Warming up.

Sunny periods, 22°, light SSW.

1, poss 2 Common Redstart on the hill. An adult male seen and heard and another seen very briefly but not conclusive.

A couple of Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer and Common Whitethroat present.

Nearby a Sedge Warbler still present, plus several more Yellowhammer (total of 12), a few Blackcap and Common Whitethroat and Chiffchaff, etc.

A single Grey Heron, a couple of Jay heard in 2 locations and the odd Swallow and House Martin overhead.

Reptiles: a single Common Lizard scurried across a footpath in front of me.

Dragonflies: Beautiful and Banded Demoiselle.

Butterflies: Low numbers, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and Ringlet.

One Swallow does not a summer make.

Mainly sunny, 12°, light E.

A few areas covered today but overall rather quiet.

A Wheatear and 2 Little Egret out at Lollingdon. Per MFJ.

2-4 Swallow, 2 Grey Wagtail, 4 Lapwing, several Fieldfare and Redwing, Meadow Pipit, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Yellowhammer, Herring Gull, Lesser Blackback Gull, Black-headed Gull.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Reptiles & Amphibians: Common Lizard found by Niall Hammond.  

Butterflies: Brimstone, Comma & Peacock.

Insects: Dark-edged Bee-fly.

PC & AD.

Still fairly quiet

Sunny with variable cloud, 13°, light NNW.

An early afternoon walk along the Bunk line/Green lane area. TW had just come back from a walk there and stated it rather was quiet.

4-5 Chiffchaff, 2 Green Woodpecker and a female Sparrowhawk of note.

A handful of Meadow Pipit, Skylark and Yellowhammer and little else.

Alan was out a little later and walked up as far as the gravel workings where there were 2 Stonechat and a Little Grebe.  

Dragonflies: a single Common Darter.

Butterflies: a single Red Admiral. Tony Rayner recorded a Small Copper and a Common Blue in his garden along with a Common Lizard.

Chiffchaff

Green Woodpecker

Common Lizard doing its best to hide.

Breezy days

Sunshine, 17°, breezy NE.

One of the Ring Ouzel still present out at Lollingdon early morning (Paul Rainsden) but not seen later. It was being hassled by a Magpie and may well have flown off to somewhere nearby.

Seen again this evening around 19:00, per Kev Polley.

Other species noted were Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Swallow and a flyover Yellow Wagtail. Per AD & AS.

Common Lizard also noted.

Ring Ouzel (AD)

Wolf Spider? (AD)

Whinchat, Wheatears, Redstart etc

A misty start then sunshine and cloud, 17°, light WNW.

A Common Redstart (m), 3 Wheatear, 2 Kestrel and several Chiffchaff on the hill today.

4 Spotted Flycatcher nearby and 2 Blackcap.

A reasonable passage of Hirundines over the hill with just short of 200 birds. Almost equal numbers of Swallow and House Martin. A handful of Meadow Pipit flyovers (first ones of the autumn).

A Whinchat along the Bunk line this morning (per Alan Dawson).

Mammals: Short-tailed Vole & Brown Hare.

Reps: 1 Common Lizard.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Red Admiral (2), Comma (2) and Speckled Wood.

 Whinchat (courtesy Alan)

 Spotted Flycatcher ↕

 Common Redstart

 Chiffchaff ↕

Redstart again

Cloudy with sunny intervals, 20°, light NNE.

2 Common Redstart (juvs) on the hill today, 1 in the usual hedge and another in the Hawthorns along the hill. Not always viewable but vocal and a couple of young Chiffchaff around.

20+ House Sparrow also present, they usually turn up on the hill this time of year but not as many as this.

5 Kestrel hunting the hill. Loads of Swift around with 100+ over a period of a couple of hours.

3 Little Owl noted and the flock of around 12 Mistle Thrush still present.

Reps: 2 Common Lizard.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle and Emperor Dragonfly.

Butterflies: Small Skipper, Essex Skipper, Large Skipper, Large White, Small White, Small Copper, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma, Speckled Wood, Marbled White, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Ringlet.

Quiet again

Mainly cloudy with sunny spells, 13°, light ESE.

Fairly quiet on the hill and surrounds today, 2 Lesser Whitethroat and a Willow Warbler. The usual Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and Chiffchaff, Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer present and a couple of Raven again in the area.

A Yellow Wagtail near Westfield road. Per Alan Dawson.

Mammals: Roe Deer and Muntjac Deer.

Reps: Common Lizard.

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

Common Lizard

Yellow Wagtail (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Muntjac Deer

Blackcap

Of Bats, Reptiles & More Housing

There is a new application for houses at Old Blackalls farm. P18/S4273/O)

The ecological survey with Bats undertaken on the Old Blackall's site for the applicant together with TR’s son’s monitoring here this year show very similar results.

It seems that we have a remarkable 8 species of bat, Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, Noctule, Leisler's, Natterers, Barbastelle, Serotine and Brown Long Eared.

