Bunk, Gravel pit and a Cuckoo

Sunny spells, 16°, light to breezy SSE.

Bunk and Gravel pit:

A Greenshank appeared briefly and called, only to fly and disappear into one of the pits with no view of it.

In fact most of the birds were doing this today as the viewable pit was being worked and very little on it.

A Mute Swan, 2 Shelduck, 2 Oystercatcher, a Common Sandpiper, 6 Lapwing, a Little Grebe, a Raven over and an ever-dwindling number of Gulls.

A Willow Warbler, 7 Chiffchaff, 5 Blackcap, 2 Common Whitethroat, 5 Swallow and 3 Yellowhammer.

Geoff Wyatt had a pair of Peregrine above Ilges Lane today repeatedly making the “ee-chup” call, a pair bonding call. They were circling and tangling frequently.

James Beaumont found our first Cuckoo of the year on Cholsey Marsh, towards the 4-Arches railway bridge, plus Reed Warbler, Swallow and Kingfisher.  

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

Summer arrivals

Mainly cloudy, 10°, light S.

Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Willow Warbler and Common Whitethroat, Cholsey Marsh. Per Brian Wyatt.

Bunk area: on the walk out there were 10+ House Martin feeding high over CSW. On the way back the numbers had grown to 20+ House Martin, 5+ Swallow and several Sand Martin, this time feeding a lot lower over the beds.

The Gravel pit hosted a Mute Swan, 2 Shelduck, 4 Gadwall, 3 Oystercatcher and 30+ Lapwing, c12 House Martin, 5 Swallow and several Sand Martin.

2 Peregrine over. I think I’ve mentioned these before and I believe these 2 males to be the ones raised in South Stoke last year. I’ve seen them together on several occasions this year and they appear to hunt together. Maybe a successful survival strategy.

Elsewhere on the walk: 2 Common Whitethroat, several Blackcap and Chiffchaff and a couple of Jay etc.

Butterflies: just a couple of Brimstone and Peacock.

Mallard & Muntjac both in garden today

A warm one

Sunny, 23°, light W.

A couple of hours well spent up by the gravel pit today:

3 Shelduck, an Egyptian Goose, 2 Gadwall, 2 pair of Mallard with 18 young between them, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Little Ringed Plover, a Dunlin, 7 Lapwing, a Peregrine and 2 Grey Heron over, a Sedge Warbler, a Swallow and 2 Sand Martin.

On the walk out: a Willow Warbler at CSW, a Common Whitethroat, Green Lane, 4 Blackcap and 5 Chiffchaff.

A single Fieldfare flying alongside the road on Cholsey Hill.  

Good to see Michael P at the pit today. yesterday he had 3 Wheatear on Lollingdon Hill, 6 Fieldfare nearby and a singing Cetti’s Warbler on Cholsey Marsh.

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

Swallows

Sunny spells, 11°, brisk NW.

Bunk and Gravel pit: 7 Swallow today, initially 2 then an hour later a small flock of 5. All spent around 5 minutes before moving off.

2 Mute Swan present along with a single Shelduck with 4 more flying in but landing on a pit that is not in view. 6 Gadwall, 8 Shoveler, 6 Tufted Duck, a Little Grebe, a Little Ringed Plover, an Oystercatcher, 15 Lapwing, 3 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 2+ Fieldfare and a single Redwing.

A Little Egret on the flood near Church Road.

Phil Dyson had a Swallow over the Thames at Cholsey Marsh this afternoon.

Lollingdon flood on Saturday - 1 Lapwing, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Little Egret. Per Michael Pocock.

Mammals: Hedgehog in garden.

Butterflies: a single Comma.

Swallow and Chiffchaff

A drizzly day

Overcast with drizzly rain, 12°, light SW.

Bunk and Gravel pit:

A Shelduck, eventually flew off high south east, c30 Shoveler, 5 Tufted Duck, 2 Gadwall, 2 Greylag Geese, 10 Lapwing, an Oystercatcher and Little Ringed Plover, 2 Jay, 3 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 2 Grey Wagtail and a Stonechat.

No camera today due to wet weather, so a Shelduck from a while ago.

Ducks etc

Hazy sunshine, 12°, light ENE.

A few hours put in at the gravel pit today.

2 Little Grebe, a Great-crested Grebe, 2 Shelduck, 32 Shoveler, 16 Tufted Duck, 6 Gadwall, a Pochard, 20 Lapwing, an Oystercatcher, 1, pos 2 Little Ringed Plover, c60 Lesser Blackback Gull, 6 Common Gull, 12 Black-headed Gull, a Grey Wagtail and a Chiffchaff and Blackcap.

