Cholsey

Overcast and sunny spells initially then thundery later, 20°, blustery ENE. Variable weather!

Bunk, per Alan: Yellow Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail, high numbers of each. Raven over, Skylark, Swallow and Chiffchaff singing.

Approx. 20 Hirundines (Swallow and at least 2 House Martin) over Church Road, moving north ahead of the thunder storm early afternoon. Per PC.

Cattle Egret seen again along Bunk area yesterday. Per Michael Pocock.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter (garden).

Cattle Egret

Sunny, 18°, light NE.

Alan found Cholsey’s 4th Cattle Egret along the Bunk area today, plus Stonechat, Common Sandpiper, several Meadow Pipit and Yellow Wagtail, Chiffchaff, Swallow, House Martin and Raven over.

Dragonflies: Common Darter, Migrant Hawker, Southern Hawker, Brown Hawker and Willow Emerald.

Butterflies: Red Admiral, Comma, Common Blue, Painted Lady and Small Heath.

Cattle Egret

Portland: Day 8.

Sunny then clouding over, 18°, light NW.

A quiet day by any standards. Didn’t do a sea watch as did not hear any decent calls from the guys watching and land was pretty hard work with migrants few and far between.

Marsh Harrier, Buzzard, Peregrine Falcon, Little Owl, another Cattle Egret in, off the sea, 3 Raven, 22 Swallow, 1 House Martin, 4 Grey Wagtail, 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 “White” Wagtail, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 6 Stonechat, 3 Whinchat, 1 Common Redstart, 1 Blackcap, 9 Chiffchaff and 1 Willow Warbler.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Small Blue, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood and Small Heath.

Blue-fin Tuna.

Sunrise

Whinchat

Robin

Portland: Day 7.

Sunny, 18°, light SW.

A very protracted sea watch today and hard work on the land.

1 Arctic Skua and 9 Common Scoter.

A Cattle Egret in, off the sea, a Marsh Harrier, Little Owl, 64 Swallow, 4 House Martin, 2 Sand Martin, 8 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Grey Wagtail, 100+ Meadow Pipit, 2 Tree Pipit, 2 Wheatear, 3 Whinchat, 12 Stonechat, 12 Chiffchaff and a single Willow Warbler.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue?, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Speckled Wood and Small Heath.

Sunrise

Painted Lady

Whinchat (above & below)

Stonechat

Portland Bill

Egrets

A cloudy day with some light showers, 10°, light SSW.

Bunk with Alan: A Cattle Egret (3rd record) flew over heading NW.

Black-headed Gull, Lesser Blackback Gull, Herring Gull, Raven over, Shoveler over, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, Goldcrest, Lapwing, Meadow Pipit and 4 Mute Swan.

A call later in the day from TW alerted us to 2 Great Egret back on the flood near Winterbrook bridge. They then flew towards Bow bridge but were relocated back at the initial site by Alan later.

Looks as though all 3 Egret species will became a regular sight locally in the future as they have done in other parts of Oxfordshire.

Egret photos courtesy Alan

Cattle Egret

Sunny spells and showers, 13°, light to breezy W.

Was not planning to go out today as it looked like more rain and didn’t fancy getting wet for a second day running.

At c10:30 I got a message from Alan to say he had found a Cattle Egret on a flood beside the Wallingford Road.

As I had not seen one before in Cholsey, I grabbed my kit and drove up there.

The bird had left the flood and had flipped over the road to a field with a herd of cattle next to Green Lane.

It stayed in the area for at least another hour and appeared then to have moved on.

Alan stayed on for a time and then found a Little Egret nearby plus c 40 Lapwing, a Goldcrest, Stonechat, Chiffchaff and Meadow Pipit.

All 3 Egret species have been seen in Cholsey this year. All have colonised the UK in the last few decades with breeding in Oxfordshire in the last few years.

They were all rarities in the UK 30-40 years ago hence trips to see Cattle Egret and Little Egret in Sussex in 1984 and 1987 respectively and Great Egret in Cornwall 1989.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

6 photos from both Alan and me.  

 

Of Cattle Egrets and Alpine Swifts

The above 2 species have been causing debate recently.

Firstly the Alpine Swift debate was by prompted an influx back in March with 50+ records throughout the UK (sadly none turned up in Oxon). There is one record in Cholsey seen by Tony Williams on the 14th July 1975. This was apparently the first Oxfordshire record.

On searching there is another record for Cholsey on the 29th August 1967 (ref: BB rarity report). Observer unknown but record accepted. Now at that time Cholsey was part of Berkshire. So we have 2 records of the species for Cholsey. One in Oxon and one in Berks.

Secondly, Cattle Egret. I reported a Cattle Egret seen by Roger Wyatt on 20th April 2023 as being a first for Cholsey.

However there was another record of a bird seen by the 4-Arches area on the 12th July 1971 found by Len Salmon and noted to commute to and from Cholsey and Moulsford. The bird was present until 4th August and was found dead on the 8th August.

The bird was despatched for analysis and apparently one thing that was noted that there was doubt it was a wild bird as it showed signs of captivity.

Just reporting what I know folks.

Cattle Egret & Whinchat

Mainly cloudy with light rain later, 9°, light NNE.

Belated news of a Cattle Egret on floods along Hithercroft on 20th April. A first for Cholsey. Per RW. Only stayed briefly.

A long awaited visitor to Cholsey since establishing themselves in Oxfordshire in 2021.  

Back to today: a Whinchat, a Redstart and 8+ Wheatear out at Lollingdon. The Redstart appeared to be a brief stayer and moved from west to east along the hill, flying from bush to bush and eventually disappeared. The rest stuck around at least until late afternoon.

A Reed Warbler out by the “Long ditch”.

Elsewhere, Sparrowhawk, Lapwing, Mandarin Duck, 3-4 Yellow Wagtail, several Whitethroat and Blackcap, several Swallow and a Willow Warbler.

Mammals: Roe Deer & Brown Hare.

Whinchat

Whinchat courtesy Alan

Whinchat

Wheatear (f)

Wheatears (m) ↕

Yellow Wagtail courtesy Alan