Cholsey Marsh

Overcast then rain, 8°, breezy NE.

A trip down to Cholsey Marsh to check out the roost this evening. Not able to get close to the bank as the river has flooded up to 100 metres up Ferry Road.

Managed to count just over 200 Corn Bunting coming in plus a couple of Meadow Pipit.

A Cetti’s Warbler singing along the river bank, a few Siskin heard calling, at least 3 Water Rail, 2 Reed Bunting, a Yellowhammer and Goldcrest.

2 Egyptian Geese flew down stream along with 3 Cormorant and 60+ Canada Geese in a nearby field.

At 16:45 a flock of Starling in excess of 1000 birds flew north over the marsh.

A Chiffchaff in the garden this morning and a Blackcap nearby.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Cholsey Marsh

Overcast, 8°, light ESE.

A late afternoon visit to Cholsey Marsh to monitor the Corn Bunting roost saw just over 120 birds come in over a 30-minute period at dusk and 2 Meadow Pipit in the roost.

Also a Goose flock in a nearby field comprising of c150 birds, mainly Canada Geese plus 5 Egyptian Geese and a handful of Greylag Geese.

A Cormorant and a Peregrine overhead, a Tawny Owl heard nearby, both Mistle and Song Thrush in song, a Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming, 2-3 Water Rail, a Jay, a Reed Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer, a Chiffchaff and Goldcrest and several Fieldfare and Redwing.

A Firecrest found by Andy King in a Honey Lane garden on Sunday.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Cholsey Marsh

Overcast, 3°, breezy NNW.

A late afternoon visit to Cholsey Marsh:

c 60 Corn Bunting coming to the roost this evening. About half of what I would expect but early days yet as they tend to peak in February.

30+ Siskin feeding on Alders along the river bank.

Good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing, 2 Cormorant over, a Grey Heron, 2+ Water Rail, a single Canada Goose, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel,2 Jay, a Chiffchaff, Goldcrest and a Reed Bunting.

Peregrine

Overcast, 15°, light NNE.

Pretty quiet along Bunk today: Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, a single Chiffchaff, 2 Goldcrest, 8 Corn Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer, 20+ Pied Wagtail, several Meadow Pipit and a Mistle Thrush etc.

The Peregrine was initially seen on prey but was eventually bullied off by several Red Kite. The bird has a green ring on her left leg and I suspect this is the same female bird that nested in Cholsey in 2024 and South Stoke this year.

The Lees

Mainly cloudy, 16°, light NNW.

The Lees:

5 Redwing, 150+ Meadow Pipit, 20+ Pied Wagtail, c50 Skylark, 50+ Linnet, 7 Siskin, 3 Redpoll, 1 Yellowhammer, 5 Reed Bunting, 14 Corn Bunting, 9 Chiffchaff, 2 Raven, a Grey Heron etc.

Mistle Thrush and Grey Wagtail in garden.

Mammal: Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White.

A swarm of Harlequin Ladybird, 100’s.

The Lees

Sunny, 26°, light SW.

The Lees area: Another warm one. Several Sedge and Reed Warbler in brief song, a couple of Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Common Whitethroat, 3 Reed Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer and a Corn Bunting. 2 Pied Wagtail taking food to a nest site and a single Yellow Wagtail and Grey Heron.

Dragonflies: Banded and Beautiful Demoiselle and Common Blue Damsel.

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

After the Storm

Mainly cloudy, 7°, breezy NNE.

A particularly quiet day, Bunk area was very light on birds. Just a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing and a Meadow Pipit and Grey Wagtail of note.

Out towards Lollingdon, c15 Corn Bunting, many Skylark a Stonechat and a Grey Wagtail.

c50 Lapwing on the flood plus 30 Teal, a Raven overhead and both “Winter Thrushes” in evidence.

A dead Badger in the ditch along Green Lane, coincidently, in the same place as a load of dead Rabbits dumped last year.

I don’t believe in coincidences though!

AD & PC.

Corn Bunting courtesy Alan

Bunk

Sunny spells, 12°, light SW.

