On the rails

Sunny periods, 9°, light SSW.

Fairly quiet along the Bunk line this afternoon. The pair of Stonechat back in situ and a couple of Grey Wagtail on the Bunk line!

The usual Herring Gull present and a good number of Black-headed Gull loafing around.

And again plenty of Fieldfare and Redwing present.

Meanwhile Alan took a visit to Radley to see a pair of Ring-necked Duck that had arrived. This North American species is a regular vagrant to Europe. It is a strongly migratory species with the first UK record in 1955 and averages approx. 20 per year and it has been recorded in Oxfordshire before now. There are also escapes from wildfowl collections to consider.

Grey Wagtail ↕

Fieldfare

Stonechat in the fading light

A series of Ring-necked Duck pics, courtesy Alan.

A good mix

Light cloud with the occasional sunny spell, 14°, light WSW.

2 Stonechat still present around Lollingdon Hill also 100+ Fieldfare and several Redwing and a couple of Kestrel.

2 Corn Bunting with 1 in song and several Yellowhammer and Meadow Pipit.

Nearby a lot of Skylark noted today with 100+, including a flock of 38. Also an increase in Chaffinch numbers and good numbers of Meadow Pipit.

Another flock of c60 Fieldfare and a few Redwing in the cattle field/Amwell Spring area.

Another Corn Bunting in song near Little Lollingdon and a flock of c30 Yellowhammer and a few Reed Bunting and 2 Lapwing flew overhead.

Some activity around the Bullshole with a Grey Wagtail and a Tit flock of around 40 birds. Mainly Long-tailed Tit with 2 Goldcrest, 2 Coal Tit and 3 Chiffchaff and the rest made up of Blue and Great Tit.

Alan had 6 Siskin in some Alders briefly down along the river at Cholsey Marsh plus a Kingfisher and a flock of c50 Lapwing over Cholsey Hill and Mistle Thrush on the church.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter and Alan saw several Migrant Hawker along the river.

Fieldfare

Mistle Thrush courtesy Alan

Kingfisher courtesy Alan

Migrant Hawker courtesy Alan

Stonechat

We had weather today!

Cloudy with some sunshine and rain arriving, 16°, light SSE.

A visit to Lollingdon Hill and a walk along the Bunk line today prior to rain and a thunderstorm late afternoon. We certainly got weather today! 😎 💦 🌈 ☂ ☁

2 Common Redstart, a Willow Warbler, several Chiffchaff and a Common Whitethroat present along with a Kestrel.

A single Yellow Wagtail overhead and a Hobby passing thru and a few small groups of Swallow.

Along the Bunk line I was watching a couple of Yellow Wagtail in a field when a Kestrel went over and 14 Yellow Wagtail flew up. Did not realise there were that many present. 😄

50-60 Hirundines feeding around CSW, mainly Swallow with a few House Martin.

A few Chiffchaff present in the hedgerow around the sewage works and one in song.

A Grey Wagtail in the garden again.

A wet one

Rain, 19°, light SSE.

A thoroughly wet day and did not venture out until around 15:00 when the rain had eased a little.

As expected it was rather quiet along the Bunk line on a brief walk.

A good passage of House Martin and Swallow passing thru 100+ birds in total.

5 Yellow Wagtail flew over and a Sparrowhawk flying low along the line. Good numbers of Greenfinch still present around Green lane and do not recall seeing that many before in that area. Also been a good dozen feeding in the garden recently and a Grey Wagtail present again.

Alan saw the Common Sandpiper again today on the new gravel workings.

Surprisingly a couple of butterfly on the wing with 3 Small White, 1 Red Admiral and a Meadow Brown.

Yellow Wagtail pics courtesy Alan

A quieter day.

Cloudy, 23°, light SSW.

Quite a contrasting day compared with yesterday along the Bunk line with far fewer birds seen but some insects on the wing.

Still quite a few Greenfinch, Linnet and Yellowhammer feeding in the stubble and Goldfinch on the seeding thistle heads.

Several Chiffchaff noted, 4 Yellow Wagtail and a good passage of Swallow (c100).

A single Kestrel and a Starling flock around CSW.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, 1 Red Admiral, 1 Peacock, 1 Speckled Wood and several Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

The Roe Deer appeared at a fence and promptly jumped over it and slowly made its way past me and proceeded on its way out into the open fields. Fortunately I had my back against a tree which probably helped to break up my outline so I was not visible to it.

