Back to Winter?

Sunshine and showers, 8°, blustery WNW.

Bunk area very quiet. Gravel pit: 2 Mute Swan, 8 Tufted Duck, 4 Shoveler, 4 Gadwall, 12 Lapwing, a Common Gull, a Grey Wagtail and a Peregrine over plus the usual Gulls.

Who knows what is lurking in the 4-5 other pits that we do have a view of?

Just 2 Redwing, 2 Chiffchaff and 3 Yellowhammer on walk.

Monday very quiet also. 16 Lapwing on the flood at Lollingdon and 5 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap and a Meadow Pipit.

Butterflies: A Small Tortoiseshell and several Peacock on Monday.

Grey Wagtail collecting nest material from our roof

20-Plume Moth. Thanks to Michael P and Wyatt for the ID.

Bunk & Gravel pit

Sunny, 15°, light E.

Bunk area pretty quiet today, a couple of Chiffchaff, a Blackcap and 10 Fieldfare.

Gravel pit a bit more productive until everything flushed by a couple of workers walking around the banks.

2 Shelduck, a Little Ringed Plover, 22 Shoveler, 4 Gadwall, 2 Teal, a Little Egret and 12 Lapwing.

Butterflies: More Peacock than Brimstone today.

Waiting for Spring

Sunny, 18°, light ESE.

Not a lot about at Lollingdon today and spring not far away. A Raven on the hill sat on a distant fence post and then flew off overhead to the south west and 28 Lapwing on the flood.

On the walk, 8 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 6 Redwing, a Little Owl, 2 Yellowhammer, a small flock of Siskin and a Grey Heron.

A quick look at the gravel pit on Monday: 2 Shelduck, a Gadwall, Chiffchaff and 16 Fieldfare nearby.

Butterflies: good numbers of Brimstone and Peacock.

Insects: Dark-edged Bee-fly.

Bunk

Mainly cloudy with few sunny spells, 11°, light SSW.

A walk along the Bunk trail to the Gravel pit.

7 Chiffchaff on walk with 3 in song, 1 in the garden 1 at CSW and another at the GP.

Gravel pit had a Little Ringed Plover, 8 Shoveler, 3 Gadwall, 4 Lapwing, c100 Lesser Blackback Gull, 10 Black-headed Gull and a Common Gull.

A Raven, Sparrowhawk and 2 Meadow Pipit over.

A Tawny Owl calling nearby, a Grey Heron, c20 Fieldfare and 2 Redwing and a singing Goldcrest and Blackcap.

Bunk again

Hazy sunshine, 16°, light SE.

Bunk area was fairly quiet today. 3 Chiffchaff at CSW, 2 in song, 2 Goldcrest, a Grey Heron, Yellowhammer, 2 Herring Gull and 20+ Fieldfare and 6 Redwing.

Gravel pit was a bit more active with 4 Shelduck, 26 Shoveler, 14 Tufted Duck, 4 Gadwall, a Green Sandpiper, 4 Lapwing, a Tawny Owl, and Chiffchaff and Blackcap. Again around 300 Gulls.

Butterflies: numbers of Brimstone and Peacock.

Bunk

Sunny, 15°, light SSE.

Bunk:

2 Mute Swan, 7 Gadwall, 5 Tufted Duck, 4 Lapwing, 300+ Gulls, mainly Lesser Blackback, a few Black-headed Gull and 1 Great Blackback Gull at the Gravel Pit.

Elsewhere: a single Chiffchaff, Blackcap, 3 Goldcrest, 50+ Fieldfare, a handful of Redwing, a Jay, a Grey Heron and 2 Herring Gull.

Good to hear several Skylark in song.

Butterflies: several Brimstone and Peacock.

More Waders

Mainly sunny, 16°, light S.

Lollingdon threw up another wader today with Alan finding a Curlew out on the flood. 2 Little Ringed Plover, a Common Snipe present and a flyover Redshank.

Several singing Chiffchaff nearby.

Bunk area: 6-8 Chiffchaff, Treecreeper, Grey Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Yellowhammer, 40+ Fieldfare, 20+ Redwing, 38 Lapwing, an Oystercatcher, 5 Gadwall, 6 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, a Little Owl and the usual Gulls.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Butterflies: Brimstone.

AD & PC.

Curlew courtesy Alan

Yellowhammer

Red Kite collecting nest material

Floods still prevalent

Sunny spells, 3°, light SE.

Nice to see the sun today but still a bit on the chilly side.

Long Ditch: 3 Common Snipe, 2 Stonechat, many Skylark in good voice, Reed Bunting, Peregrine Falcon over and c30 Lesser Blackback Gull.

Lollingdon: c30 Teal, 14 Shoveler, 2 Common Gull, 20+ Lesser Blackback Gull, 100+ Black-headed Gull, 100+ Lapwing and a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing.

