Marsh, Meadows & Floods

Overcast, brightening later, 8°, light S.

Still a fair bit of flooding around but water is receding.  

Cholsey Meadows/Marsh: 2 Coal Tit, Treecreeper, Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, Cetti’s Warbler, Mistle and Song thrush in good voice, 2 Raven, Water Rail, Reed Bunting, Canada, Greylag and Egyptian Goose, etc.

Moreton Floods: 17 Pintail, c40 Teal, Shelduck, c500 Lapwing, Chiffchaff.

Bunk: c100 Fieldfare, c80 Redwing, 6 Mistle Thrush, 5 Song Thrush, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, 20+ Linnet, 2 Grey Wagtail, 7 Pied Wagtail, c400 Starling, usual Gulls, 2 Teal, 6 Tufted Duck and a Coot.

Brook Meadow: Coal Tit, 5 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Nuthatch, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Chiffchaff.

AD & PC.

Pintail courtesy Alan ↕

Lesser Blackback Gull

Black-headed Gull

Blackcap courtesy Alan

Another January passes by

Cloudy with a few rain showers, 6°, light ESE.

Still fairly quiet.

Bunk: 5 Chiffchaff, 40+ Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, 5 Meadow Pipit, Goldcrest, Treecreeper, 40+ Redwing, 20+ Fieldfare, 2 Coot, 2 Gadwall, 6 Tufted Duck, usual Gull species, etc.

Lollingdon: c150 Lapwing, c50 Lesser Blackback Gull, c100 Black-headed Gull, 5 Teal, a few hundred Fieldfare and Redwing and a Goldcrest.

Caps Lane: Barn Owl hunting - 5.00pm ‘ish.

AD & PC.

Pied Wagtail

Robin

A rather naff shot of a Treecreeper

Peregrine

Sunny periods, 7°, light WSW.

Lollingdon: arriving at one of the flooded fields initially with nothing visible. Joined shortly after with Richard and Marta who were out for a walk.

After a few minutes Marta spotted something in the middle of a field that proved to be a female Peregrine Falcon bathing.

RB & MM then continued their walk and I started to check the other flooded fields.

In total c100 Lapwing, approx. 400 Black-headed Gull, c100 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Herring Gull and a single Common Gull. 80+ Pied Wagtail, 5 Meadow Pipit, a few Skylark, 2 Mistle Thrush, c20 Redwing and 2 Yellowhammer.

Mammals: Roe Deer and Brown Hare.

MM, PC & RB.

Lollingdon and Bunk

Cloudy, 6°, light NE

Lollingdon and Bunk:

Lollingdon: A Pintail, c 20 Teal, 5 Shoveler,c150 Lapwing, a Little Egret, 2 Common Gull and c100 Black-headed Gull.

Bunk: several Mistle Thrush singing, up to 7 in total noted, also several Song Thrush in song.

Several small flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing, c100 Black-headed Gull, the regular 2 Herring Gull but fewer Lesser Blackback Gull.

2 Grey Wagtail, 50 + Pied Wagtail feeding on flooded fields, 2-3 Chiffchaff, 12 Meadow Pipit, a Treecreeper, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, 11 Shoveler, 6 Tufted Duck, both Canada and Greylag Goose heard, a Cormorant over, 2 Coot and 3 Little Grebe.

Upwards of 200 Lapwing seen high over Cholsey Hill, appeared to drop down towards the Moreton floods.

And a Blackcap in Alan’s Garden.

AD & PC.

Pintail courtesy Alan

Shoveler

Pied Wagtail

Mistle Thrush

Little Owl courtesy Alan

A wet one

All day rain, 8°, light to breezy WNW.

Merlin seen hunting Starlings over the village, pre roost. Plus a Sparrowhawk. Per Geoff Wyatt.

Rain and more rain

Heavy rain and thunder at first then brighter, 7°, breezy S.

A lot of flooding out there now after 2 storms pass through.

South Morton Floods: 2 Shelduck (m), c80 Teal, c45 Shoveler, c25 Snipe and 24 Lesser Blackback Gull and 2 Herring Gull.

Richard B had two Shelduck on the Church Road flood, before they flew north east, could be the same birds as on the Moreton floods.

Teal on most of the flooded areas and Richard B has also been seeing lots of Teal on the flooded areas in Cholsey and beyond.

AD & RB.

Photos courtesy Alan.

Teal

Shoveler

Herring Gull

Bunk & Long Ditch

Sunshine after the rain, 5°, breezy WSW.

Bunk area: 22+ Pied Wagtail, 2 Meadow Pipit, Chiffchaff, Treecreeper,20+ Fieldfare, 8 Redwing, 2 Mistle Thrush, 4-500 Starling, a large flock of c500 Corvids, 150+ Black-headed Gull, 2 Herring Gull, very few Lesser Blackback Gull, a Coot, 2 Gadwall, 2 Pochard, 5 Tufted Duck and 2 Little Grebe, etc.

Long Ditch: Great White Egret over, Common Snipe, Kingfisher and Reed Bunting. And a Blackcap (m) in Alan’s Garden.

1st Snowdrops noted.  

AD & PC.

Gadwall (archive pic)

Lollingdon

Cloudy, 5°, light SW.

Lollingdon area:

Long Ditch: Barn Owl - 11.25am, Reed Bunting, Raven over, Chiffchaff and Lesser Blackback Gull.

Lollingdon: c50 Lesser Blackback Gull, one of which had a green ring on the left leg, c150 Black-headed Gull, 3 Herring Gull, 4 Common Gull, c200 Lapwing, 25 Teal and 4 Shoveler.

