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.

Waders

A sunny day, 10°, light NE.

A bit of a “Wader fest” on Lollingdon floods today. not often that we have had waders turn up in Cholsey but today found by Alan: 3 Redshank, 3 Ruff ( 2nd record), a Dunlin and a Ringed Plover along with c200 Lapwing, c10 Shoveler, 6 Teal, c100 Black-headed Gull and c50 Lesser Blackback Gull.

2 Raven, 2 Yellowhammer and a Blackcap in song.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

AD, MM, PC & RB.

Ruff courtesy Alan

Ruff (1st record) and Lapwing, January 2013, courtesy Richard Broughton

Lollingdon Floods

Sunshiny day, 9°, light NE.

Lollingdon: Green Sandpiper, Dunlin, 60+ Lapwing, 14 Shoveler, 2 Raven, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, 4 Yellowhammer, c20 Redwing and a large number of gulls in the distance.

Sparrowhawk (m), 2 Coal Tit, 2 Nuthatch in garden and 2 Tawny Owl nearby.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Butterflies: Red Admiral.

AD & PC.

Dunlin with Lapwing courtesy Alan

Red Admiral

Shoveler

Reed Bunting

Lapwing

Dunlin

Sunny spells, 10°, light WNW.

2 Dunlin in flight with c45 Lapwing, the usual gulls, Teal, Shoveler, Wigeon and a Raven over. Lollingdon. Per AD.

Barn Owl this evening. Per RB.

2 Dunlin with Lapwing courtesy Alan

Magpie hoping for some leftovers. courtesy Andy King.

Bunk & Moreton Floods

Cloudy with a few sunny spells later, 9°, light SSW.

Bunk area: 10+ Yellowhammer, c50 Fieldfare, 20+ Redwing, 2 Treecreeper, a Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, 50+ Chaffinch, Little Owl, 500+ Starling, c200 Lesser Blackback Gull, 50+ Black-headed Gull and 5 Herring Gull.

Moreton Floods: Grey Plover, c500 Golden Plover, Dunlin, Common Snipe and Stonechat.

Dragonflies: a single Common Darter.

AD & PC.

Grey Plover courtesy Alan

Yellowhammer ↕

Fieldfare, Redwing & Starling

Fieldfare

Grey Plover, with Golden Plover & Lapwing courtesy Alan

Grey Plover still around

Mainly cloudy with a few sunny periods, 12°, breezy NE.

South Morton Floods: Grey Plover still present with c300 Golden Plover, c200 Lapwing and 2 Dunlin.

Lollingdon Floods: Usual Teal present, c50 Gulls, mainly Lesser Blackback, a Single Common Gull and several Black-headed Gull, a few Mistle Thrush over and a Raven over.

AD.

Teal courtesy Alan

Lollingdon Flood

Mainly sunny, 11°, light N.

Time spent watching the flood area and surroundings out at Lollingdon. A lot of comings and goings but a good number of birds present. Alan covered this afternoon.

Approx. 200 Lesser Blackback Gull, 100+ Black-headed Gull, 3 Herring Gull, 2 Common Gull, c50 Teal, 2 Dunlin, 57 Lapwing, a Common Snipe and a couple of Pied Wagtail.

Nearby, a few Redwing and Fieldfare, 1 possibly 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Yellowhammer and several Meadow Pipit.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: 2 Red Admiral.

AD & PC.

Bunk

Mainly cloudy with a few showers, 12°, breezy SW.

Bunk, per Alan:

A Dunlin in flooded field near Green Lane, 2 Little Egret (same field), Fieldfare, Redwing, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Goldcrest, Raven, Lesser Blackback Gull and Black-headed Gull.

Dunlin courtesy Alan

Raven courtesy Alan ↕

Grey Heron courtesy Alan

Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Little Egret courtesy Alan

Dunlin & Ringed Plover

Mainly sunshine, 10°, light NNE.

The Whinchat still present today out at Lollingdon plus at least 10 Wheatear.

Early afternoon I received a call from Alan to inform me of 2 waders on the floods out at Lollingdon. A Dunlin and a Ringed Plover found by Tony Williams.

A quick dash down there and they were both still present feeding on the mud.

Both are rare passage migrants to Cholsey and the last record of both was March 2013 in the same area.

Ringed Plover & Dunlin

Ringed Plover & Dunlin courtesy Alan

Dunlin

Ringed Plover

Expect the Unexpected

Thick cloud and rain showers, 12°, moderate breeze from the south.

An interesting day despite the weather and a few unexpected birds.

A Chiffchaff in the garden this morning and it or another singing in the Millennium Wood.

2 Stonechat (♂&♀) on the hill today (not the same pair that wintered) and a couple of Meadow Pipit present.

A small flock of 14 waders flew north over the hill during a rain shower, most were Dunlin but at least 2 were different, the others were Ringed Plover and both species called a couple of times as they passed overhead.

(Another Ringed Plover heard calling @22:40 whilst retrieving something from the car, sound moving west)

A ♂ Brambling flew over with 6 Redwing out at Lollingdon and a scattering of Fieldfare and Redwing in various places.

