All quiet

Sunshine and showers, 12°, breezy S.

Most areas quiet today: 6 Fieldfare yesterday, 3 Redwing today, plus several Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, Kingfisher, 6 Meadow Pipit, a Grey Wagtail, several Pied Wagtail, 6 Yellowhammer, Sparrowhawk, 2 Lapwing, 7 Lesser Blackback Gull, a Grey Heron and 2 Mute Swan.

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Chiffchaff

A little cooler

Rain and Shine, 9°, breezy S.

Bunk, Lollingdon and River areas covered today and yesterday.

7 Wheatear, many Chiffchaff, 6-8 Yellowhammer, at least 12 Pied Wagtail, 8 Lapwing, 2 Mute Swan, 2 Herring Gull and 1 Lesser Blackback Gull.

Blackcap in song yesterday.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Butterflies: yesterday – Brimstone, Peacock & Comma.

Insects: yesterday – Dark-edged Bee Fly.

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Yellowhammer

Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Wheatear (f) courtesy Alan

Dark-edged Bee Fly courtesy Alan

Yellowhammer

Comma courtesy Alan

Brown Hare courtesy Alan

Wheatears moving through

Rain at first then sunny spells, 9°, light SW.

Wheatears still passing through on Lollingdon Hill. With 10 yesterday and 7 today. Per Michael Pocock and Alan Dawson.

photos courtesy Alan. the Wheatears looking rather nervous with several Buzzard and Red Kite passing over frequently.

Wheatears

Sunshine & Showers, 8°, breezy NNW.

2 (m) Wheatear on Lollingdon Hill today. Per Alan.

Cholsey

Cloudy with prolonged sunny spells, 15°, light SW.

Bunk, Lollingdon and River covered in the last 2 days.

Appears to have been a big influx of Chiffchaff over the last couple of days as they are all over. A Willow Warbler also heard singing today out at Lollingdon.

A few waders also turned up today with a Little Ringed Plover, Green Sandpiper and an Oystercatcher.

A Blackcap in song, 4 Siskin, 8 Lapwing, 3 Grey Heron, several Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit, Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer and a small flock of Redwing.

We’ve had a male Pheasant resident in the garden for approx. 2 months now. He hangs around under the feeders to pick up anything that drops to the ground and out muscles the Squirrels.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Peacock and Comma.

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Little Ringed Plover courtesy Alan

Little Ringed Plover

Siskin courtesy Alan

A quiet day

Mainly cloudy with some light rain, 14°, light SSW.

Bunk area: 7 Chiffchaff in total, 1 Blackcap, 2m Reed Bunting, 6 Lapwing, 3 Grey Heron, c100 Lesser Blackback Gull, 5 Herring Gull and a Mute Swan. Pretty quiet overall.

First time this year: no “Winter Thrushes”.

Butterflies: 1 Brimstone.

1st Wheatears arrive

Mainly cloudy, 14°, light SSW.

4 good birds found by Alan today. A Wheatear on Lollingdon Hill and a Curlew and Green Sandpiper along the Bunk area and a Peregrine seen.

A Wheatear also found on Saturday an Lollingdon Hill. Per Michael Pocock.

Butterflies: 2 Brimstone on the allotments yesterday.

Green Sandpiper courtesy Alan

Wheatear courtesy Alan

Brimstone

Hithercroft & Bunk

Sunshine and showers, 14°, breezy SW.

Hithercroft floods: Little Egret, 3 Shelduck over, Common Snipe, Herring Gull, Lesser Blackback Gull, Black-headed Gull, Chiffchaff - many singing, Reed Bunting and Lapwing.

Bunk area: 7 Chiffchaff, several in song, a Blackcap singing, 3 Yellowhammer, 2 Siskin, a Sparrowhawk, 14 Fieldfare, 1 Redwing, 50+ Starling, a Grey Wagtail, 8 Pied Wagtail, 5 Meadow Pipit, 1 Lapwing, 1 Mute Swan, 32 Lesser Blackback Gull, 7 Black-headed Gull, 2 Herring Gull and 1 Common Gull, etc.

Mammals: Short-tailed Vole, Wood Mouse & Brown Hare.

