Bunk area

Sunny spells then clouding over, 10°, light SE.

Gravel pit only had a Little Grebe present and c70 Lapwing flushed by a Sparrowhawk.

Canada Goose and Greylag Goose heard only.

Bunk line area fairly quiet today: 6 Chiffchaff along the hedgerow by CSW.

A flock of c100 Linnet and approx. 20 of each Greenfinch and Chaffinch around a shelter belt and plenty of Fieldfare and Redwing about.

c200 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Herring Gull and 8 Black-headed Gull in nearby fields.

A male Blackcap in garden again.

A Muntjac Deer in the garden yesterday.

Goshawk

Overcast with some light rain, 10°, light SSE.

Bird of the day has to be a female Goshawk that passed briefly through Cholsey airspace this afternoon, c14:00, flew from roughly Winterbrook area towards Carmel College when it was lost from view. Per Geoff Wyatt. 1st record since 1978.

5 Gadwall seen on a small flood in a field off Green Lane on Saturday. Per Richard Broughton.

Back to today and along the Bunk area: up to 5 Chiffchaff with a Tit flock at CSW.

2+ Yellowhammer, a Goldcrest, several Siskin, good numbers of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling and 2 Egyptian Geese.

Gravel pit: a Little Grebe, 3 Tufted Duck, c10 Shoveler in flight and settling in to pits that are not viewable and c120 Canada Geese. Also up to 1000 Gull distantly, most too far for ID but some nearer birds noted. Lesser Blackback, Black-headed and Herring Gull.

Fieldfare & Redwing

Overcast, 12°, light SSW.

Bunk area:

2 Little Grebe, 20 Shoveler and a Common Snipe at the gravel pit.

A mixed flock of c500 of mainly Fieldfare with a good number of Redwing spread along the Bunk, esp Green Lane.

3 Grey Heron, 2 Sparrowhawk, 2 Jay, a Little Owl, 3 Yellowhammer and 2 Chiffchaff at CSW.

Distantly over Cholsey Hill at dusk, c1000 Starling appeared to be flying NW.

Lollingdon and The Lees

Sunny, 0°, light NNW.

Lollingdon and The Lees area:

9 Teal, and 8 Common Snipe all flushed from ditches as the flood was frozen over, 5+ Chiffchaff (4 out by the Lees and 1 Lollingdon), 2 Little Egret, a Grey Heron, 18 Lapwing, a Merlin flushed 20 Golden Plover from Cholsey Hill and they settled near the farm.

Plenty of Fieldfare and Redwing scattered around, 5 Mistle Thrush and a flock of 20+ Meadow Pipit.

2 White-fronted Geese flew from the river to a field near the Waterloo. Per Roger Wyatt.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

White-fronted Goose courtesy Roger Wyatt

Bunk

Sunny, 2°, light NW.

Bunk area:

A Mute Swan, 12 Shoveler and 6 Little Grebe on the gravel pit and c40 Lapwing on the bank briefly before disappearing in to another pit that is not possible to view.

Lots of Winter Thrush around, c200 Fieldfare and 60+ Redwing plus a single Mistle Thrush.

A Little Owl heard calling and a Chiffchaff at CSW plus a few more, new for the year.

2025 bows out

Sunny, 2°, light W.

The last walk of the year out to the Lees and Long Ditch:

Initially appeared very quiet but the longer you are out the more you see.

Up to 100 Skylark in total spread around and c50 Meadow Pipit. 2 Common Snipe along the Long Ditch and a Kingfisher noted nearby.

A fairly large Tit flock at the Lees with c20 Long-tailed Tit, 4 Chiffchaff, 3 Goldcrest and a Treecreeper plus the odd Blue and Great Tit.

A Raven over and a few Fieldfare and Redwing moving and to bow out the year a male Merlin flew towards Cholsey Hill from near the Church.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

And finally a thank you to all contributors of 2025 for various wildlife sightings.

Alan Dawson, Richard Broughton, Marta Maziarz, Tony Williams, Geoff Wyatt, Brian Wyatt, Roger Wyatt, Ian Lewington, Michael Pocock, Mike Amphlett, Andy King, Bill Nicholls, Paul Rainsden, Richard James and several other who’s names I have forgotten, apologies.