Bats enjoy a high degree of protection especially Barbastelle which is very rare and a UK Biodiversity Action Plan species.

There are few records of this species in Oxon & Berks.

Clearance of the site and housing estate light pollution are bound to threaten the continuing presence of these species in the area.

Also 

The Countryside Officer, Dominic Lamb, reports a medium population of Slow-worms and low numbers of Grass Snakes in the vicinity.

He also states “that these reptiles would need to be translocated off site - but that no receptor site has been identified”.

You wouldn't think from this that the area is arguably one of the top reptile sites in the county (if one ignores Adders and there are precious few of these now) One left at Bix!

From such an overgrown site we don't see how these reptiles can be gathered without huge clearance and given that half of them are probably on land adjoining Tony Rayner’s. The estimate of the populations are 150 Slow-worm and 20 Grass Snake not to mention the Common Lizard.

We wonder how far down on the political priorities is the environment!

Leisler's Bat (courtesy The Wildlife Trusts)

Warblers & Flycatchers

Mainly sunny, 20°, light to breezy N.

A single Whinchat on the hill today along with a Common Whitethroat, Garden Warbler and a Reed Bunting.

The area around the 2 Oak trees and the central hedge in the cow field was rather lively, with up to 5 Spotted Flycatcher, a Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Common Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap, 2 Willow Warbler 10+ Chiffchaff and a Treecreeper.

Again a few Swallow and House Martin moving through but most at a higher altitude and just picked up by hearing them calling.

Also noted were 2 Kestrel, 3-4 Jay and a Raven heard calling.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Reptiles: 1 Common Lizard.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Red Admiral and Speckled Wood.

 Whinchat

 Spotted Flycatcher (above & below)

Red tails on the hill

Sunny, 20°, light ENE.

The 2 Common Redstart still present on the hill today, also 3 Mistle Thrush on the hill for a short time.

2 Willow Warbler, 5 Chiffchaff and a Whitethroat present nearby.

20+ Red Kite and 2 Buzzard riding a thermal out towards the village and a couple of Kestrel around.

A Kingfisher by the pond.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

R&A's: Common Lizard, 1 seen sunbathing on an ant hill.

Dragonflies: Brown Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Some record shots, couldn't get close to anything today except the Brimstone!

Eastender Reptiles

Some interesting reptile records for 2014:

“A few amazing numbers for our site in 2014:

Common Lizard

No of days when looked for and seen 97: Grand total of the 97 counts 707

Grass Snake

No of days when looked for and seen 80: Grand total of the 80 counts 426

Slow worm

No of days when looked for and seen 89: Grand total of the 89 counts 4,436

Highest daily count 124

2014 was our best year for reptiles since records began in 2000.”

“Recently while walking the circuit from Cholsey Church and beside the Bunk to Wallingford Road via Green Lane.

16 Linnets in Shepheards Garden; 10 Yellowhammers beside the next field by The Bunk; 140 Lesser Blackback Gulls overhead; and along Green Lane - 6 Mallard; 1 Common Snipe, 2 Grey Herons and 9 Teal.

Finally beside the Wallingford Road a Dog Fox just opposite the Caps Lane junction.”

The Eastender.

Back to normal service soon, have been in Yorkshire for several days and anxious to get the Cholsey year list off to a good start! Thanks to those who have emailed me with sightings recently.

Expected and Unexpected.

Sunny spells, 15º, light NNW.

A couple of hours on the hill today produced 11 Wheatear a Mistle Thrush and 2 Meadow Pipit.

5 Swallow and an expected Yellow Wagtail  flew over heading north and unexpectedly 2 Whimbrel, heard calling initially then seen flying north east over Westfield rd.

A Treecreeper seen in the meadow to the north of the hill, a couple of Starling and the regular Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer around.

A visit to Churn later proved rather quiet however 2 Shelduck on the flood in the distance but not much else.

Several Common Lizard seen at another location.

Orange Tip, Peacock, Brimstone and Small Tort all seen today.

 

 Treecreeper

 Wheatear

 Common Lizard (courtesy Loren)

 Common Lizard

Lollingdon

Sunny, 16º, light NW, a pleasant day!

An afternoon spent around the Lollingdon area again and joined by Bob Wyatt today, the hill again relatively quiet with just a couple of Whitethroat along the hedgerow and a few Linnet, also Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting present, a Grey Heron over and the usual Buzzard and Red Kite in the area.

The fields to the north of the hill had up to three Lesser Whitethroat, another Whitethroat, at least one Blackcap, a Garden Warbler, a Chiffchaff and a couple of Song Thrush.

At least one and possibly three Yellow Wagtail seen and six Swallow.

A Common Lizard seen briefly that must have been basking in the sun and disappeared in to cover on our approach.

Butterflies notable today with Brimstone, Small White, Peacock, Orange Tip, Red Admiral, Holly Blue, Small Tortoiseshell.