Sunny but colder.

Sunny spells, 11°, light N.

The floods out at Lollingdon proved to be quite active today for Alan, with c400 Lesser Blackback Gull, c30 Black-headed Gull, a couple of Herring Gull and 4 Common Gull.

Plus, 100+ Teal, 15 Egyptian Geese, c70 Lapwing, several Common Snipe, a Kingfisher, a Stonechat, Chiffchaff, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Redwing and Fieldfare.

And Coal Tit and Goldcrest, Cholsey Meadows.

I, on the other hand took a walk along the Bunk area, with very little noted, a single Yellowhammer, a handful of Redwing, a Grey Heron, a Greylag Goose and a single Shoveler overhead.

Tawny Owl calling near Church road, just after dark.

Dragonflies: good numbers of Common Darter, Lollingdon and Cholsey Meadows.

Common Darter courtesy Alan

A not so common, Common Gull, courtesy Alan

Greenfinch

Greylag Goose

Teal courtesy Alan

A bit samey

Few sunny spells, 11°, light WNW.

Lollingdon Hill was very quiet, just a few Yellowhammer and Fieldfare present. Nearby was a lot busier with good numbers of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling. A Blackcap and Goldcrest mixed in with a Tit flock, c 50 Linnet and a scattering of Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail etc.

Alan reported that the river area was very quiet and some Siskin over Church Road. Per RB.

Dragonflies: 2 Common Darter.

Butterflies: a single Red Admiral.

Goldcrest

Slow times

Sunny periods, 11°, breezy W.

The slow times are persisting with little or no movement. Lollingdon was quieter than usual. A scattering of Fieldfare and Redwing, a few Siskin overhead, several Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer and a Little Owl and a Tawny Owl heard but little else noted.

Alan fared little better along the Bunk and River. Green Sandpiper still present, Water Rail, a Grey Wagtail, a Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, Siskin over, several Fieldfare and Redwing.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: 15+ Common Darter Lollingdon and 20+ Cholsey Meadows.

Common Darter courtesy Alan

Common Darter ↕

Getting cooler

Mainly sunny, 11°, light WSW.

Still rather quiet out there. Lollingdon, 20+ of each Fieldfare and Redwing, 3 Mistle Thrush, a few Yellowhammer, a small flock of Siskin over, 2 Chiffchaff, several Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail etc.

River and Bunk line did not fare any better with Alan. c150 Fieldfare and Redwing, Mistle Thrush, several Meadow Pipit and a good number of Pied Wagtail.

Dragonflies: c20 Common Darter (Lollingdon).

Fieldfare

Redwing

4of the Common Darters

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

River & Meadows

Mainly sunny, 15°, light SSW.

River/Meadows. Per Alan.

Reed Bunting, Chiffchaff, Grey Wagtail, Usual Geese, Pied Wagtail, Redwing and Fieldfare.

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

Butterflies: Small White and Red Admiral.

Reed Bunting courtesy Alan

Willow Emerald

Bunk again

Sunny intervals, 13°, breezy E.

Alan along the Bunk today with Fieldfare, Redwing, Siskin, Meadow Pipit, Sparrowhawk and Chiffchaff.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Red Admiral.

Meadow Pipit courtesy Alan

Common Buzzard courtesy Alan

A late Darter and a dead Kittiwake

Sunny, 11°, light SW.

A repeat of Wednesday with both Alan and myself out in the Lollingdon area.

I decided to stick around the flooded field area whilst Alan covered the long ditch and areas around Lollingdon.

Unfortunately I found a dead Kittiwake along the margin of the flooded field, only the 2nd record of this species in Cholsey. The last being in November 1957 also deceased. Would be nice to see a live one here!

A Little Egret commuting between the flooded field and the cattle field and a couple of Raven in the area.

2 Chiffchaff at 2 sites, several Siskin also seen at 2 sites, Stonechat, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Reed Bunting, a few hundred Starling, a Peregrine, Water Rail, Kingfisher, Sparrowhawk, approx. 50 Pied Wagtail scattered around the wet fields and c250 Lesser Blackback Gull and up to 50 Black-headed Gull.

Dragonflies: a surprise late record of a Common Darter.

Common Darter

Kittiwake

Little Egret courtesy Alan

Little Egret

Pied Wagtail

Buzzard

Still a little quiet

Cloudy at first then a few sunny spells, 14°, light SSW.

A quietish day again. Alan reported the river area as very quiet with just a Sparrowhawk worthy of note.

Bunk line also quiet, a Little Owl heard calling, a Treecreeper and the usual Gull flock loafing in one of the fields, c400 birds.

Lollingdon also proved quiet, however a Barn Owl seen being harried by a Red Kite. The Owl eventually dived thru a hedge and lost its pursuer. A Raven over and a Grey Wagtail present and 2 Common Snipe on a flooded field.

