Goshawk

Overcast with some light rain, 10°, light SSE.

Bird of the day has to be a female Goshawk that passed briefly through Cholsey airspace this afternoon, c14:00, flew from roughly Winterbrook area towards Carmel College when it was lost from view. Per Geoff Wyatt. 1st record since 1978.

5 Gadwall seen on a small flood in a field off Green Lane on Saturday. Per Richard Broughton.

Back to today and along the Bunk area: up to 5 Chiffchaff with a Tit flock at CSW.

2+ Yellowhammer, a Goldcrest, several Siskin, good numbers of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling and 2 Egyptian Geese.

Gravel pit: a Little Grebe, 3 Tufted Duck, c10 Shoveler in flight and settling in to pits that are not viewable and c120 Canada Geese. Also up to 1000 Gull distantly, most too far for ID but some nearer birds noted. Lesser Blackback, Black-headed and Herring Gull.

Firecrest

Overcast with light rain, 14°, light SW.

The highlight today was a Firecrest found along Green lane, a quick message to Alan who was soon on the scene.

The bird was very active and due to the windy conditions was often in cover and not an easy subject to photograph. However Alan got some good pics.

Apart from the Firecrest it was relatively quiet. 2 Egyptian Geese flew over heading north and quite a few Fieldfare and Redwing about.

Green lane also produced a Goldcrest, Bullfinch and Chiffchaff.

Also the usual suspects seen and heard.

Thanks to Alan for 5 of the photos.

More Rain, More Geese.

Moderate to light rain, 10°, light SW.

Another thoroughly wet day and the geese numbers appear to be building up in fields along the Bunk line with the flock now joined by 60 – 70 Greylag Geese.

7 Grey Heron in the area and 6 Common Snipe flew over.

Also Swallow, House Martin, Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Chiffchaff, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Blackback Gull, 100+ Starling, Blackcap etc. Per Alan.

Videos courtesy Alan Dawson ↕

Nice weather for Ducks…………and Geese

Almost constant light to moderate rain, 13°, breezy ENE.

A wildfowl day along the Bunk line/Green lane area today with 41 Egyptian Geese and 26 Mallard in a field until spooked by a dog walker that left just 4 geese present.

And 24 Greylag Geese (16 & 8) flew over and a lot more Mallard flying around.

Other than that there was a small passage of Swallow and House Martin moving thru, totalling around 60 birds.

5 Chiffchaff, 20+ Meadow Pipit, 10 Yellowhammer and a single Reed Bunting also noted.

Alan out this afternoon and the Egyptian Geese seem to be distributed over the area with 5 at the gravel pit and several more back in the original field along with several Mallard and a short while later 20+ Canada Geese arrived.

Butterflies: a single Red Admiral.

Camera not taken out today due to wet conditions! However Alan took his and grabbed this shot of Egyptian Geese on the gravel pit.

Sunday best

 A few from Alan today from around Cholsey.

Stonechat

Lapwing flock, approx 100 ↕

Egyptian Goose

A couple of walks

Overcast and light rain, 18°, light NNW.

Took the car into Wallingford for MOT & service this morning and walked back via the river, Bow Bridge and Caps Lane.

A few Black-headed Gull, a single Common Tern and a couple of Egyptian Geese along the river.

3 Kingfisher, Sedge Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Jay, Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting all noted and Swift, Swallow and House Martin overhead most of the time.

Another walk back to Wallingford later in the day to pick the car up. This time a walk along the Bunk line to Winterbrook.

A few Yellowhammer in song, a few Chiffchaff, Common Whitethroat and a Blackcap.

Yellowhammers seem to be the only consistent songster at the moment with a few other species joining in from time to time.

2 Yellow Wagtail Cholsey Hill.

A good number of Swift over Wallingford with flocks wheeling around over the river near the OU boathouse, another flock over the Hithercroft area and more over the town centre.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle.

Butterflies: few out in the cloudy conditions: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Marbled White, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Song Thrush gathering food.

Thames @ Cholsey

A bright start, clouding over with rain p.m., 8°, light SW.

Alan took a walk along the Thames this morning.

2 Raven, a Chiffchaff, Water Rail, Reed Bunting, Buzzard, Great Crested Grebe, Egyptian Goose, Kingfisher etc.

 Kingfisher

 Great Crested Grebe

Egyptian Goose

Cholsey Marsh

Cholsey Marsh today.

2 Egyptian Geese, a Barn Owl, a flock of 12 Long-tailed Tit, a Treecreeper, a Water Rail heard calling, 5 Greenfinch, several Linnet and 4-5 Common Snipe.

Photos of Barn Owl & Egyptian Geese courtesy Alan Dawson.

Cholsey Marsh

Photos today from Alan Dawson.

Egyptian Geese, a lot around at the moment.

A Cormorant drying out.

Rain did not stop play!

Rain, 11°, light SSW.

A bit of a washout today………………………However I stayed out for a few hours, got thoroughly wet and managed to connect with a few bits and pieces.

Lollingdon Hill: Quiet, 4 Reed Bunting (2m, 2f), 2 Blackcap, and the usual Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer.

Cholsey Marsh: 2 Sedge Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler, 4 Chiffchaff, 1 Cetti’s Warbler, 2 Water Rail and an Egyptian Goose flew upstream.

Garden: 4 Blackcap still present, 1 Siskin, a Coal Tit and a Willow Warbler and a Chiffchaff in the meadow.

2 House Martin over the garden yesterday.

2 Egyptian Geese on the flood near Bunk Bridge (Richard Broughton).

Barn Owl post-mortem.

