Bunk

Sunny spells, 22°, light WNW.

Bunk area still fairly quiet, 40 Swallow and 14 House Martin through, 12 Chiffchaff, a Willow Warbler, 2 Common Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 9 Yellowhammer, 50+ Linnet, a Hobby, a Peregrine (m) and a Grey Heron etc.

2 Yellow Wagtail over garden yesterday and a Raven.

Mammals: A Weasel along Green Lane.

Dragonflies: Common Blue Damsel, Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: a Clouded Yellow, Large White, Small White, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

2 European Hornet caught and released from indoors yesterday.

Cooler

Overcast, 19°, breezy NNE.

2 Common Redstart still out at Lollingdon, a Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Common Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap and an unexpected fly-by of a Greenshank and c60 Swallow over.

Nearby a couple of Yellowhammer, c100 Linnet and good numbers of Chiffchaff.

A handful of House Martin still present in the Church Road area and appear to be feeding young still and 2 Swift over.

A Peregrine seen from the garden yesterday and several Swift passing over in the last few days.

Mammals: Hedgehog, Muntjac and Common Pipistrelle regular in garden.

Dragonflies: A Southern Hawker on the allotment yesterday.

Butterflies: very few, Small White, Speckled Wood, a Gatekeeper and a few Meadow Brown.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawk in garden.

Quiet!

Cloudy, 20°, breezy ENE.

Another quiet one along the Bunk as the weather cools: 60+ Swallow, a handful of House Martin and 3 Swift. 5 Common Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 10+ Chiffchaff, 3 Yellowhammer, a Sparrowhawk, Grey Heron and 2 Herring Gull.

Dragonflies: Common Blue Damsel.

Butterflies: several Whites, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Garden stuff

Sunny, 28°, light NNW.

I deemed it too hot to go walking today so spent some time just sat in the garden keeping an eye on a 180° section of sky.

Apart from the 6 House Martin still present feeding young I had the following overhead. A single Swallow, 11 Swift, 3 Raven, a Hobby, a Peregrine, a Kestrel, a Mallard, c100 Lesser Blackback Gull and several Red Kite and Buzzard.

A Common Whitethroat, Coal Tit, Goldcrest and Chiffchaff in the garden along with the usual visitors.

A Willow Warbler singing from a silver Birch on the Station Road allotments for the last few mornings. Per Richard James.

Dragonflies: A Southern Hawker and 2 Common Darter.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Small White, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Bunk & Lollingdon

Sunny spells, 27°, Light WSW.

2 Common Redstart, Lollingdon. Per RW.

Tree Pipit, Bunk area. Per RB.

Bunk: a Stonechat, a Willow Warbler, 9 Chiffchaff, 3 Common Whitethroat, 5 Blackcap, 12 Swallow, 4 House Martin, 7 Swift, 5 Yellowhammer, 30+ Linnet, 2 Sparrowhawk, a Hobby, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Herring Gull, etc.

8 Swift over garden at 20:10 last evening.

Mammals: Short-tailed Vole. Common Pipistrelle hunting around garden frequently in last few weeks.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Migrant Hawker.

Butterflies: Small White, Common Blue, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Redstart courtesy Roger Wyatt

Stonechat

Lancaster Bomber with a Swallow above but a lot closer

Afternoon Sky watch

Sunny spells, 24°, light S.

An interesting 45 minute sky watch from the garden this afternoon. I first noticed a Hobby circling overhead and popped up to get the bins. The following noted, 70+ Swallow, 20+ House Martin, 1 Sand Martin, 1 Swift, several unidentified Hirundines, and 200+ Lesser Blackback Gull south over garden.

Bunk

Sunny, 24°, light WSW.

Fairly quiet along the Bunk area today, a Ringed Plover heard calling and 4 Sand Martin and 20+ Swallow over. 9+ Chiffchaff, a Yellow Wagtail, 2 Jay, 2 Herring Gull at CSW, a few Lesser Blackback and Black-headed Gull overhead and a Sparrowhawk.

House Martins feeding a second brood along Church road.

Dragonflies: Common Blue Damsel, Migrant Hawker, Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

Lollingdon

Mostly sunny, 22°, light SW.

Not a lot happening today: Common Redstart still present out at Lollingdon, present for 3 weeks now. Several Common Whitethroat, Blackcap and Chiffchaff and several Swallow and House Martin over but little else.

6 Swift over garden late evening.  

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Emperor and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Moths: Jersey Tiger.

Other: Hornet Robber Fly.

Peregrines

Last year in Cholsey a pair of Peregrines raised a single chick in a nest on a pylon. They used an old Ravens nest.

Over the winter 24/25 SSEN repainted the pylons in the area and removed the nest in the process.

This year there have been several sightings of Peregrines in the local area but we didn’t know where or if they had bred.

Recently, Paul Rainsden and Simon Booker had found an adult female Peregrine with 2 well grown young in the South Stoke area. The female had a green ring on. Last year’s female also sported a green ring on her left leg with the no 66 on. Although we can’t confirm yet, we believe this to be the same female and has nested somewhere in the local area.

The adult female was ringed as a chick in Brighton in 2014.

Photos courtesy Simon Booker. www.stokerpix.com.

Bunk

Sunny spells, 20°, light NNW.

Bunk area:

A bit of a naff day with very little seen. 10+ Chiffchaff, 2 Swallow, 2 House Martin, a single Swift, a couple of Common Whitethroat and Blackcap, a Sparrowhawk, 2 Grey Heron etc.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Migrant Hawker.

Butterflies: Few on the wing: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Crossing the bridge over Cholsey brook, I caught a movement just underneath me and noticed this Heron trying to catch something. As it pulled back it had caught a fish. It was also hemmed into the brook by overhanging branches and quite close, it was unable to fly off, so it just walked behind some branches. It was so close I did not have the time to switch to close focus before it went out of sight. Hence the out of focus image.