Bunk: Ref Alan, Lesser Blackback Gull, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull, 3 Common Gull, Chiffchaff, Yellowhammer, Teal, Wigeon and Shoveler.

Mute Swan now joined by Greylag Goose in the middle of the field.

Flock of 50 Corn Bunting near Bullshole and another 40 under pylon on Westfield Rd ref Richard Broughton.

Corn Bunting (Archive Pic)

Milder

Cloudy, 11°, light SW.

Another relatively quiet walk out to Lollingdon today. A male Stonechat still around the hill and the female wintering near the cattle field has now been joined by a male.

A Little Egret seen distantly and good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing roaming the fields.

A scattering of Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Linnet and Yellowhammer plus 3 Corn Bunting.

Bunk line with Alan: apart from a big flock of Chaffinch and Linnet, not much happening. Although 2 Little Owl made an appearance.

Mammals: Roe Deer and a dead Polecat found along Halfpenny Lane, Per MA.

Stonechat

Little Owl courtesy Alan

Lollingdon, Bunk line, Marsh & River

Mainly cloudy, 16°, light to breezy S.

Overlapping walks today with Alan out earlier along the Bunk line then the river and Cholsey Marsh then me out at Lollingdon the back out along the Bunk line.

Lollingdon was fairly quiet as it was a bit windy on the hill. A single Raven over and 3 Brambling flew north east with a small flock of Chaffinch and a few Redwing moving around.

8 Corn Bunting flew in and settled in a field mingling with a flock of Meadow Pipit. Usual Yellowhammer and Skylark present.

Bunk line early: Fieldfare, Redwing, Chiffchaff, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Raven, Goldcrest, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Meadow Pipit and Skylark.

Marsh/River: Kingfisher, Sparrowhawk, Reed Bunting, Cetti’s Warbler, 20+ Mistle Thrush and a Stonechat,

Bunk line later: the Herring Gull had been joined by another adult and a 1st winter bird.

Very little in the hedgerows later, several Redwing, a Chiffchaff and a Kestrel nearby.

Dragonflies: 9 Common Darter, with some egg laying in a flooded field margin.

Kingfisher courtesy Alan

Distant Kestrel

Solo

Overcast with light rain showers, 9°, light SSW.

Alan was the only one out today braving the mud and floods.

2 Little Egret out near Little Lollingdon and 10+ Corn Bunting and 20+ Yellowhammer of note.

More Blackcap reported with 2 Cross Road. Per BD, 1 Station road, Per HP and another Honey Lane, Per RH.

Thanks for the info.

Corn Bunting

Little Egret

Buntings are back

Foggy, slowly clearing, 10°, light SSE.

The fog cleared and the sun came out after I got back today. Typical!

The Buntings are back: after an absence of several weeks there were 2 Corn Bunting in song on the hill, a couple of Reed Bunting in song nearby and around 20 Yellowhammer back on territory with several in song.

Just the 1 Stonechat on the hill today, I am assuming the male has left to arrive on its breeding territory early to claim a prime spot?

Good numbers of Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit still out with the sheep and 12+ Red Kite on and around the hill.

Several good size flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing scattered around various fields.

Yellowhammers

Stonechat

Goldcrest (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Will it or won't it............snow!

Bright at first then clouding over, 3°, light ESE.

Apparently snow is on the way.......but don't hold your breath!

Little change from Wednesday bird wise. The 2 Stonechat still present and quite a few Fieldfare, a few Redwing, at least 4 Song Thrush and several Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit on the hill.

A Little Egret, 2 Jay, a Green Woodpecker and 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker (both drumming), a few Yellowhammer and 2 Reed Bunting.

3 Teal also present out at Lollingdon. Per Tony Williams and a female Blackcap in his garden regularly.

10+ Red Kite over the allotments along Station road today and a Little Egret seen out at Lollingdon. Per Bill Nichols.

A male Blackcap in Phil Dysons garden feeding on Callicarpa berries recently.

