Summer arrivals

Mainly cloudy, 10°, light S.

Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Willow Warbler and Common Whitethroat, Cholsey Marsh. Per Brian Wyatt.

Bunk area: on the walk out there were 10+ House Martin feeding high over CSW. On the way back the numbers had grown to 20+ House Martin, 5+ Swallow and several Sand Martin, this time feeding a lot lower over the beds.

The Gravel pit hosted a Mute Swan, 2 Shelduck, 4 Gadwall, 3 Oystercatcher and 30+ Lapwing, c12 House Martin, 5 Swallow and several Sand Martin.

2 Peregrine over. I think I’ve mentioned these before and I believe these 2 males to be the ones raised in South Stoke last year. I’ve seen them together on several occasions this year and they appear to hunt together. Maybe a successful survival strategy.

Elsewhere on the walk: 2 Common Whitethroat, several Blackcap and Chiffchaff and a couple of Jay etc.

Butterflies: just a couple of Brimstone and Peacock.

Mallard & Muntjac both in garden today

Swallows

Sunny spells, 11°, brisk NW.

Bunk and Gravel pit: 7 Swallow today, initially 2 then an hour later a small flock of 5. All spent around 5 minutes before moving off.

2 Mute Swan present along with a single Shelduck with 4 more flying in but landing on a pit that is not in view. 6 Gadwall, 8 Shoveler, 6 Tufted Duck, a Little Grebe, a Little Ringed Plover, an Oystercatcher, 15 Lapwing, 3 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 2+ Fieldfare and a single Redwing.

A Little Egret on the flood near Church Road.

Phil Dyson had a Swallow over the Thames at Cholsey Marsh this afternoon.

Lollingdon flood on Saturday - 1 Lapwing, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Little Egret. Per Michael Pocock.

Mammals: Hedgehog in garden.

Butterflies: a single Comma.

Swallow and Chiffchaff

Another day

Sunny, 16°, light N.

Usual areas covered again today:

Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, 8 Lapwing, 9 Tufted Duck, a Gadwall, 2 Little Grebe, 8+ Swallow, 2 Sand Martin, 1 House Martin, Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, 2 Meadow Pipit, a single Redwing, Blackcap, Cetti’s Warbler and a Sparrowhawk.

Mammals: unfortunately a dead Otter found by Alan along the river bank today.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

AD & PC.

Common Sandpiper courtesy Alan

Lapwing courtesy Alan

A bit of a mix

Sunny, 16°, breezy ENE.

Lollingdon, River and Bunk:

Wheatear, 2 Swallow, a Green Sandpiper, a Little Ringed Plover, Little Egret, 16 Shoveler, 6 Tufted Duck, 2 Teal, 2 Little Grebe, a Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, 4 Common Gull, 2 Cetti’s Warbler and 2 Redwing.

AD & PC.

First Swallow

Prolonged sunny spells, 12°, fresh WNW.

Our first Swallow of the year seen by Alan out at Lollingdon this morning and 4 Ringed Plover later in the day seen by Tony Williams and possibly a 5th one dropped in later. Per Alan.

Elsewhere, pretty quiet, 2 Cetti’s Warbler at Cholsey Marsh along with a Water Rail. A Common Gull, Goldcrest and a couple of Meadow Pipit along the Bunk, an Oystercatcher yesterday but little else.

Butterflies: Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock.

AD, PC & TW.

Peacock

Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Quiet

Overcast with a rain shower later, 15°, light SSW.

Bunk area, pretty quiet today, albeit 2 Swallow noted by Alan this morning. A Chiffchaff in song this afternoon, in the rain. Plus the usual Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Pied Wagtail.  Redwing, and 2 Yellowhammer, etc.

Around 1000+ Gulls noted, most drifted over from the Cholsey Hill area. Only 3 species identified were Lesser Blackback, Herring and Black-headed Gull but may well have been other species present.

