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

Overcast, 22°, light E.

Hobby, 4 Swift and 5 House Martin over garden and a Chiffchaff in garden. Lots of Swallow (50+) at the bottom end of Cholsey Hill.

Greenshank calling and seen flying south over Panters Road. Per MP.

Library pics

Cooler

Overcast, 19°, breezy NNE.

2 Common Redstart still out at Lollingdon, a Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Common Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap and an unexpected fly-by of a Greenshank and c60 Swallow over.

Nearby a couple of Yellowhammer, c100 Linnet and good numbers of Chiffchaff.

A handful of House Martin still present in the Church Road area and appear to be feeding young still and 2 Swift over.

A Peregrine seen from the garden yesterday and several Swift passing over in the last few days.

Mammals: Hedgehog, Muntjac and Common Pipistrelle regular in garden.

Dragonflies: A Southern Hawker on the allotment yesterday.

Butterflies: very few, Small White, Speckled Wood, a Gatekeeper and a few Meadow Brown.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawk in garden.

Rain & Shine

Overcast with a few light showers then clearing later, 14°, light W.

Lollingdon, River, Marsh, Bunk and Lees.

8 Tufted Duck, Greenshank, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 8+ Sand Martin, 6 House Martin, 20+ Swallow, 2 Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, 2 Wheatear ( 1 Lollingdon and 1nr Church Road), 6 Blackcap, 3 Common Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, Reed Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Jay, 2 Reed Bunting, 5 Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Orange Tip.

AD, MP & PC.

Grasshopper Warbler courtesy Alan. Just outside the Cholsey boundary so can't count it in the annual stats.

Some needed rain

Cloudy with showers, 15°, fresh SE.

Bunk, Lollingdon and River/Marsh:

Oystercatcher, 3 Shelduck, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, 2 Little Ringed Plover, Greenshank, 3 Lapwing, Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, Yellow Wagtail, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Blackcap, 3 Common Whitethroat, 3 Wheatear, etc.

Butterflies: a single Speckled Wood.

AD & PC.

Photos courtesy Alan

Reed Warbler

Wheatear

Little Ringed Plover

Cholsey

Sunny at first then mostly cloudy, 15°, light S.

Bunk, Lollingdon and River/Marsh:

6 Shoveler, 4 Tufted Duck, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, 3 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Lapwing, 4 Black-headed Gull, 20+ Swallow, 3+ House Martin, 14+ Sand Martin, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Wheatear, many Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, 5+ Blackcap, 2+ Common Whitethroat, 3 Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Sparrowhawk and Tawny Owl.

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

AD & PC.

Yellow Wagtail courtesy Alan ↕

Wheatears

Cloudy with occasional sunshine, 13°, fresh S.

Lollingdon, Marsh and Bunk areas:

3 Wheatear, 2 Common Whitethroat, 5 Blackcap, Reed Warbler, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Meadow Pipit, 5 Yellowhammer, 6 Swallow, 3 Sand Martin, 4 Lapwing,  Common Sandpiper, Greenshank, and 2 Little Ringed Plover.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Orange Tip, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

AD & PC.

Wheatear

Wheatear courtesy Alan ↕

Brown Hare

A change in the weather

Cloudy with some light rain showers. 12°, light SW.

River: Common Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, Oystercatcher over, 2 Swallow + usual suspects.

Bunk: 6 Swallow, Common Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Greenshank, 20 Tufted Duck, Grey Wagtail, Oystercatcher, 4 Yellow Wagtail over, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff.

AD.

Common Whitethroat courtesy Alan

Greenshank courtesy Alan

Black Red & Green

Another sunny one, 20°, light NNE.

Bunk, River and Lees areas: A female Black Redstart (3rd record) found by Alan late in the day out towards the Lees, elsewhere, 3 Willow Warbler, usual Chiffchaff and Blackcap, Cetti’s Warbler, Common Sandpiper, Greenshank, Oystercatcher, Little Egret, 2 Herring Gull, 8 Black-headed Gull, 5 Lesser Blackback Gull, Gulls becoming less frequent now, 2 Little Grebe, a Teal, 12 Tufted Duck, a Sparrowhawk and a Raven over.

A Ring-necked Parakeet north over Church road approx. 19:00. Per RB.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Green-veined White, Orange Tip and Peacock.

AD & PC.