A European Beaver photographed by Janie Maclean on 7th May on the River Thames was certainly the most significant observation this year.

Lollingdon

Mainly cloudy, 11°, light SSE.

Not a great deal on the floods out at Lollingdon today. 135 Lesser Blackback Gull and a single Herring Gull that disappeared after being flushed by a Buzzard.

On the walk out, 2 Goldcrest and 2 Chiffchaff in the Millennium wood and another Chiffchaff out at Lollingdon. A handful of Meadow Pipit, c20 Redwing and a few Fieldfare, a single Mistle Thrush, 2 Jay, 2 Raven, 4 Grey Heron and a Little Egret.

This Starling was in song for c20 minutes before joining a small flock passing by.

Bunk & Gravel pit

Cloudy with some light rain, 9°, light S.

Quiet along Bunk today:

Gravel pit: 8 Shoveler, 2 Tufted Duck, 4 Little Grebe, 39 Lapwing, 20+ Canada Geese and just 3 Gulls.

60+ Fieldfare, 50+ Redwing and a single Chiffchaff nearby.

Bunk & Lollingdon

Mainly cloudy with rain late afternoon, 8°, breezy SSE.

A Woodcock found by Brian Wyatt today along the Bunk line area. First for this year.

10 Lapwing on the floods out at Lollingdon, the usual Fieldfare and Redwing, a few Meadow Pipit, 2 Stonechat and a Yellowhammer.

A flock of approx. 500 Corvid nearby and a Chiffchaff in the Millennium Wood.

Lollingdon

Sunny, 10°, light S.

Lollingdon floods:

A Merlin flew in, fast and low and took what I believe was a Meadow Pipit from a small flock on the flooded area.

Not much on the flood other than 2 Common Snipe, a handful of Black-headed Gull, 20+ Pied Wagtail, the afore mentioned Meadow Pipit (c20) and a Grey Heron.

On the periphery, 2 Stonechat, a Chiffchaff, 3 Yellowhammer, 2 Jay, many Fieldfare and Redwing, 2 Mistle Thrush and a Song Thrush - in song.

2 Little Egret flew east over the cattle field.

Bunk

Sunny, 6°, light S.

A frosty start along the Bunk and still pretty quiet.

A Chiffchaff, 3 Goldcrest, 100+ Fieldfare, c50 Redwing, a flock of 16 Skylark, 2 Jay, a Meadow Pipit heard etc.

All I could see on the gravel pit was 3 Shoveler and a few Gulls.

Lollingdon

Cloudy with a few light rain showers, 15°, breezy SSW.

A breezy walk out to Lollingdon:

3 Chiffchaff (1 in song), 4 Goldcrest, c120 Fieldfare, c75 Redwing, 2 Mistle Thrush, an increase in Blackbird numbers, 200+ Starling, 50+ Meadow Pipit, 20+ Pied Wagtail, 5 Siskin, 2+ Redpoll, 3 Yellowhammer, 2 Jay and a Kingfisher.

A  male Merlin seen around the Hithercroft area. Per Connor Pimm.

Another near miss today. Mike Amphlett found a Brent Goose with a flock of Gulls just a few hundred meters outside the parish boundary in Moulsford. The species has not been recorded in Cholsey before, so worth keeping an eye out in case it joins the Goose flock on the Cholsey side.

Phone cam photo of Brent Goose (Dark-bellied form), breeds on Arctic coasts of central and western Siberia and winters in coastal western Europe. courtesy Mike Amphlett. Great find.

A bit of sunshine

Mainly cloudy with a few sunny spells, 5°, light SSW.

Bunk, fairly quiet: 2-3 Chiffchaff, 6 Yellowhammer, a Treecreeper, 50+ Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, c20 Redwing, 3 Goose sp, Greylag, Canada and Egyptian, Tufted Duck, the usual Gulls, c400 Starling, etc.

Chiffchaff doing its best to avoid the camera

Green Woodpecker

A few of the many Starling

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.

AD & PC.

Siskin pics courtesy Alan