.

Alan located a male Blackcap yesterday.

Male Merlin hunting low over the fields, whipped across the road at Farm Hill (Cholsey Hill) this afternoon. Per Geoff Wyatt.

5 Shelduck distantly from the bottom of Cholsey hill on the north Moreton floods with a large flock of Lapwing, constantly spooked at dusk (but too far to see what was spooking them). Per Michael Pocock.

Nothing too exciting

An overcast day, dull, 6°, light NE.

A little milder and flood waters receding. Both out in the Bunk line area today.

3 Mute Swan still on the flood along with the usual Gulls plus c50 Pied Wagtail. 4 Shoveler, 10 Tufted Duck and c50 Canada Geese noted.

Several hundred Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling present in the area plus Chiffchaff, c7 Siskin, 5 Yellowhammer, a Reed Bunting, 3 Raven and a single Lapwing.

Forgot to mention, yesterday Alan found a Stonechat out at Lollingdon.

Pied Wagtail on ice

2 of the 3 Mute Swan, a pair with the male on the right

some of the many Fieldfare present

Reed Bunting

Firecrest, Redpoll & Barn Owl

Overcast, 2°, light NE.

A call from Tony W this afternoon stirred both myself and Alan to shoot up to Caps Lane, where Tony had just seen a Firecrest, Blackcap and some Siskin and Redpoll.

By the time we got there, no Firecrest was to be found but plenty of Finches around with many Goldfinch plus several Chaffinch, 3-4 Siskin and 1-2 Redpoll.

Also Nuthatch, a Treecreeper, plenty of Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit plus Fieldfare and Redwing and a single Goldcrest and Alan found a Barn Owl a bit later.

Mammals: A Red Fox, a Muntjac Deer and 5 Roe Deer.

AD, PC & TW.

Siskin courtesy Alan

Fieldfare

A chilly day

A sunny day, 2°, breezy NNE.

Bunk Line:

Most of the flooded areas were frozen over so nothing swimming. Though 3 Mute Swan were present on the dry edge and 200+ Gulls sat on the ice.

Overall 4-500 Black-headed Gull, 50+ Lesser Blackback Gull and a single Herring Gull in the area.

A Chiffchaff at CSW, loads of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling, 30+ Blackbird and 9 Song Thrush. Up to 50 Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, several Meadow Pipit and Skylark, 5 Yellowhammer, 1 or 2 Lapwing briefly and 8 Greylag Geese flew north over the Church and 2 Canada Geese east.

Alan has been searching for Waxwing in the county today after up to 60 were reported from Tesco car park Didcot yesterday morning but no luck. 2 were seen on and off near Port Meadow, Oxford.

On his travels he noted c50 Lapwing and 5 Common Snipe near Cholsey Hill.

Tony W has had both male and female Blackcap visiting garden.

Lapwing

Redwing

Lapwing courtesy Alan

It nearly snowed

Overcast with sparse snow, 2°, light to breezy NNE.

I hesitate to say it snowed but it did, albeit very sparsely and then the weather couldn’t make up its mind with rain and snow.

Very flooded along Bunk line and the footpath unpassable in some places.

A Mute Swan and 4 Shoveler on one of the floods along with up to 300 Black-headed Gull, c20 Lesser Blackback Gull and 3 Herring Gull dispersed on most flooded areas.

A handful of Siskin flew over plus 2 Raven. Singles of Grey Heron and Mistle Thrush and several Song Thrush. Fewer Fieldfare and Redwing than of late.

Stonechat, Cholsey Meadows, Sunday. Per Michael Pocock.

AD & PC.

Shoveler Duck courtesy Alan

Mute Swan

Shoveler

Shoveler

Black-headed Gulls

Its stopped raining

Cloudy then brightening up, 7°, light NW.

Alan along the Bunk with 3 Chiffchaff at CSW, 6 Teal and a Cormorant on a flood.

Loads of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling on the fields plus a Little Egret.

Goldcrest, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Meadow Pipit, Little Owl, Kingfisher, Sparrowhawk and Grey Wagtail.

I took a muddy and wet walk out to Lollingdon. A Chiffchaff at the Bullshole and 2 Raven over Little Lollingdon.

A female Merlin flew through spooking good numbers of Fieldfare and 50+ Redwing.

Several Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer, 2 Reed Bunting and 5 Corn Bunting noted.

Mammals: 13 Roe Deer.

Nuthatch

Roe Deer courtesy Alan

A break in the weather

Light to heavy rain showers, 10°, light to breezy SW.

My first time out this year as the weather has been rather inclement with several storms passing through. Waited in this morning for the weather to clear. Very muddy underfoot and a lot of flood areas around. Alan also out and we covered the Bunk line and the river areas.

A few species of note: 3 Goose Species, Teal, Great Crested Grebe, 2 Little Grebe, 4 Grey Heron, Sparrowhawk, Cormorant, Green Sandpiper, Kingfisher, 30+ Pied Wagtail, 200+ Fieldfare, c50 Redwing, 2 Mistle Thrush (1 in song), Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Raven, 200+ Starling and 6 Yellowhammer.

63 species so far this year.

Sparrowhawk courtesy Alan

A Fieldfare with an eye condition. not sure what it is? Possibly Avian Pox. Photo courtesy Alan.