Weekend Bits

Sunny, 8°, light SSE.

3 Stonechat and 4 Stock Dove up at Cholsey meadows on Saturday morning along with a Cetti's Warbler and Kingfisher on the marsh. Per Michael Pocock.

Alan popped over to Dorchester gravel pits to see the Ferruginous Duck again and found 2 Great Egret there.

The first butterfly of the year in Cholsey Church yard, a Comma. Per Alan & Jane Dawson.

Great Egret (above) & Little Egret (below). note differences. Great Egret courtesy Alan.

Comma Butterfly courtesy Jane Dawson

Female Blackcap courtesy Alan

Fudgie Duck

Cloudy, 12°, light N.

Alan out along the river today after a trip to Dorchester GP to see a Ferruginous Duck.

The river area was somewhat quiet, however Cetti’s Warbler. Reed Bunting, a single Siskin, 2 Stonechat, Little Grebe, a Raven overhead, Greenfinch, Fieldfare, Redwing, Mistle Thrush singing, Song Thrush singing and Dunnock singing.

 

Ferruginous Duck (centre), Pochard (left) & Coot (right) courtesy Alan.

The breeding range of the Ferruginous duck is from Iberia and the Maghreb east to western Mongolia, south to Arabia, although in the west is now scarce and localised and locally extirpated in some countries. The duck winters throughout the Mediterranean and the Black sea, smaller number migrate into sub-Saharan Africa via the Nile Valley. Eastern birds winter in south and south-east Asia.

The Fudgie Duck and the Fauvette à tête noire

Overcast, 4º, light to moderate NE, colder in the wind.

The Ferruginous Duck was showing again today so I decided to make a visit and although it showed only intermittently, it did come out of the reeds a few times but stayed distant. However it spent most of the time in the reed bed out of site or partially hidden.

A lot of other ducks and geese around also Water Rail, Curlew, Redshank, Common Snipe and a lot of Lapwing also noted.

We now have some info on the French ringed Blackcap that RB caught and ringed back on the 5^th Jan this year.

Fauvette à tête noire

 

http://stuffthatricharddid.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/fauvette-tete-noire.html

Michael Pocock having 3 Blackcap visiting garden feeders (2♂, 1♀) and a male this morning had yellow pollen on its face and the assumption is that it has been feeding on the nectar of Mahonia flowers from a bush nearby.