Amphibians: Smooth Newt (per Bill Nicholls, garden pond).

Butterflies: Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock.

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Shelduck courtesy Alan

Sparrowhawk

Wood Mouse courtesy Bill Nicholls

Spring? Not yet!

Cloudy and breezy, 14°, moderate WSW.

Lollingdon very quiet today: 7 Lapwing, a singing Chiffchaff, a handful of Yellowhammer, c 50 Redwing in the cattle field, 10+ Pied Wagtail on the hill and the odd Meadow Pipit.

Below the hill, a field being ploughed hosted approx. 60 Lesser Blackback Gull, at least 1 Herring Gull and a flock of c200 Thrush, mainly Fieldfare and Starling.

Also a Peregrine noted in the area.

c40 Teal and 2 Gadwall on Wallingford road flood. Per MP.

Mammals: Brown Hare, Muntjac Deer and Roe Deer.

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Redwing

Brown Hare courtesy Alan

Oystercatcher

Overcast, 10°, light NNW.

An Oystercatcher found by Alan today on the floods along the Bunk but flushed by a dog walker, back mid-afternoon.

Approx. 80 Lesser Blackback Gull, 50 Black-headed Gull, 3 Herring Gull and a single Common Gull. A Grey Heron, 2 Mute Swan, 12 Greylag Geese, 20+ Canada Geese, a Gadwall, c20 Teal, 40+ Shoveler and c20 Tufted Duck.

6 Chiffchaff, a Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting, 6 Yellowhammer, 6 Pied Wagtail, a Kestrel, a large flock of Fieldfare, Starling and Redwing, (c600 birds) and a Peregrine Falcon.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

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Oystercatcher courtesy Alan

Dunnock

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Black-headed Gulls and a Common Gull

Curlew from last week courtesy Alan

Common Gull courtesy Alan

Feeling colder

Mainly cloudy with some light rain, 9°, breezy ENE.

Bunk line: 4 Chiffchaff (1 in song), 5 Yellowhammer, a Reed Bunting, a Grey Wagtail, 6 Pied Wagtail, fewer Fieldfare and Redwing than of late, a Lapwing, 2 Mute Swan and 4 Gull species.

c200 Golden Plover on Cholsey hill and a Cormorant overhead, (per Alan), also the Plovers seen in the air from the Bunk area.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Pied Wagtail bathing

Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Robin

Greenfinch courtesy Alan

Lollingdon

Sunny, 10°, light SSE.

A visit out to Lollingdon today and still relatively quiet: 20+ Pied Wagtail on the hill following the sheep around and feeding on whatever was kicked up.

A large flock of mainly Fieldfare with Redwing and Starling flew over the hill heading north east. Approx. 400 birds.

A Lapwing and 2 Common Snipe on the flooded field and 6+ Yellowhammer in the hedgerows nearby.

A couple of Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming and a couple of very vocal Green Woodpecker. Also a Tawny Owl heard calling.

Mammals: Short-tailed Vole, Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Lapwing

Yellowhammer

Bunk

Sunny periods, 10°, light NNW.

An afternoon walk out along the Bunk: somewhat quiet, c100 Lesser Blackback Gull, 5 Herring Gull, 3 Black-headed Gull, 1 Common Gull, 2 Mute Swan and a Greylag Goose on the “not so flooded” field.

c100 Fieldfare, c150 Starling, 30+ Redwing, 4 Song Thrush and a Mistle Thrush, 2 Chiffchaff, 5 Yellowhammer, a Reed Bunting, Kestrel, 2 Raven and a Lapwing.

Chiffchaff

Yellowhammer courtesy Alan

Goldfinch (above) and Red Kite (below) courtesy Bill Nicholls

Weekend Bits

Weekend bits: a Firecrest found at the Bullshole by Tony Williams on Saturday, also seen by Alan but extremely elusive and not found on Sunday.

c500 Golden Plover seen on and over Cholsey Hill over the last few days.

Today, Bunk and Cholsey Hill. 3 Gull species, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Goldcrest. Noted by Alan.

Golden Plover courtesy Alan

One of the many Skylark in the area. courtesy Alan