A near miss

Mainly cloudy, 10°, light SW.

A message this morning  regarding a male Hen Harrier at Mackney heading south.

Alan managed to get to Cholsey Hill and everywhere else to view the area but no further sightings unfortunately. So we don’t know whether it crossed the boundary into Cholsey or not!

A very rare bird now and not seen in the area for a number of years now.

Another near miss earlier in November was of a Black-tailed Godwit. Never recorded in Cholsey and seen on the Moreton floods. So close!

So, back to today and a Little Egret seen out at Lollingdon, courtesy Alan.

Almost there

Mainly cloudy with occasional sunshine, 8°, light SW.

Almost at the end of 2024 and a quieter year for wildlife sightings this year. Our migrants were a little sparse and breeding birds had limited success. Mammal sighting numbers were down and Butterfly numbers were well down but Dragonflies numbers appeared to be around normal.

Habitat loss, disturbance, Climate, lack of wildflowers, pesticide and herbicide use etc appear to be some of the causes.

Anyway, back to today. unless anything new turns up tomorrow, we had the following noted over the year: 122 bird species, 17 Mammal species, 6 Reptile & Amphibians, 22 Dragonfly species and 26 Butterfly species.

Thank you in particular to Alan Dawson, Tony Williams, Geoff Wyatt, Brian Wyatt, Richard Broughton, Michael Pocock, Bill Nicholls, Loren and others, etc for their information throughout the year.

Lollingdon and Bunk areas: 6 Shoveler, 6 Wigeon, c20 Teal, Lapwing, 100+ Black-headed Gull, 200+ Lesser Blackback Gull, 5 Herring Gull, 2 Common Gull, a Sparrowhawk, a Kingfisher, 500+ Starling, 100+ Fieldfare, 50+ Redwing, 3 Song Thrush (all in song), 2 Mistle Thrush, a Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming, 7 Pied Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 30 Corn Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, 4 Chiffchaff, 2 Raven, etc.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

AD & PC.

A mini murmuration over the village this evening, courtesy Bill Nicholls.

Buzzard

2 Herring Gull on one of their regular perches

Still quietish

Overcast, 7°, light WSW.

2 Wigeon on the Flood near Church Road today and a Raven overhead.

Lollingdon Flood held 4 Shoveler, a number of Teal, Lapwing and Black-headed Gull.

AD.

Wigeon (archive pic)

Merry Christmas

 A Merry Christmas from Cholsey Wildlife

Hares

 Brown Hares courtesy Alan

A grey day

Overcast, 7°, light SW.

A grey old day with both Lollingdon and Bunk area covered: Little Egret, c400 Lapwing, 200+ Lesser Blackback Gull, 5 Herring Gull, 2-3 Common Gull, c50 Black-headed Gull, Common Snipe, 2 Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, 50+ Pied Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Yellowhammer, several Corn Bunting, c100 Fieldfare, 20+ Redwing and a Ring-necked Parakeet.

TW has a male Blackcap regularly in his garden and a female Sparrowhawk visiting frequently.

2 Great-spotted Woodpecker in the garden today along with all the other visitors.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Common Gull courtesy Alan

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Black-headed Gull (winter plumage)

Distant Little Egret

Pied Wagtail

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.