Lollingdon and The Lees

Sunny, 14°, light ESE.

Lollingdon and The Lees:

Generally pretty quiet out today: 6 Stonechat (4 Lollingdon & 2 Lees), 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Reed Bunting, 6 Yellowhammer, 20+ Skylark, 10+ Meadow Pipit, 30+ Linnet and 6 Pied Wagtail.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: 2 Clouded Yellow and singles of Brimstone and Red Admiral.

Lollingdon & The Lees

Sunny spells, 18°, light SSW.

Lollingdon and the Lees: still pretty quiet locally. 4 Stonechat, 2 Lollingdon and 2 the Lees area, 40+ Stock Dove flushed by a Buzzard, a Kingfisher, 4 Chiffchaff, 3 Yellowhammer and a Grey Heron.

Dragonflies: A Migrant Hawker and several Common Darter.

Butterflies: 3 Clouded Yellow, a Red Admiral and a Small White.

Not a lot

Sunny periods, 20°, breezy SSW.

Lollingdon and The Lees: pretty quiet all round except for one busy patch out by the Lees.

6 Stonechat out near the Lees, 2 Reed Bunting and a Grey Heron and 10+ Chiffchaff and 8 Skylark on walk.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: A Migrant Hawker and several Common Darter.

Butterflies: 4 Clouded Yellow, Lollingdon and 10+ in the usual field near the Lees plus 6 Common Blue and 1 Red Admiral and a couple of Small White.

1st Oct: Chiffchaff, Common Darter, Common Blue & Red Admiral in garden and a Skylark, Jay, 2 Greylag & Buzzard over.

The Lees, Long ditch and Cholsey Hill

Sunny spells at first the clouding up, 22°, ESE.

The Lees, Long ditch and Cholsey Hill:

A Wheatear by the barns near the Lees and 2 Stonechat along the long ditch. Plus, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer, 5 Chiffchaff, a Kestrel and c200 Gulls loafing in the fields.

A Merlin on Cholsey Hill spooking lots of small birds, c30 Skylark, 40+ Linnet, 6+ Corn Bunting and 50+ Meadow Pipit.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: A Migrant Hawker and several Common Darter.

Butterflies: Up to 20 Clouded Yellow in the usual field. On the way back the cloud cover had increased and the temperature had dropped by 4° and not a single one seen. Also several Small White, 10+ Common Blue and 4 Speckled Wood.

Saturday: Grey Wagtail visiting and Common Darter egg laying in a pond, Per Richard James and Clouded Yellow & Small Tortoiseshell on Station Road allotments.

2 Chiffchaff bathing in garden.

Bunk & Gravel pit

Sunny periods, 22°, light SSW.

Gravel pit was busy with machinery working but some activity on the water with, 6 Little Grebe, 4 Shoveler, 4 Tufted Duck, 2 Coot and 5 Lapwing.

c500 Gulls appeared to be flushed from a pit further away and 3 Grey Heron.

Nearby, a single Firecrest, a Willow Warbler, 3 Blackcap, 10+ Chiffchaff, 5 Yellowhammer, 2 Meadow Pipit, a Hobby and 3 Kestrel.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: singles of Clouded Yellow, Small White, Red Admiral and Peacock.

Autumn Equinox

Sunny spells, 22°, breezy NW.

Pretty quiet generally. Lollingdon Hill particularly so with just 9 Yellowhammer and a couple of Chiffchaff present.

2 Stonechat near Little Lollingdon and in total 20+ Chiffchaff on walk.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: 4 Clouded Yellow, Small White, Red Admiral, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth near football pavilion.

Notes from the 21st Sep: Painted Lady in garden and a single House Martin over.

8 Pied Wagtail on roof with solar panels, Church rd.

c1100 large Gulls north east at dusk and a Noctule feeding overhead.

A Green Sandpiper over Wallingford rd. per MP.

Southern Green Shieldbug found by James Beaumont near the Station rd allotments.

Sat/Sun.

Saturday: Mainly cloudy, 22°, Breezy SW.

Cetti's Warbler singing on Wallingford Rd opposite the end of Green Lane (just inside gate into the sheep field). Per RB.

16:30 – 18:00 600+ House Martin and 5 Swallow south over Church road.

Sunday: Sunny, 19°, light SW.

Common Darter, Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady and Red Admiral on allotments.

Chiffchaff in garden.

The Lees

Sunny spells, 20°, breezy WSW.

Decided to check the area that Richard visited yesterday.

2 Stonechat still present at the back of the field along with 9 Corn Bunting a handful of Meadow Pipit, a couple of Chiffchaff, a few Linnet and 2 Kestrel.

As for the Butterflies there were at least 11 Clouded Yellow seen in one sweep of the field, possibly 20+ present in total. Plus 14 Common Blue, 2 Painted Lady and a Red Admiral.