Black Redstart courtesy Alan

Black Redstart ↕

Greenshank courtesy Alan

Roe Deer

River & Lollingdon

Sunny, 13°, light to breezy NE.

River: Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Kingfisher and Swallow.

Lollingdon: Greenshank, 4 Wheatear, 5 second viewing of a Whinchat before disappearing, unable to relocate. Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Swallow over. Per Alan.

Greenshank

Wheatear

Bunk & Lollingdon

Sunny spells, 12°, light WSW.

2 Oystercatcher, a Common Sandpiper and 2 Willow Warbler, Bunk area. Per Alan.

Greenshank, Lollingdon. Per Tony W.

Tree Pipit heard flying north over Cholsey Station. Per Richard Broughton.

A wet one

Light to heavy prolonged rain showers, 11°, fresh WSW.

Bunk line proved quite fruitful today with several migrants moving through. I was out a.m. and Alan p.m.

A single House Martin, 5+ Sand Martin, 2+ Swallow and singles of Greenshank and Shelduck all moving generally north in between the rain showers.

A single Willow Warbler and Blackcap, several Chiffchaff, Treecreeper, a single Black-headed Gull, 5 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Raven and Sparrowhawk also noted.

A few Yellowhammer back in their summer quarters and several Skylark in song .

From Alan yesterday: Grey Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Wheatear, Nuthatch, Kingfisher, 2 Little Egret and 2 Raven.

Plus a Peacock and Brimstone butterfly and Dark-edged Bee-fly all yesterday.

Raven courtesy Alan

Willow Warbler

Dark-edged Bee-fly courtesy Alan

Little Egret courtesy Alan

Cholsey

Sunny spells, 18°, breezy NNE.

A steady day today with a few species noted, including Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Little Grebe and Tufted Duck.

Common Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, several Chiffchaff (with some in song), Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Yellow Wagtail, Little Owl, Sparrowhawk, many Linnet and several Yellowhammer.

Swallow and House Martin also in good numbers.

Another Spotted Flycatcher, Lollingdon. Per TW.  

Mammals: Red Fox & Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Migrant Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood & Small Heath.

Greenshank courtesy Alan

Common Redstart

Window strike courtesy Bill Nicholls

Another Greenshank

 Photos courtesy Alan

Out & About

Sunny spells, 23°, breezy SW.

Both Alan and myself out today around and about the parish.

c100 Canada Geese flew from the west and continued towards the river, 4 Egyptian Geese, a Little Grebe, a flyby Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, a Common Gull, 2 Herring Gull, 20+ Lesser Blackback Gull, 50+ Black-headed Gull, 2 Grey Heron, 3-4 Tufted Duck, Sparrowhawk, Little Owl, 100+ House Martin, 60+ Swallow, 2 Sand Martin, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, 4 Wheatear, 5 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail plus the regulars.

Mammals: Red Fox.

Dragonflies: Common Blue Damselfly, Southern Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: very low numbers, Large White, Small White. Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown & Small Heath.

Paul & Alan.

Wheatear courtesy Alan

Southern Hawker

Whinchat

Light rain, 13°, breezy SSW, brighter later.

Lollingdon was rather quiet today, not surprising given the weather.

However, there was a lot of song, with Skylark, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, a Lesser Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, 3 Thrush species and the other regulars.

A flock of 20+ House Martin and a handful of Swallow passed thru.

Alan was near the Gravel pit and found a cracking female Whinchat, which I managed to go and see later in the day.

During the rain earlier there were approx. 50 Swift over the gravel pits plus several Swallow and House Martin. And the Greenshank was still present.

Good numbers of young Starling being seen and heard.

Whinchat

Waders

A few rain showers then sunny, 15°. Light WSW.

A couple of good waders at the Gravel pit this morning in the shape of a Whimbrel and a Greenshank.

The Whimbrel was only present for a short time having been spooked by a digger and then flew off north.

The Greenshank fortunately stayed in time for Alan to get there. For the record this appears to be the first occurrence for c40 years in Cholsey.

Also present, Little Ringed Plover, 12 Tufted Duck, a Black-headed Gull. Several Canada Geese, a couple of Yellow Wagtail and a few Swallow overhead.

A few more Swift overhead in the village today.

Photos have been heavily cropped as the bird was always distant.

Greenshank courtesy Alan

Greenshank ↕

Canada Goose with 5 young

Yellow Wagtail & Little Ringed Plover

Whimbrel courtesy Alan, taken at Little Wittenham April 22nd.