One more thing, I got the post-mortem from the showy Barn Owl from last November that ended up having its head nibbled off by a Red Kite – it was female, all organs were normal (no sign of contamination), but it was very thin, so as expected it was starving, probably not helped by that wing injury. (Thanks Richard).

courtesey Richard Broughton

Bits & Pieces

Sunny, 4°, light NW.

2 Peregrine Falcon seen today between Lollingdon and the Lees and 2 Egyptian Geese flew along the Thames (per Tony Williams).

Also a Barn Owl hunting near the Bunk line today and 2 Egyptian Geese flew over (per Tony Rayner). And c9 Lesser Redpoll in the EastEnders garden.

A Sparrowhawk in the garden today and a Buzzard out in the meadow, also up to 6 Blackbird in the garden the last few days feeding on apples.

Egyptian Goose invasion!

Sunny spells, 16º, breezy NE.

At least 32 Egyptian Geese stood on river edge, they then flew and more counted, perhaps 40 along the river Thames adjacent to Cholsey Marsh, also a Common Sandpiper along the river bank (per MA).

The highest count of this goose species in Cholsey as far as I am aware! 

Egyptian Geese (archive pic taken c70miles dowstream as the goose swims)

Back on the Hill

Sunny, 17º, light N.

A visit back to Lollingdon hill today for the first time in almost 2 weeks, no Wheatears present although the main passage may be over a few stragglers may turn up into June so will keep an eye out.

5 Corn Bunting present with at least 3 singing, 4 Yellowhammer, singing Song Thrush and Blackbirds, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 5 Common Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 4 Swallows, 6 Swifts, 2 Red Kite and a Kestrel.

Butterflies also present in small numbers were, Small Tortoiseshell, Orange Tip, Brimstone, Peacock, Small White, a single Large White and Holly Blue. Also a couple of Large Red Damselfly.

Reports today of singing Reed Warblers and several Sedge Warblers at Cholsey Marsh and an Egyptian Goose, also a Cuckoo near the 4 Arches.

A couple of Moorhen visiting the garden with this year’s young and 2 nest boxes both occupied with Blue Tits and a ♀ Great-spotted Woodpecker visiting the garden daily. Several Swifts, Swallows and House Martins feeding over the garden today.

 

 Corn Bunting

 Yellowhammer

 Unidentified Bugs (courtesy Loren)

Good start to the year!

Overcast, 11º, a few light rain showers, light SW.

The morning spent out in Lollingdon and the west of the village, and then back home for lunch and after that the river and Cholsey marsh p.m.

A good day with seventy-one bird species seen in just less than seven hours birding.

Still soggy underfoot and a lot of minor flooding in the fields and Cholsey marsh still submerged and the Thames a few hundred metres wider than usual!

Approximately four hours initially out on the farmland, a couple of Jay seen in the millennium wood, two Stonechat still present in the area, a Teal, several Common Snipe, small flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover around and four Grey Partridge. Also flocks of Fieldfare, Redwing, and plenty of Gulls, Lesser Blackback, Black-headed and a few Common Gull.

Back home for lunch and a ♀ Blackcap appeared in the garden and three Lesser Redpoll on the feeders with the Goldfinch (the camera was in the car at this point!); by the time I had retrieved the camera the Blackcap and Redpoll had gone unfortunately. So had to be content with a few shots of some Finches and the Stock Dove that was present. A Grey Wagtail put in a brief appearance in the garden before flying off along Cholsey Brook and a Treecreeper present again.

Sat at the computer a little later looking in to the garden when suddenly everything flew from the garden and a male Sparrowhawk landed on a feeder tray, and he was not after the sultanas! The only bird that did not fly off was the Carrion Crow that continued to feed in the garden.

After lunch (14:45) I went down to Cholsey marsh and just after 15:00 a ringtail Hen Harrier flew across the north end of the marsh crossed the river and headed towards South Stoke and a few minutes later a ♀ Sparrowhawk flew through putting everything in to a panic but she did not stop.

A few Siskin feeding in the bank side Alders with a small flock of Goldfinch, the Alders are currently in nearly a metre of water and I was unable to get within a hundred metres of the riverbank. The Cetti’s Warbler still present, seen initially close to ferry road then heard several times as it moved off to the south of the marsh.

Four Egyptian Geese flew upstream calling and several Canada and Greylag Geese seen on the floods near the four Arches railway bridge.

Over one hundred Corn Bunting roosted this evening on the marsh, twenty plus Reed Bunting also and a couple of Yellowhammer possibly roosted there, at least three Water Rail heard again calling at dusk, and another couple of Jay heard over the river at Little Stoke.

Full list of species today - Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Egyptian Goose, Mallard, Teal, Red-legged Partridge, Grey Partridge, Pheasant, Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Red Kite, Hen Harrier, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Water Rail, Moorhen, Coot, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Common Snipe, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Lesser Blackback Gull, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Tawny Owl, Green Woodpecker, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, Stonechat, Song Thrush, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare, Blackbird, Blackcap, Cetti’s Warbler, Goldcrest, Wren, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Treecreeper, Magpie, Jay, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet, Lesser Redpoll, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Siskin, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting.

                                   Sparrowhawk

                                   Greenfinch

                                   Chaffinch

                                   Chaffinch

                            Red Kite looking and not sure what it found?

                                         Roe Deer

A wet Cholsey

Rain, 11º, light to moderate S. (Wet’n’windy all day).

An early visit to Cholsey Marsh, a Grasshopper Warbler singing, also a Reed Warbler, a Willow Warbler, several Sedge Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, a Whitethroat, Bullfinch etc.

A Water Rail seen and a surprise of 2 Egyptian Geese flying upriver.

Lollingdon Hill turned up just 2 rather damp looking Wheatear and not a lot else.

The Shelduck still present near Cholsey SF.