The morning rush

Mainly sunny, 14°, light SW.

A light influx of migrants’ early morning, they quickly filtered through the Bill area and by midday most had departed leaving the rest of the day fairly quiet.

5 Common Scoter, 2 Whimbrel, 2 Fulmar, a Cuckoo, a Hobby, a White Wagtail, 3 Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat and 3 Wheatear.

50+ Swallow trickling through the day provided the only real consistency after the morning rush.

Dragonflies: Broad-bodied Chaser.

Butterflies: Large White, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady (many), Speckled Wood and Wall Brown.

A bit quiet-ish

Sunny, 17°, fresh E.

Well, there was bugger all on the gravel pit today. a bulldozer was busy bulldozing the banks and obviously drove off any birds either on the water or anywhere nearby.

Elsewhere along the Bunk line: 5 Chiffchaff, 6 Common Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, a Kingfisher flashed by and 5 Swallow and 8 House Martin over.

A Grasshopper Warbler has been heard regularly at Cholsey Marsh recently and a Cuckoo intermittently. (several observers).

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

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.

Cholsey Marsh and the Lees.

Cloudy with frequent sunny spells, 19°, breezy W.

Cholsey Marsh and the Lees.

Cuckoo, Cetti’s Warbler, 7 Reed Warbler, c20 Sedge Warbler, 4 Garden Warbler, 6 Blackcap, 5 Common Whitethroat, 4 Chiffchaff, 7 Reed Bunting, 3 Yellowhammer, Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Black-headed Gull etc. (some species noted at both sites).

Yesterday, a Peregrine and a Sparrowhawk over the garden, plus 36 other species noted in or from the garden.

Mammals: at least 2 Common Pipistrelle flying around the garden this evening.  

Dragonflies: Banded and Beautiful Demoiselle, Large Red Damsel, Azure Damsel, Common Blue Damsel and 4-spot Chaser.

Butterflies: still few on the wing, Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Peacock and Meadow Brown.

Sedge and Reed Warbler

2-spot Ladybird

Buff Ermine ?

Common Blue Damsel

Chicken of the Woods

Reed Bunting

The storm that never came

Sunny at first then clouding up, 22°, light SE.

A threat of a thunder storm today but never materialised.  

Bunk area: 6 Common Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff, 12 Swallow, 6 House Martin, 6 Sand Martin, 8 Swift, 4 Yellowhammer, a Grey Wagtail, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Lapwing, 1 Black-headed Gull, 3 Lesser Blackback Gull and a Hobby.

Cuckoo heard on Cholsey Marsh. Per MA.

Dragonflies: Beautiful and Banded Demoiselle.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Green-veined White, Small White, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

LC & PC.

Yellowhammer

Common Blue

Hawthorn Shield Bug courtesy Loren

Cuckoo

Cloudy, 12°, breezy SW.

Cuckoo on the Marsh at 06:15 today. Per Phil Dyson. Heard one last evening from the garden, called 3 times and not heard again.

All in all: Pretty quiet

A cloudy day, 17°, light NNW.

Bunk line: all in all, pretty quiet. c30 House Martin, 10+ Swallow, at least 2 Sand Martin and a handful of Swift. A Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Common Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff, 5 Yellowhammer, 3 Reed Bunting, a Corn Bunting, Raven, a Lapwing, 3 Black-headed Gull and a single Lesser Blackback Gull etc.

River: Cetti’s Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Cuckoo over, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Black-headed Gull, Reed Bunting, Swift, Swallow and House Martin.

A Ring-necked Parakeet in a Church road garden this evening, chased off by a Jackdaw. Per RB.  

Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle and Azure Damselfly.

Butterflies: Green-veined White and Speckled Wood.

AD, RB & PC.

Black-headed Gull

Red-eyed Damselfly (yesterday) courtesy Alan

A few pics from the week end

 All pics courtesy Alan

Broad-bodied Chaser (f)

Broad-bodied Chaser imm male

Bee Orchid

Blue Emperor

Cuckoo

A Cuckoo at last!

Sunshine, 20°, light NE.

At last. Alan has finally confirmed (2) Cuckoo in Cholsey! Had several reports of Cuckoo heard along the river but no specifics, so could have been up to a kilometre or more away.

Cetti’s Warbler, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Chiffchaff, Swallow, Swift, House Martin, Common Whitethroat and a Raven over.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Beautiful Demoiselle, Large Red Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Four Spotted Chaser, Hairy Dragonfly and Broad-bodied Chaser.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Painted Lady, Peacock & Small Heath.

AD.

Day 7: cold and Windy

Mainly cloudy with some light rain, 10°, breezy NNE.

A cold and windy day that produced very few birds on both land and sea and little motivation.

Sea-watch: 7 Whimbrel, 4 Common Scoter, 5 Manx Shearwater and that was about it other than the regulars.

Land: Willow Warbler, 178 ringed in the obs garden today! Several Chiffchaff, 2 Common Whitethroat, 2 Cuckoo and 1 Tree Pipit.

A trip out to Ferrybridge: 5 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2+ Ringed Plover, c10 Dunlin and several Little Tern and Sandwich Tern.

Find the Gannet

A cropped shot

Blackbird with prey

HMS St Alban's off Portland

Day 4: Rain stopped play

Cloudy then rain, 8°, light NNE.

Day started reasonably well then rain stopped play around 13:00.

Sea-watch: 67 Bar-tailed Godwit, 5 Knot, 2 Arctic Skua, 9 Whimbrel, 10 Common Scoter, 3 Red-throated Diver, 1 Great Northern Diver, numbers of Kittiwake, Guillemot, Razorbill, Gannet and several Sandwich Tern and Oystercatcher.

Land: Grasshopper Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Garden Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Common Redstart, Cuckoo, Swallow, Sand Martin and House Martin.

