Cholsey Marsh

Overcast then rain, 8°, breezy NE.

A trip down to Cholsey Marsh to check out the roost this evening. Not able to get close to the bank as the river has flooded up to 100 metres up Ferry Road.

Managed to count just over 200 Corn Bunting coming in plus a couple of Meadow Pipit.

A Cetti’s Warbler singing along the river bank, a few Siskin heard calling, at least 3 Water Rail, 2 Reed Bunting, a Yellowhammer and Goldcrest.

2 Egyptian Geese flew down stream along with 3 Cormorant and 60+ Canada Geese in a nearby field.

At 16:45 a flock of Starling in excess of 1000 birds flew north over the marsh.

A Chiffchaff in the garden this morning and a Blackcap nearby.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

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.

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Pintail courtesy Alan ↕

Lesser Blackback Gull

Black-headed Gull

Blackcap courtesy Alan

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.

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Siskin pics courtesy Alan

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.

Cholsey

Mainly cloudy, 10°, Light N.

River: Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Cetti’s Warbler, Kingfisher and Reed Bunting.

Lollingdon: Willow Warbler, Wheatear, Blackcap, Swallow, Lapwing and Yellow Wagtail.

Bunk: Little Egret, Common Sandpiper, Blackcap, Swallow, House Martin, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat and Yellow Wagtail over.

Per Alan.

Yellow Wagtail

A few new ones for the year

Mainly cloudy, 15°, breezy SE.

 
Bunk, Lollingdon and River areas covered. Common Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, 20+ Chiffchaff, 4 Willow Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, 8+ Blackcap, Goldcrest, 6 Swallow, 3 Sand Martin, a Bullfinch, 2-3 Corn Bunting, 6 Yellowhammer, a few Reed Bunting, Nuthatch, Grey Wagtail, 6+ Lapwing, Water Rail, 2 Herring Gull and a Raven etc.

Lots of Buzzard in the air today with several displaying plus a Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Peregrine.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Orange Tip, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma and Peacock.

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Common Whitethroat courtesy Alan

Small Tortoiseshell

Blackcap courtesy Alan

Corn Bunting courtesy Alan

Mistle Thrush

Showers & Sunshine

Showers and Sunshine, 15°, breezy WSW.

Lollingdon, Bunk Line and River.

Our first Swallow of the year noted heading north over the Bunk line area.

Good numbers of Chiffchaff, 2 Cetti’s Warbler, 2 Blackcap, a Wheatear, 2 Raven, 8 Lapwing, several Pied Wagtail, a handful of Siskin over, 6 Yellowhammer, a Reed Bunting and a Grey Heron.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Butterflies: plenty of Peacock and a single Small Tortoiseshell.

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Raven

Wheatear

Grey Heron

Peacock

Cetti's Warbler

Hazy sunshine, 6°, light SW.

River area: Cetti’s Warbler, Water Rail, c25 Siskin, Reed Bunting, Chiffchaff, Kingfisher, Common Snipe and the usual Geese. Per Alan.

Cetti's Warbler courtesy Alan

A quiet start to November

A mixed bag today with cloudy skies, sunshine and showers, 12°, breezy SW.

Pretty quiet out at Lollingdon today. A mixed flock of c100 birds, Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit on the flooded field. A scattering of Fieldfare, Redwing, Starling and Skylark, the odd Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting, a Grey Wagtail, and 2 Raven etc.

River area, per Alan: Mistle Thrush singing, Water Rail, Cetti’s Warbler, usual Geese, Meadow Pipit, Siskin over, Sparrowhawk, Fieldfare, Redwing, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail and Kingfisher.

Dragonflies: Common Darter still relatively abundant on suitable areas.

Pied Wagtail ↕

Sunshine & Rain

Rain then sun then rain again, 14°, light SSW.

A rather uneventful walk out to Lollingdon and back. The hill was quiet other than 250+ Starling chattering away on some nearby telegraph wires and the calls of 12 Red Kite and 3 Buzzard soaring over the hill.

Have been hearing a lot of Siskin moving through lately and today was no exception with at least 3 small flocks passing overhead.

Just 5 Fieldfare noted plus, 52 Redwing, 10 Yellowhammer, 1 Chiffchaff, 12 Meadow Pipit, 6 Pied Wagtail, 2 Jay and a single Raven etc.

River, per Alan: Cetti’s Warbler, Blackcap, 2 Treecreeper, Goldcrest, Reed Bunting, Chiffchaff, Grey Wagtail and Water Rail.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: 1 Small White and 7 Red Admiral.

Goldcrest courtesy Alan

Nuthatch

Blackbird

Warm and wet

Rain at first then sunny spells, 15°, light SSW.

Bunk line: 40+ Fieldfare, 24 Redwing, 3 sightings of 2 Sparrowhawk, 6 Grey Heron, 1 Lapwing, 2 Grey Wagtail, 7 Pied Wagtail, 4 Chiffchaff, a Goldcrest, several Siskin and 5 Yellowhammer etc.

Yesterday along the River. Per Alan.

Water Rail, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Siskin, 2 Kingfisher, Reed Bunting, Goldcrest and Sparrowhawk.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Red Admiral.