Mammals: Brown Hare, Stoat and some long dead remains that looked like a Polecat.

Dragonflies: at least one Common Darter still on the wing.

Both pics courtesy Alan

Buzzard

Lesser Blackback Gull

A mild one

Overcast with later sunny spells, 16°, light SSW.

Unseasonably mild today and relatively little to show for it.

Alan along the river and seemingly quiet. A Mandarin Duck on the river, “Winter Thrushes” evident plus Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush, Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff and the regulars.

Large numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing along the Bunk today with many coming from the Cholsey Hill area. 500-600 birds noted and 2 Sparrowhawk flew thru.

A Chiffchaff along Green Lane with a roving Tit flock and Fieldfare and Redwing in just about every bush.

A Grey Wagtail in the Church Road area.

Dragonflies: A Migrant Hawker along the river and a Common Darter, Green Lane.

Long-tailed Tit ↕

Great Tit

Shaggy Parasol

Egrets & Dragons

Sunny spells and the odd rain shower, 13°, breezy SW.

Relatively quiet out at Lollingdon today. 100+ Fieldfare on the hill plus a few Redwing and Starling.

Nearby 2 Little Egret, 2 Raven overhead, a Chiffchaff, a flock of 20+ Meadow Pipit and several Pied Wagtail and Skylark.

A Sparrowhawk visiting the garden again.

Dragonflies: at least 3 Common Darter still on the wing.

Butterflies: a single Brimstone.

Little Egret

find the Common Darter

Getting colder

Cloudy with some sunshine, 12°, light WNW.

The Long Ditch, Lollingdon and Bunk line covered today.

Kingfisher, Peregrine, Reed Bunting, 4 Stonechat, 5 Siskin, 3 Redpoll, 4 Grey Wagtail (incl 1 in the garden), Sparrowhawk, 2 Kestrel, 2 Chiffchaff and good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing. Several Skylark and a few Yellowhammer, Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail.

Dragonflies: a single Common Darter.

Paul & Alan.

Siskin courtesy Alan ↕

Buzzard courtesy Alan

Stonechat courtesy Alan

A couple from the garden. Grey Wagtail (above) & Dunnock, Wren & Blue Tit (below)

Quietish

Sunny periods, 17°, breezy SW.

A fairly quiet hill today, the 2 Stonechat still present and a few BOP’s over. 2 Buzzard, 5 Red Kite, 2 Sparrowhawk and 2 Kestrel.

Nearby, a Chiffchaff, a few good-sized flocks of Linnet, Chaffinch and Goldfinch, numbers of Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and Skylark and a flock of c30 Redwing and a handful of Fieldfare.

Alan along the river: 2 Stonechat, Chiffchaff, Kingfisher, Siskin, Meadow Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Mistle Thrush and Nuthatch.

Dragonflies: 7 Common Darter, incl 2 pairs ovipositing plus Common Darter and Migrant Hawker along the river.

Butterflies: a single Speckled Wood Lollingdon and Peacock and Red Admiral along the river.

Common Darters ovipositing

Stonechat ↕

male Common Darter

Lollingdon

Cloudy with sunny periods and a few rain showers, 15°, breezy SW.

A busy hill and both of us out there at different times today, 4 Stonechat present hawking insects along the fence line and 500+ Fieldfare over. Most flying over heading south towards the downs and some stopped to feed on the Hawthorn berries.

A single, late House Martin flew south east and 2 Raven over.

Good numbers of Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Pied Wagtail, including a possible White Wagtail.

One Wagtail stood out for me as having no discernible black on the head or throat and was a pale looking bird compared to others in the flock.

The flock flew before I could get a photo.

Alan went later to the same site and photographed another bird which appears to be a possible White Wagtail also.

There are no documented records of White Wagtail in Cholsey as far as I am aware. Quite probably overlooked as they are a regular continental migrant thru the UK.

the so called British Pied Wagtail "yarrellii" is a sub-species of White Wagtail "alba".

Addition: Having since consulted with Ian Lewington it is probable that the pic below is a female Pied Wagtail as the plumage detail is not conclusive for a White Wagtail. Often a difficult species to id conclusively in autumn.

2+ Chiffchaff, a Goldcrest, Little Owl, Little Egret, Grey Wagtail, 30+ Redwing, 2 Jay, 2 Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, 14 Yellowhammer and a flock of c40 Linnet and 20+ Chaffinch.

Alan found a Mandarin Duck on the river on the 21st.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Migrant Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Clouded Yellow (22nd Oct, per Alan).

Fieldfares

Possible "White" Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba) courtesy Alan

Grey Wagtail courtesy Alan

Stonechat

Raven

Mandarin Duck courtesy Alan