Dragonflies: a single Common Darter, in flight in the light rain.

AD & PC.

Mixed bag

Overcast with rain showers later, 16°, light SSE.

A bit of a mixed bag today.

Alan found 6 Stonechat between the main line railway and the Long Ditch this afternoon, a Common Snipe, Kingfisher and a Chiffchaff.

Also 80 Golden Plover on Cholsey Hill this morning and 2 Grey Wagtail.

Bunk: a single Swallow flew through, 2 Chiffchaff, a Coot, Green Sandpiper, 2 Raven, a Tawny Owl being mobbed by 2 Jay, 2 Yellowhammer, c20 Pied Wagtail, c100 Meadow Pipit, 26 Skylark and approx. 100+ Redwing, scattered widely along the area.

Forgot to mention 10 Teal on the flood by the Wallingford Road yesterday. Per Alan.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

AD & PC.

Grey Plover relocated.

Overcast, 14°, light SSW.

Grey Plover still present on Cholsey Hill with 78 Golden Plover, plus 1 Swallow over.

Bunk: 4 (3&1) Swallow, 6 Grey Wagtail, c20 Pied Wagtail, c50 Meadow Pipit, c20 Skylark, a Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Jay, Reed Bunting, plenty of Redwing and a Grey Heron.

Lollingdon: very quiet. Just 4 Lapwing and a Chiffchaff worth a mention.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

AD, MP & PC.

Grey Plover courtesy Alan ↕

Lapwing

Swallow

A quieter Day

Sunny spells, 15°, light SSW.

A quieter day today. c100 Redwing, 2 Swallow, 3 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 25+ Skylark, c50 Meadow Pipit, 10+ Pied Wagtail and a Grey Heron.

River: Cetti’s Warbler and Water Rail. Per Alan.

Dragonflies: as usual, several Common Darter.

Butterflies: 2 Brimstone, a Large White, 2 Small White, 2 Red Admiral and a Speckled Wood.

Grey Plover

Overcast, 18°, light SSE.

A pretty good day all round. Alan covered Bunk this morning and Cholsey Hill this afternoon and I covered Bunk this afternoon.

A Grey Plover (3rd Cholsey record) with c60 Golden Plover on Cholsey Hill was the highlight and a single Swallow over.

Bunk: c300 Redwing, 10 Fieldfare over, 4-500 Starling, and increase in both Song Thrush and Blackbird numbers, 5 Siskin, 7 Swallow, 6 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap, several Meadow Pipit, Skylark and Pied Wagtail, a single Grey Wagtail and a Common Snipe.

2 Wigeon on flood near Wallingford Road this morning. Per Michael Pocock.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: 2 Small White.

AD, MP & PC.

Grey Plover with Golden Plover. bottom right in above pic and bottom left in pic below. Courtesy Alan.

One of several Swallow

A distant Redwing

A swarm of insects near CSW.

Redwings arrive as Swallows leave

Sunny spells and a few showers, 14°, light WNW.

Alan finally found our first Redwing of this winter period with 9 along Green Lane, presumably feeding on Hawthorn berries. As Redwing are coming in Swallow are in the process of leaving and approx 20 passed over moving south. Also a Blackcap still present.

Redwing (from my archive)

Sunshiny Day

A sunny day, 12°, light S.

Another quietish day along the Bunk: 3 Swallow, a single Chiffchaff and Blackcap, a Coot (first of the year) , Kingfisher, 2 Raven, c80 Meadow Pipit, 10+ Pied Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, several Skylark and 3 Goose species.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: a Large White, 2 Small White and 5 Red Admiral.

Long-tailed Tit

Egyptian Goose

Common Darter

Gone quiet

Cloudy with some sunny intervals, 10°, light NW.

A quiet afternoon along the Bunk area today, 12+ Swallow, 6 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap and several Meadow Pipit.

Canada, Greylag and Egyptian Geese present in the usual spot but little else around.