Dragonflies: 3 Migrant Hawker and several Common Darter.

2 Hummingbird Hawkmoth in garden.

Spot Fly, Stonechat & Clouded Yellow

" A staggering (for me) 13 Clouded Yellow, at least, in this and next field of agri-environment scheme legumes. Two Spotted Flycatcher and a pair of Stonechat too. @oxonbirder.bsky.social"

Per Richard Broughton

Bunk

Mainly cloudy, 23°, light SW.

Bunk:

Gravel pit is slowly shrinking as in-filling is taking place.

24 Tufted Duck, 6 Little Grebe, a Coot and 2 Egyptian Geese amongst others.

Elsewhere, both Chiffchaff and Blackcap in low double figures, a Hobby, 6 Yellow Wagtail, 32 House Martin and 26 Swallow.

Dragonflies: A Migrant Hawker and several Common Darter.

Butterflies: 3 Clouded Yellow, several Small White and a Peacock, and Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

Lollingdon

Mainly cloudy, 18°, light to breezy NW.

Lollingdon: Common Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, 8+ Blackcap, a Garden Warbler, 6 Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, 5 Yellowhammer, 2 Kestrel and a Jay and my first local Bullfinch of the year.

A very light passage of c50 Swallow and a few House Martin.

A Blackcap, Nuthatch and Coal Tit in the garden.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker and several Common Darter.

Butterflies: only ones seen on the wing today were Small White and a single Clouded Yellow.

 

Bunk

Mainly cloudy, 26°, light ESE.

Too much human activity at the gravel pit today. the Coot still present along with 3 species of Geese but little else.

A large Tit flock along Green Lane comprising 50+ birds including 12+ Chiffchaff and at least 2 Blackcap.

5 Yellowhammer, 20+ Swallow and a few House Martin.

A Merlin seen from Westfield Road and a Barn Owl, Halfpenny Lane. Per Mike Amphlett.  

Mammals: Stoat.

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

Butterflies: Clouded Yellow, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Peacock and Small Heath.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawkmoth in garden again.

Hard work

Mainly cloudy, 20°, light N.

Hard work finding stuff today on a 4 hour walk out to the Lees then around to Lollingdon.

Singles of Common Redstart, Lesser Whitethroat and Yellow Wagtail, a couple of Blackcap, several Chiffchaff and Yellowhammer, good numbers of Swallow moving through (100+) and 20+ House Martin.

Green Sandpiper over the gravel pit. Per Brian Wyatt.  

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Migrant Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: 7 Clouded Yellow, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Painted Lady, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

A few oddities today, a Helmeted Guinea Fowl running across a field and a Falconer hunting Hares with a Red-tailed Hawk (didn't catch any).

Lollingdon

Mainly cloudy, 27°, light SW.

Lollingdon: A Common Redstart near Little Lollingdon and a Wheatear on the hill. A Lesser Whitethroat also on the hill plus 2 Common Whitethroat and several Chiffchaff and a Tree Pipit over.

Blackcap and several more Chiffchaff nearby and 2 Raven overhead.

And a trickle of Swallow and House Martin over.

RB had a Reeve’s Pheasant in his garden recently.

2 Tawny Owl in the garden last night.  

Mammals: Short-tailed Vole.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle and Common Darter.

Butterflies: 9 Clouded Yellow, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and Small Heath. Plus Hummingbird Hawkmoth on the hill.

More Clouded Yellow

Sunny intervals, 23°, breezy W.

Another day of Clouded Yellow butterfly, with 6 in a clover field at Little Lollingdon, 1 on Lollingdon Hill and another near the Bullshole.

A Common Redstart and Lesser Whitethroat on Lollingdon Hill, several Chiffchaff and a light southerly passage of Hirundines with c40 Swallow and 60+ House Martin.

2 Grey Heron, a Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel.

Butterflies: Clouded Yellow, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Small Heath. A Hummingbird Hawkmoth in the garden.

Saturday: A small (30-40cm) Grass Snake in the garden.

Later on the allotment along Station Road a Clouded Yellow flew through and the regular Painted Lady present along with a few Common Blue. A Sparrowhawk flew through carrying prey.

Clouded Yellows

Sunny, 24°, light WNW.

A walk out to the Lees and an unprecedented number of Clouded Yellow butterflies (7) seen. They were present in a field of Lucerne along with c8 Painted Lady, numerous Common Blue and a Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

It is certainly the most CY’s I’ve seen in one go in the UK.

As for birds, they were in short supply. Although the first Willow Warbler of the autumn was a good one, a few Chiffchaff, c20 Swallow passing over, a Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Blackcap etc.

Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle and Ruddy Darter.

Butterflies: Clouded Yellow, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

Clouded Yellow with an un-identified Bee in the top right. Enlarged crop below.

Melitta tricincta or M. leporina ?