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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

Getting colder

Overcast, hazy, 9°, light ESE.

A complete contrast to Wednesday’s numbers along the Bunk area with bird numbers way down.

However still a fair bit around. c50 Fieldfare, 100+ Redwing, an increase in Blackbird and Song Thrush numbers, 

5 Yellowhammer, 2 Reed Bunting, Little Owl heard calling, a Chiffchaff, 2 Jay, 4 Grey Heron, 2 Egyptian Geese, the regular 2 Herring Gull, 20+ Pied Wagtail, 3 Grey Wagtail, a few Meadow Pipit and Skylark, etc.

Tony and I checked out the Lollingdon flood yesterday and no sign of the Sanderling but 6 Egyptian Geese in with the Gulls, a flock of 20+ Mistle Thrush nearby.

Alan checked the area again today, c50 Lapwing, 15 Teal, 15 Egyptian Geese and a Chiffchaff nearby.

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Song Thrush

Yellowhammer ↕

One of many Rook feeding

A dull day but lots of Birds

Overcast, 13°, light SE.

Good to get out after a few days of decorating. A rather dull day weather wise but loads of birds around.

Lollingdon, Cholsey Meadows, River and Bunk areas.

A number of fields have recently been tilled along the Bunk area and Cholsey Hill and it seems to have attracted large numbers of birds.

1000+ Gulls, mainly Lesser Blackback, plus Black-headed and Herring that could be positively ID’d.

1000+ Wood Pigeon, 1000+ Corvids, mainly Rook and Jackdaw with Carrion Crow, Magpie and 2 Raven and a 1000+ Starling.

A few scarcities noted, with a Brambling feeding with c20 Chaffinch and a very late Tree Pipit heard overhead flying with 3 Meadow Pipit in the Bunk area and a Sanderling on the Floods at Lollingdon. Todays Sanderling is a first record for Cholsey that takes us to 204 bird species for the parish.

c50 Pied Wagtail, 100+ Meadow Pipit, 25+ Skylark, 50+ Linnet, 7 Grey Heron, 6 Yellowhammer, a Reed Bunting, Water Rail, Common Snipe, 2 Shoveler, Teal (2 sites), Kingfisher, Sparrowhawk, good numbers of both Fieldfare and Redwing and a Grey Wagtail.

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Sanderling courtesy Alan

Pair of Shoveler courtesy Alan

Black-headed Gull

One of the Gull flocks

Pied Wagtail

Some of the Starling

High flying Sparrowhawk

Quiet start to November

Overcast, 13°, light N.

Grey Plover still present on the Moreton floods and a Common Snipe, Cholsey Hill. Per Alan.

Bunk, rather quiet. Plenty of Redwing and a handful of Fieldfare.

Approx., 300 Gulls loafing in a field, mainly Lesser Blackback Gull, c20 Black-headed Gull, 6 Herring Gull and a single Common Gull.

Nearby, 500+ Starling, a Grey Heron, 2 Yellowhammer and a Chiffchaff of note.

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