Common Darter warming up on the rail

Red Admiral

Grey Wagtail

One of two Nuthatch in the garden

First Swift

Overcast, rain later, 12°, breezy SE.

Lollingdon and the Thames area covered today and Alan managed the first Swift of the year along the river. Plus Cetti’s Warbler, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Yellow Wagtail, Linnet etc.

2 (f) Wheatear out at Lollingdon plus Mandarin Duck, 2 Lapwing, 2-3 Yellow Wagtail, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Yellowhammer, Linnet etc.

Yellow Wagtail

Linnet courtesy Alan

Pretty quiet but another rarity

Another sunny day clouding over later, 16°, light SSE.

Another local rarity today with a flyover Woodlark on Church Road, calling frequently. Per Richard Broughton.

And a single flyover Swallow over the Station Road allotments this afternoon.

River area somewhat quiet. Chiffchaff and Cetti’s Warbler in song along the river plus a Kingfisher.

Bunk line area very quiet, just a few Chiffchaff present.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Peacock & Red Admiral.

A wet one

Overcast with frequent rain showers, 14°, light SW.

A wet walk out to Lollingdon hill this morning. A Little Egret in the Little Lollingdon area and 2 Stonechat still on the hill.

Higher numbers of Meadow Pipit around with c100 counted plus good numbers of Pied Wagtail.

2+ Redpoll, 14 Yellowhammer, a Little Owl calling and appears to be an influx of Chaffinch with 80+ seen.

5 Chiffchaff scattered about and 7 House Martin overhead and a single Swallow over Church Road late afternoon.

Alan along the river later in the day, Cetti’s Warbler (in song), Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, Sparrowhawk and House Martin.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer and Tony Williams saw an Otter on the river.

Dragonflies: Migrant Hawker.

Butterflies: a single Small White.

Roe Deer with young

Meadow Pipit

Stonechat

Dunnock

Wet 'n Windy

Light showers and windy, 17°, breezy SW.

The bird of the day for me was a gorgeous male Merlin seen skimming low and fast over the fields along the Bunk line before towering high over the church. On its passage it put up a few Meadow Pipit and Skylark but presumably not hunting.

A single Swallow and 2 House Martin battling thru the wind and several Chiffchaff still around and a couple of Jay.

Alan was along the river area with several Swallow and House Martin, plus Chiffchaff, Cetti’s Warbler, Goldcrest, Kingfisher and a Stonechat. Later along the Bunk line were 5 Grey Wagtail, 40’ish House Martin and several Swallow.

2 Siskin in a garden yesterday. Per Richard James.

Dragonflies: poss Migrant Hawker and a Common Darter.

Butterflies: a single Peacock in a sheltered area of the garden.

Insects: 2 Hornet.

Alan and Paul.

Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Thames/Marsh/Bunk Line

Mainly sunny again, 16°, light W.

Alan out along the River/Marsh this morning and the first Reed Warbler of the year. Other warblers were Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler.

Plus, Water Rail.

I took a walk along the Bunk line to the Gravel pit: 2 Little Ringed Plover, a Common Sandpiper, 4 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, 2 Lesser Blackback Gull, a single Black-headed Gull, 10 Tufted Duck, 4 Canada Geese and 2 Mallard and 3 House Martin over.

Green Lane had several Blackcap and Common Whitethroat and heard and saw an Oystercatcher flying over the gravel pit heading south east and whilst watching that caught sight of a bird in a hedgerow that turned out to be a Common Redstart.

Elsewhere a Little Owl, a Kestrel, several Yellowhammer, Chiffchaff and 2 Swallow over CSW.

Alan did the Bunk line later in the day and added 3 Swallow and 4-5 more Yellow Wagtail to todays tally.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

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

Grasshopper Warbler courtesy Alan (Benson)

A trickle

A few light showers and sunny spells, 16°, light SSW.

Alan out today and covered a fair bit of the parish.

The marsh produced our first Sedge Warbler of the year plus Blackcap, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff and Water Rail.

Male and female Blackcap along the Bunk line, 2 Herring Gull and 2 Tufted Duck on the Gravel pit.

Several Corn Bunting along Westfield Road then later 2 Swallow feeding over the Gravel pit plus a Little Owl nearby

A Muntjac Deer visited the garden again.

Muntjac Deer

Corn Bunting courtesy Alan

Buntings

Light cloud, 10°, light SE.

Another generally quiet day. Bunk line and Gravel pit area turned up c300 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Tufted Duck, Green Sandpiper and a Little Grebe.

The River/Marsh: Cetti’s Warbler, Stonechat, Reed Bunting, Fieldfare, Redwing and Yellowhammer.

Cholsey Hill: c45 Golden Plover, Skylark and Corn Bunting. Per Alan.

Lollingdon was somewhat quiet apart from large numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing in the treetops chattering away presumably preparing to move on.

2 Bullfinch on Lollingdon hill and the odd Skylark, Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer.

Nearby a flock of 24 Corn Bunting flew west and several more Yellowhammer and a couple of Reed Bunting.

All 3 Bunting species heard in song today.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Reed Bunting

Corn Bunting courtesy Alan

Corn Bunting

Yellowhammer