On the walk, 4 Lapwing near Green Lane, 2 Chiffchaff, 20 Fieldfare and 7 Redwing, 2+ Herring Gull in their usual spot at CSW.

This morning, on the Wally road flood, an Oystercatcher, a Lapwing, a Black-headed Gull, 8 Teal and last evening 2 Lapwing and 3 Gadwall. Per Michael Pocock.

Butterflies: just Peacock today.

Bunk & Gravel pit

Sunny, 15°, light E.

Bunk area pretty quiet today, a couple of Chiffchaff, a Blackcap and 10 Fieldfare.

Gravel pit a bit more productive until everything flushed by a couple of workers walking around the banks.

2 Shelduck, a Little Ringed Plover, 22 Shoveler, 4 Gadwall, 2 Teal, a Little Egret and 12 Lapwing.

Butterflies: More Peacock than Brimstone today.

Waiting for Spring

Sunny, 18°, light ESE.

Not a lot about at Lollingdon today and spring not far away. A Raven on the hill sat on a distant fence post and then flew off overhead to the south west and 28 Lapwing on the flood.

On the walk, 8 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 6 Redwing, a Little Owl, 2 Yellowhammer, a small flock of Siskin and a Grey Heron.

A quick look at the gravel pit on Monday: 2 Shelduck, a Gadwall, Chiffchaff and 16 Fieldfare nearby.

Butterflies: good numbers of Brimstone and Peacock.

Insects: Dark-edged Bee-fly.

A quiet one

Sunny spells, 7°, breezy SSW.

Bunk area pretty quiet today.

Gravel pit had 2 Shelduck resting on the far bank, 3 Gadwall, 2 Shoveler and the usual Gulls.

Singles of Fieldfare and Redwing, 2 Chiffchaff, a Treecreeper and 3 Jay.

Great-spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch and Coal Tit still regular garden visitors.

15 Siskin, Wallingford Road. Per Richard Broughton.

Bunk again

Hazy sunshine, 16°, light SE.

Bunk area was fairly quiet today. 3 Chiffchaff at CSW, 2 in song, 2 Goldcrest, a Grey Heron, Yellowhammer, 2 Herring Gull and 20+ Fieldfare and 6 Redwing.

Gravel pit was a bit more active with 4 Shelduck, 26 Shoveler, 14 Tufted Duck, 4 Gadwall, a Green Sandpiper, 4 Lapwing, a Tawny Owl, and Chiffchaff and Blackcap. Again around 300 Gulls.

Butterflies: numbers of Brimstone and Peacock.

Bunk

Overcast, 14°, moderate NE.

The BBC weather app was way out today. It was indicating 20° and sunny spells. Clearly not the case as I didn’t see the sun at all whilst out and with the moderate breeze from the NE it felt even cooler than the actual 14°!

The Bunk area was relatively quiet with no Butterflies or Dragons on the wing.

Good numbers of Hirundines feeding along tree lines in the lee of the wind with 50+ Swallow, 50+ House Martin and a few Swift and Sand Martin.

2 Shelduck overhead and a Reed Warbler in song, plus, several Chiffchaff, 4 Blackcap, 5 Common whitethroat and 4 Yellowhammer.

A Barn Owl courtesy Andy King. One of two found hunting last evening.

Sunday

Bunk area: 4 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Lapwing, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Shelduck, Yellow Wagtail and 2 pristine Black-headed Gull dropped in. Per Michael Pocock.

Some needed rain

Cloudy with showers, 15°, fresh SE.

Bunk, Lollingdon and River/Marsh:

Oystercatcher, 3 Shelduck, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, 2 Little Ringed Plover, Greenshank, 3 Lapwing, Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, Yellow Wagtail, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Blackcap, 3 Common Whitethroat, 3 Wheatear, etc.

Butterflies: a single Speckled Wood.

AD & PC.

Photos courtesy Alan

Reed Warbler

Wheatear

Little Ringed Plover

Ruff times

Sunny then clouding up, 13°, light SSE.

Lollingdon: Alan out earlier and the 3 Ruff back on the Lollingdon flood. They are ranging from Lollingdon to the floods out towards Aston. 2 Redshank over, Shelduck, Shoveler, Teal, Lapwing, Little Egret, Goldcrest and Treecreeper.

I checked out the hill later but relatively quiet, a flock of Fieldfare and Starling with the sheep plus a few Pied Wagtail and Skylark. After, I went down to the flood. c60 Lapwing, 21 Shoveler, 6 Teal and a little later the 3 Ruff turned up.

As it was sunny I thought I’d go back to the Bunk area and at least 5 Chiffchaff present, feeding along the hedgerow at the south west corner of CSW. A Common Snipe over and a Blackcap.

Ruff & Chiffchaff