Dragonflies: Willow Emerald, Migrant Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: a few Whites, a Red Admiral and a Comma.

AD & PC.

Yellow Field Cap

Aurora put on a brief show tonight

A Grey Day

Overcast with a few light rain showers, 15°, light NNW.

Flooded field Lollingdon this morning, c50 Lapwing and c400 Lesser Blackback Gull. Per Alan.

Bunk area this afternoon, 8 Swallow, 5 Chiffchaff, a male Blackcap (in song), c80 Meadow Pipit, c30 Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, c20 Skylark, 3 Mute Swan, 10 Egyptian Geese, 2 Jay, 2 Raven, 3 Grey Heron, c400 Starling, c300 Lesser Blackback Gull and 20+ Black-headed Gull.

Dragonflies: 1 Migrant Hawker and 2 Common Darter.

The back end of 2 Egyptian Geese

Starling

A wet one

Mainly rain with minimal sunny spells, 15°, light S.

A trek along the Bunk area this afternoon in the rain and expectations were not high. Didn’t take the camera as rain and cameras do not mix well.

4 Swallow, 12 House Martin, 5 Chiffchaff, 100+ Meadow Pipit, several Skylark and Pied Wagtail, 3 Green Woodpecker, a Mistle Thrush and a Grey Heron etc.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: 2 Red Admiral.

Mistle Thrush (from my archive)

Autumnal

Sunny intervals, 16°, light S.

With the weather feeling quite autumnal today, TW found a male Common Redstart out at Lollingdon today, quite a late one.

Elsewhere, along the Bunk area: 30 Cormorant over, 2 Grey Wagtail, 20+ Pied Wagtail, 35 Meadow Pipit, c10 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap, several Swallow, House Martin and Sand Martin.

Butterflies: a single Small White.

Dragonflies: many Common Darter.

AD, PC & TW.

Meadow Pipit

Cormorant courtesy Alan

Greylag Geese and a single Canada Goose

Bunk & River

Overcast and showery, 15°, breezy NNE.

Relatively quiet along the Bunk area today: good numbers of Skylark and Meadow Pipit with 100+ of each, 20+ Pied Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 5 Swallow, a few Siskin heard overhead, 2 Mistle Thrush, a Jay, 6 Chiffchaff, 3 Teal and a lot of Gulls with most moving in a northerly direction.

River: several Meadow Pipit, Yellow Wagtail, Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, Reed Bunting and Chiffchaff.

Dragonflies: A Southern Hawker and several Common Darter. River: Willow Emerald, Migrant Hawker, Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: several Whites and 2 Red Admiral.

AD & PC.

Bunk

Mainly cloudy, 19°, breezy SW.

Pretty quiet along Bunk line today apart from a period mid-afternoon when Hirundines started passing through.

Over a period of just over an hour I counted 70+ Swallow (incl young birds), 20+ House Martin and 6 Sand Martin all moving purposefully in a southerly direction. This also included approx. 40 Swift.

Other than that it was somewhat quiet with bird song greatly diminished although usual regulars still visibly evident.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Beautiful Demoiselle, Azure Damselfly and Common Blue Damselfly.

Butterflies: Large Skipper, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Red Admiral, Comma, Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Small Heath.

Green-veined White

Swollen-thighed Beetle

A day for Butterflies and a Dragon

Hazy sunshine, 19°, breezy SSW.

A visit to Lollingdon the Bunk and River today: Wheatear, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, Goldcrest, Reed Bunting, Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer, Grey Wagtail, Common Snipe, Lapwing, Sparrowhawk, and 6+1 Lesser Blackback Gull.

20-30 Hirundines noted, mainly Swallow and Sand Martin and a single House Martin.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Large Red Damselfly.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

AD & PC.

Comma

Large Red Damselfly courtesy Alan

Wheatear courtesy Alan

Dark-edged Bee Fly courtesy Alan