Razorbill

Swallow

Guillemot

Great Blackback Gull

Guillemot and a Razorbill

Oystercatcher

Day 3: Improving

Mainly sunny, 12°, breezy NE.

A protracted sea-watch produced, 60+ Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Whimbrel, 2 Arctic Skua, 16 Common Scoter, 2 Sandwich Tern and a single Great Northern Diver.

The landward sightings became a little more diverse today with 5 Wheatear, a Stonechat, 2 Pied Flycatcher, 3 Common Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Common Redstart, several Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Blackcap, 2 Yellow Wagtail, a Cuckoo, a Ring Ouzel, 40+ Swallow, 4 House Martin and a single Sand Martin.

Butterflies: a Small White, Green-veined White, Holly Blue and Peacock.

Pied Flycatcher (f)

Wild flower meadows or not

Sunny, 26°, light NE.

A source has informed me that 2 fields between the railway tunnel and the rail bridge that was being worked on (out by the Lees) have been planted with wild flowers. The reason being that the farm cannot now get a combine over the bridge to harvest the crop. So uneconomical to sustain it.

I had a walk out there today and the fields have been worked but all I could see were mainly thistle growing and sparse areas of other plants otherwise quite devoid of any insect life. Will wait and see how this develops.

Further out beyond the Lees, both Sedge (5) and Reed Warbler (2) present, Chiffchaff (2), Blackcap (2), Common Whitethroat (1), Yellow Wagtail (3), Yellowhammer (5), Reed Bunting (6), Skylark (10+) and Corn Bunting (1).

Although insects were relatively sparce there were a few:

Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle, Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Red-eyed Damselfly, Emperor and Black-tailed Skimmer.

Butterflies: Large Skipper, Brimstone, Large White, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood and Small Heath.

A few more Bees, solitary Wasps and others noted.

Alan out and about along the river and added: Cuckoo, Chiffchaff, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Kingfisher, Common Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting, Swallow, House Martin, Swift and Grey Wagtail.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Beautiful Demoiselle, Emerald Damselfly, White-legged Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Red-eyed Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly, Black-tailed Skimmer, Four-spotted Chaser, Emperor, Broad-bodied Chaser, Ruddy Darter and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Brimstone, Speckled Wood, Small Blue, Brown Argus, Small Heath, Red Admiral and Common Blue.

Still no sign of Swallow and House Martin nesting in the Church Road area of the village.

The House Martins that turned up last week probably have not been able to find mud to either repair or rebuild their nests and have not discovered pre-built nest boxes nearby?

Or, could it be lack of aerial insects?

Emerald Damselfly courtesy Alan

Marsh Orchid or hybrid sp ?

 Sedge Warbler song

Thundery weather

Sunny with variable cloud, 26°, light SSE.

A couple of minor thunderstorms later in the day but no comparison with yesterdays.

Anyway a walk out to Lollingdon today with 6 Lapwing present. 4 adults and 2 well grown juvs but may have had even more young around as I was getting mobbed by the adults when walking the footpath along with 2 Buzzard that happened to fly over.

No surprises with the usual Chiffchaff, Common Whitethroat , Blackcap in good song along with Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting.

A Mistle Thrush very vocal around Church Road today.

Alan along the marsh with both Grasshopper Warbler reeling well and a Cuckoo doing its thing. Plus all the usuals.

Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle frequent and a Black-tailed Skimmer in the garden.

Butterflies: Meadow Brown and Marbled White now on the wing plus Common Blue and Red Admiral noted.

Both pics courtesy Alan  

Cuckoo

Marbled White

A small step

Sunny, 17°, breezy NE.

A small step for breeding Lapwing locally. A well grown youngster was seen with a pair of adults out at Lollingdon today. The first breeding success for several years. Had been suspected as 3 Lapwing had been in the area since March but no young seen until today.

Alan was covering the Marsh and River area: Swallow, Swift and House Martin, Cuckoo, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler etc.

Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle, Banded Demoiselle, White-legged Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly, Red-eyed Damselfly, Hairy Dragonfly, Emperor Dragonfly, Broad-bodied Chaser and Four-spot Chaser.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Orange Tip, Green-veined White, Common Blue, Small Blue, Brown Argus, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Speckled Wood and Small Heath.

Insects: Wasp Beetle.

Wasp Beetle courtesy Alan

White-legged Damselfly courtesy Alan

Cuckoo

Sunny, 19°, breezy NE.

A couple of new species for the year. Cuckoo. Initially heard by RB on Saturday near the Bunk Line and then the following day at Cholsey Marsh with another on the other side of the river.

Alan heard the Cuckoo again today plus a Common Tern flying up-river and a Hobby overhead.

Also found a Black-tailed Skimmer along the river and a Broad-bodied Chaser a few days earlier. The 13th & 14th species of dragonfly for this year.

Cuckoo from a couple of years back at Cholsey Marsh

Small Blue courtesy Alan

Broad-bodied Chaser courtesy Alan

Wheatear

Sunny, 18°, light SW.

A Wheatear on Lollingdon Hill today but little else other than a couple of Corn Bunting and a couple of Swallow and House Martin flew thru.

Nearby a couple of singing Reed Bunting and several Yellowhammer. The now regular Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and Chiffchaff in song and the Lesser Whitethroat still present.

A couple of Yellow Wagtail and a single Raven over.

No change along the Marsh/River apart from a Garden Warbler found by Alan and a Grey Wagtail and Lesser Whitethroat.

And a Cuckoo heard yesterday from near the 4-Arches. Per MA.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Large Red Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly and Club-tailed Dragonfly.

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

Wheatear

Brimstone

Yellowhammer

A pair of foraging Starling

Drinker Moth caterpillar? courtesy Alan

Ermine Moth nursery