100+ Corn Bunting at the roost on Cholsey Marsh and a Sparrowhawk present early this week. Per Ed Munday.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

 Male Blackcap (courtesy Phil Dyson)

 Callicarpa berries (courtesy Phil Dyson)

 Stonechat

 Meadow Pipit

Little Egret (courtesy Bill Nichols, taken with a compact camera)

Quiet locally and a nearby Raven

Sunny’ ish, 8°, light NW.

Another fairly quiet day out at Lollingdon. A flock of 47 Corn Bunting, c50 Meadow Pipit, a mixed flock of 200+ Starling and Fieldfare, several Redwing and 6 Pied Wagtail.

A flock of around 100 Lapwing flew in and settled nearby.

A male Sparrowhawk ripped thru the garden mid-afternoon panicking everything present, including the Squirrels.

A Raven in Wallingford Yesterday. courtesy Alan Dawson.

The day after

Sunny intervals, 21°, light NNW.

A quieter day than yesterday’s flurry of migrant activity, I’m assuming that with a relatively clear sky and a tail wind most of them lifted off overnight to continue their migration south.

7 Mistle Thrush on the hill and 11 Corn Bunting and a Yellow Wagtail over.

Off the hill there were 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Willow Warbler, 3 Blackcap, 5 Common Whitethroat, a Garden Warbler and a lot of Chiffchaff.

A couple of Kestrel in the area and a Raven and a Grey Heron heard calling but not seen.

Reptiles: 3 Common Lizard.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, 2 Common Blue, 1 Small Tortoiseshell and several Speckled Wood.

Chiffchaff 

 Common Blue

Common Darter

Marsh & Meadow

Cloudy, 8°, getting misty and a breezy NE.

The marsh roost slightly up on last week with c60 Corn Bunting in this evening and Meadow Pipit down to around 40.

3 Yellowhammer also in and c10 Reed Bunting present.

Lots of Fieldfare and Redwing flying over in all directions, 2 Mistle Thrush over and a Song Thrush singing on the marsh.

A Cetti’s Warbler and a Chiffchaff close to Ferry road and at least a couple of Bullfinch nearby.

7 Common Snipe flew off the reserve and headed across the river and approx. 80 Lapwing and c100 Golden Plover overhead.

2 Mute Swan flew in and settled on the river and 2 Egyptian Geese flew upstream.

At dusk there were 500+ Corvids (Rook and Jackdaw, maybe more but view restricted) in the air upstream and towards North Stoke presumably going to roost in that area and making a whole lot of noise.

Buzzard, Kestrel, Grey Heron, Cormorant, Kingfisher, Great-spotted Woodpecker and 2+ Siskin noted.

2 Nuthatch in the garden again today.

News from Tony Rayner.

Took a turn around our meadow today, a huge flock of Linnet, at least 100 and probably many more. These attracted to the weedy field beyond. A number (4+) of Skylark flying around - also attracted to the weedy fields.

At least 10 Blackbird a singing Song Thrush and at least 10 Fieldfare.

Two male Blackcap in our central hedge. Also our first Greenfinch for over a month.

A Buzzard seems to be resident on the site which may explain the current absence of Red Kite. (Suspect someone is feeding them elsewhere).

In the weedy field there were 3 Roe Deer.

Lollingdon & Cholsey Marsh

Overcast, 4°, no wind.

Lollingdon was exceptionally quiet today; c50 Redwing and a few Fieldfare feeding in one of the fields and a flock of c300 Thrushes flew over towards the downs.

I then decided to go down to Cholsey Marsh for the roost, which consisted of c150 Corn Bunting, c50 Meadow Pipit and a handful of Reed Bunting. A few more Corn Bunting came in as I was leaving.

Both Little Grebe and Great-crested Grebe seen on the river along with 100+ Canada Geese and a couple of Teal. There were several more Teal on the marsh.

Several Cormorant flying up and down the river and 3 Kingfisher, 2 together and a singleton all flew upstream.

43 Lapwing flew over towards North Stoke and a few Jay on the opposite bank.

The usual Water Rail heard on the marsh, a Grey Heron on the riverbank and the first Treecreeper song of the year heard.

Both Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush also heard in song.