AD.

Barn Owl courtesy Alan.

Cholsey

Sunny spells, 4°, light SSE.

Alan out today along the Bunk, Lollingdon and a few other spots: Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, c700 Lapwing in 2 large flocks, c50 Golden Plover over, 3 Little Egret, 9 Teal, 6 Common Snipe, 2 Herring Gull, c50 Lesser Blackback Gull, c100 Black-headed Gull, 3 Chiffchaff , 2 Barn Owl, etc.

A bit of sunshine

Mainly cloudy with a few sunny spells, 5°, light SSW.

Bunk, fairly quiet: 2-3 Chiffchaff, 6 Yellowhammer, a Treecreeper, 50+ Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, c20 Redwing, 3 Goose sp, Greylag, Canada and Egyptian, Tufted Duck, the usual Gulls, c400 Starling, etc.

Chiffchaff doing its best to avoid the camera

Green Woodpecker

A few of the many Starling

Grey days

Overcast, 6°, light S.

Another dull, grey day, with Lollingdon and the Lees area covered.

4 Stonechat (all, quite mobile), several Skylark flocks totalling 100+ birds, a Reed Bunting, a Bullfinch, 40 Redwing, 1 Fieldfare, a Common Snipe, c350 Lapwing, c200 Lesser Blackback Gull, c150 Black-headed Gull, 6 Shoveler, c30 Teal, 5 Grey Heron etc.

Tony W saw a female Merlin out Lollingdon way yesterday.

2 Blackcap, regular on a feeder in Cross Roads.  

Moreton floods: 2 Shelduck, c100 Lapwing, c5 Snipe and c200 Lesser Blackback Gull.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

AD & PC.

Roe Deer

Shelduck courtesy Alan

Unfortunately, always distant Stonechat

Still a bit Chilly

Overcast, 2°, light S.

Still a bit chilly but most of the iced areas have melted.  

Bunk: 21 Yellowhammer, Bullfinch, Grey Wagtail, Goldcrest, 15 Fieldfare, 8 Redwing, 3 Song Thrush, 2 Mistle Thrush, usual large flock of Starling, Kestrel, a Grey Heron, 200+ Black-headed Gull, c50 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Herring Gull, etc.

Some of the 21 Yellowhammer

Long-tailed Tit

Robin

Fieldfare

Mistle Thrush

Alan was off to Henley road gravel pit today to see a male and redhead Smew. A rare visitor to Cholsey, the last was December 2010.

A cold one

Mainly cloudy, -2°, light ENE.

A cold, crisp day.

Bunk and River area: Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Siskin (9 noted yesterday. Per Alan), Reed Bunting, 2 Grey Wagtail, good numbers of Redwing and a handful of Fieldfare, a couple of Song Thrush, 400+ Starling, Teal, Cormorant, c200 Black-headed Gull, a Common Gull, 5 Herring Gull and c50 Lesser Blackback Gull, plus a Barn Owl yesterday.

AD & PC.

Siskin pics courtesy Alan

Slow going

Overcast, 2°, light E.

Lollingdon was very quiet today, with most of the floods frozen over. There were just around 50 Lesser Blackback Gull, a handful of Black-headed Gull, 6-8 Pied Wagtail, a Little Egret and a couple of Yellowhammer.

1, pos 2 Peregrine at distance.  

A good number of Redwing about with most feeding on Ivy berries and the odd Fieldfare.

Alan popped down to the river later, Water Rail, Reed Bunting and a Sparrowhawk.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Red Fox.

AD & PC.

Winter sunshine

Sunny spells, 5°, breezy W.

Bunk and Lollingdon: Bunk was fairly quiet, a Teal flew over, a Raven, 2-3 Chiffchaff, 2 Yellowhammer, 10 Pied Wagtail, and a Kingfisher, plus a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing and c400 Starling of note.

Lollingdon was a little livelier. A Little Egret, Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff, Corn Bunting, Goldcrest, 5 Mistle Thrush, several Fieldfare and Redwing and a Peregrine flushed c 500 Lapwing.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

AD & PC.

Little Egret courtesy Alan

Herring Gulls on their usual perch along with 2 Black-headed Gulls

A shy Robin

A Blackbird with partial albinism in Ben Hobbs garden

Bunk

Overcast, 2°, light SE.

Bunk area: 4 Common Pochard, c8 Tufted Duck, c20 Shoveler, 4 Little Grebe, c250 Lesser Blackback Gull, c50 Black-headed Gull and 2 Common Gull.

AD.

A chilly one

Sunny, 2°, light WSW.

The Lees, Caps Lane and Bunk: 7, pos 9 Stonechat, a Chiffchaff, 2 Yellowhammer, 2 Peregrine Falcon, Common Snipe, 2 Raven, a Jay, Barn Owl, Kingfisher, Grey Heron, a Wigeon on the pool in the school wood, c50 Meadow Pipit, several Skylark and the odd Fieldfare and Redwing, etc.

Mammals: Red Fox and Roe Deer.

AD, LC & PC.

Stonechat (male above and female below)

Barn Owl courtesy Alan

A steady start

Sunny, 4°, light NNW.

Lollingdon & Bunk: c400 Lapwing, c40 Teal, a Little Egret, 2 Sparrowhawk, Barn Owl, 2 Common Gull, 2 Raven, 2 Grey Wagtail, a Chiffchaff, etc, etc.

In addition, several Wigeon and Shoveler (yesterday).

Mammals: Roe Deer.

AD, LC & PC.

Chiffchaff ↕

Sparrowhawk courtesy Alan

Roe Deer