Moreton Floods: Chiffchaff, c600 Lapwing, 1 Pintail, c50 Teal, 2 Shelduck, 25 Shoveler, 1 Gadwall, 9 Wigeon and 2 Cormorant over.

A Chiffchaff in the garden late afternoon and Alan has a regular Blackcap visiting his garden.

AD & PC.

Shelduck

Lapwings approaching the flood with a small flock of Starling flying point. As the Lapwing flock landed, one of the Starling attempted to land with them. It took around 15 seconds of hovering before it realised the water was too deep for it and eventually flew of to join the others that landed in a nearby tree.

Grey days

Overcast, 4°, light NE.

Another dull day but a good number of Ducks on and around the floods.

Moreton Floods: c500 Lapwing, 4 Golden Plover, c45 Shoveler, c50 Teal, 6 Pintail, 2 Shelduck, 8 Wigeon, 2 Gadwall, several Reed Bunting.

A Barn Owl hunting near Caps Lane.  

Bunk: somewhat quieter, a Mute Swan over, a single Chiffchaff and c200 Starling, c100 Fieldfare and c50 Redwing of note.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

AD & PC.

Bunk & Moreton Floods

Cloudy with sunny spells, 9°, light NNE.

Bunk Line: Not much going on. Pair of Kestrel, Fieldfare, Redwing, c300 Starling, Grey Wagtail, usual gulls, Mistle Thrush 🎶 singing and Goldcrest in the churchyard.

Moreton floods: c30 Pintail, c100 Teal, c20 Shoveler, 1 Shelduck, 2 Gadwall, 6 Wigeon, c400 Lapwing, 1 Little Egret, c12 Snipe and Skylark.

AD.

all pics courtesy Alan

Another January passes by

Cloudy with a few rain showers, 6°, light ESE.

Still fairly quiet.

Bunk: 5 Chiffchaff, 40+ Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, 5 Meadow Pipit, Goldcrest, Treecreeper, 40+ Redwing, 20+ Fieldfare, 2 Coot, 2 Gadwall, 6 Tufted Duck, usual Gull species, etc.

Lollingdon: c150 Lapwing, c50 Lesser Blackback Gull, c100 Black-headed Gull, 5 Teal, a few hundred Fieldfare and Redwing and a Goldcrest.

Caps Lane: Barn Owl hunting - 5.00pm ‘ish.

AD & PC.

Pied Wagtail

Robin

A rather naff shot of a Treecreeper

Bunk & Long Ditch

Sunshine after the rain, 5°, breezy WSW.

Bunk area: 22+ Pied Wagtail, 2 Meadow Pipit, Chiffchaff, Treecreeper,20+ Fieldfare, 8 Redwing, 2 Mistle Thrush, 4-500 Starling, a large flock of c500 Corvids, 150+ Black-headed Gull, 2 Herring Gull, very few Lesser Blackback Gull, a Coot, 2 Gadwall, 2 Pochard, 5 Tufted Duck and 2 Little Grebe, etc.

Long Ditch: Great White Egret over, Common Snipe, Kingfisher and Reed Bunting. And a Blackcap (m) in Alan’s Garden.

1st Snowdrops noted.  

AD & PC.

Gadwall (archive pic)

A wet one

Rain until 14:00, then just cloudy, 10°, breezy S.

Bunk area: a reasonable passage of Hirundines this afternoon. With c80 House Martin, 40+ Swallow, a handful of Sand Martin plus c20 Swift.

5 Chiffchaff, 4 Blackcap, 4 Common Whitethroat, 5 Yellowhammer, 2 Reed Bunting, a Yellow Wagtail, a Gadwall and 7 Lesser Blackback Gull, etc.

AD & PC.

Common Whitethroat

Blackcap courtesy Alan

Reed Bunting

Bunk & Lollingdon.

Sunny spells, 13°, breezy S.

Lollingdon: Wheatear, Swallow.

Bunk: Little Egret on flood opposite school, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap and Gadwall.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Azure Damselfly.

Butterflies: Green-veined White.

Sightings and photos courtesy Alan.

Oystercatcher

Overcast, 10°, light NNW.

An Oystercatcher found by Alan today on the floods along the Bunk but flushed by a dog walker, back mid-afternoon.

Approx. 80 Lesser Blackback Gull, 50 Black-headed Gull, 3 Herring Gull and a single Common Gull. A Grey Heron, 2 Mute Swan, 12 Greylag Geese, 20+ Canada Geese, a Gadwall, c20 Teal, 40+ Shoveler and c20 Tufted Duck.

6 Chiffchaff, a Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting, 6 Yellowhammer, 6 Pied Wagtail, a Kestrel, a large flock of Fieldfare, Starling and Redwing, (c600 birds) and a Peregrine Falcon.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

AD, BW & PC.

Oystercatcher courtesy Alan

Dunnock

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Black-headed Gulls and a Common Gull

Curlew from last week courtesy Alan

Common Gull courtesy Alan