A Raven heard and several Yellowhammer and a couple of Reed Bunting present.

A Blackcap heard singing in Little Lane recently. Per TR.

A ♀ Brambling still present near Waterloo Close. Per MA.

And 3-4 Otter seen yesterday adjacent to Cholsey Marsh. Per Ed M.

A deceased Common Frog found on the track leading to the hill.

Both ♂&♀ Great-spotted Woodpecker in garden today along with 1-2 Nuthatch and a Green Woodpecker nearby.

The following butterflies have been noted in TR's garden recently: Brimstone, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma and Peacock.

 Stonechat

Song Thrush bathing

Stock Dove 'chillin' in the garden

Male Great-spotted Woodpecker

One of the Otters (photo courtesy Ed)

Here and There.

Just a few words on today’s weather........Bloody Freezing!

Started off with a visit to Lollingdon hill which was rather barren of birds, Robin, Great Tit and Blackbird. However the meadows behind the hill were rather active with a large flock of mainly Fieldfare, Redwing, Starling and Song Thrush (400, 200,100, 10+), and a lot of chattering that normally precedes migration with the Thrushes.

The flooded field at the rear of the hill held seven Dunlin, a Ringed Plover, two Common Gull and around one hundred Black-headed Gull and a few Lapwing. I have been keeping an eye on some of the flooded fields locally and was hoping for a few waders and struck lucky today. The pig fields held quite a few gulls around the flooded areas.

I had an email from Tony Rayner for a possible "Hobby" today over Cholsey and one was recorded in Hampshire yesterday!

Then I got a text confirming the presence of a Ferruginous Duck on Otmoor, so as I had not seen one in the county since 1989 I thought why not!

Forty minute drive through Oxford to Otmoor then a fair walk out to the second screen where it had been seen. On arriving Rog, Badger and Gnome, plus a couple of others were already there but the duck was showing very intermittently so I decided to stick around.

I stayed until dusk but the duck did not show again, possibly with the water levels so high it could just swim off through the reed beds and stay out of sight!

Having not seen the duck there was a few other birds, around eight species of duck, a few geese sp, Little Egret, Lapwing, Golden Plover, Redshank, Bittern, Dunlin, Water Rail, Barn Owl and a Marsh Harrier that appeared late afternoon. Also a flock of mainly Fieldfare, with Redwing and approximately two hundred Starling all chattering away in a field behind us while we were looking for the elusive duck.

A few pics of the Marsh Harrier and Barn Owl © Roger Wyatt and a distant one of the Dunlin © Paul Chandler

Unexpected garden visitors.

Cloudy, 4º, light NNW, cooler, back to winter next week with snow forecast.

A couple of unexpected visitors to the garden today, two cock Pheasants appeared early afternoon and stayed for the rest of the day and a Rabbit made a brief appearance. Pheasant has been seen in the adjacent meadow before but not in the garden and the Rabbit is a first; the Rabbit now makes twelve mammal species seen in or from the garden.

Other birds in the garden today were several Lesser Redpoll briefly, two Stock Dove, a Song Thrush and another brief visit from a ♀ Blackcap, ten plus Goldfinch and over a dozen Chaffinch and there were two Magpie present in the front garden.

An adult ♀ and a juvenile ♀ Muntjac Deer in the garden again this evening, the juv being about one third smaller and paler (esp on the nape and upper back) than the adult.

Some news from the South Moreton floods recently were of up to one hundred Common Snipe and a single Jack Snipe seen, a Ruff and a Dunlin also noted and again up to a thousand Lapwing and similar numbers for Golden Plover.

Also four Raven (two pairs) in what could have been a territorial dispute in Cholsey recently.

Thanks to Michael Pocock, Tony Williams and Geoff Wyatt for information.

                                  Pheasants

                                  Song Thrush

South Moreton

Sunny, 8°, light variable.

Brian Wyatt checked out the flooded area at South Moreton today,

Three Dunlin, approx five hundred Golden Plover, one thousand Lapwing, fifty Common Snipe, amazing what a bit of water can attract!

My news of two Stock Dove feeding in the garden with Wood Pigeons.

Zilch on the hill but plenty nearby

Cloudy, 10º, fresh S

A visit to Lollingdon hill today produced “zilch” on the hill, nearly all the berries have gone and so have the thrushes and just about everything else!

Gulls and Corvids going back and forth over the hill and five Red Kite in the vicinity.

In the east of the village, TR reports twenty Linnet, nine Yellowhammer and a flyover Raven recently.

The garden this afternoon hosted two Grey Wagtail, a Great-spotted Woodpecker, also the two Coal Tit still visiting.

Brian Wyatt has been watching the flooded area in South Moreton (a stones throw from Cholsey hill) and seen the following today, a Ruff, a Dunlin, approx two hundred Golden Plover, three hundred Lapwing and fifty Common Snipe.

A Brambling in a garden in Ilges Lane on the 17th Nov.

Fieldfares and a couple of Redwing from Fri 16^th Nov