 Common Sandpiper (courtesy Alan)

 Young Swallows resting up ↕

Grey Wagtail

Roe Deer track

Dull day, lotsa Birds

Thick cloud, 20°, light NE.

A damp, muggy day with low cloud and the intermittent light rain shower.

A walk out along the Bunk line/Green lane area and Alan ranging far and wide taking in Lollingdon Hill, the river and Bunk line.

Highlight today was a Whimbrel, heard at first then seen flying towards Cholsey Hill.

2 Spotted Flycatcher and a Willow Warbler at the intersection of Green Lane and good numbers of Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Linnet nearby.

The Common Sandpiper still present at the gravel workings and a Stonechat near the village end of the Bunk Line.

18 Greylag Geese flew over, 2 Yellow Wagtail, a single Grey Wagtail, 10+ Chiffchaff, a Common Whitethroat, several Yellowhammer, 50+ Starling and a Rather damp looking Kestrel.

A good movement of Hirundines, with 50+ Swallow and House Martin along the river and several small flocks of House Martin and Swallow over the Bunk Line area. Loren had 30+ House Martin over her allotment today.

The Common Redstart still present on Lollingdon Hill.

The only butterfly seen today was a Meadow Brown that flew thru the garden late afternoon.

 Stonechat vid courtesy Alan

 Stonechat courtesy Alan

 Spotted Flycatcher

 Stonechat ↕

Willow Warbler (no time to focus before it flew!)

A little quiet out there

Overcast, 21°, light N.

After yesterday’s thunderstorm and rain we thought it may have stirred things up a bit. However it was rather quiet out there today.

I spent a couple of hours around Lollingdon hill and not a lot to show for it with just 1 Common Redstart and a couple of Kestrel.

The walk to and from was relatively quiet also, good numbers of Yellowhammer still around with up to 6 Reed Bunting around Little Lollingdon area and a mixed flock of around 100 Linnet and Goldfinch in the same area.

That was about it!

At least a couple of Grey Wagtail still visiting the garden.

Alan was along the Bunk line today and found a Stonechat and 3 Yellow Wagtail and a Common Sandpiper still frequenting the new gravel workings.

Negative on butterflies and dragonflies today and only a few Brown Hare noted.

 Common Sandpiper (courtesy Alan)

Stonechat (courtesy Alan)

 A Magpie hitching a ride. Two fold, 1, taking any parasites the sheep may have & 2, a good vantage point looking out for anything the sheep may disturb.

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Rain & Shine

Light rain at first then sunny, 25°, light NE.

Muggy at first then clearing and warm again.

Lollingdon hill relatively quiet this morning, 1 Common Redstart present (only one seen) the other may still be there.

1 Common Whitethroat, 1 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 1 Corn Bunting, 3 Yellowhammer in same hedge and 2 Kestrel around the hill.

A light passage of Swallow and House Martin.

2 Raven flew south west, 2 Sparrowhawk (together) flew east and 23 Lesser Blackback Gull loafing in a nearby field with the Rook flock.

Up to 4 Spotted Flycatcher still around the cattle field and several Chiffchaff in same area and a couple of Yellow Wagtail overhead.

Common Sandpiper still present at the new gravel workings. (2 yesterday) Per Alan.

A Kingfisher flying along Cholsey Brook south of the railway.

A Grey Wagtail in the garden again this morning early on and then 5 This evening.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Brown Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Red Admiral, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

 Spotted Flycatcher ↕

Grey Wagtail

Forest Shieldbug, there were over 40 of these on an Ash tree.

 5 Grey Wagtail in the garden this evening ↕

🥵 🥵 🥵

Sunshine, 34°, light SE.

A brief walk along the Bunk line/Green lane today.

Fairly quiet in the hot weather today. Several Yellow Wagtail and Pied Wagtail around, maybe 4+ of each and a couple of brief snatches of a Willow Warbler song.

A couple of Common Whitethroat, several Chiffchaff, a Kestrel and 3 Green Woodpecker.

4 Grey Wagtail in the garden this morning, hopefully this was from a successful breeding pair nearby.

A Common Sandpiper seen this morning at the new gravel workings. Per BJW & AD.

Dragonflies: Brown Hawker, Southern Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Moths: Info from Tony Rayner, We are in uncharted territory - an amazing number of moths last night dominated by one species. We made it 337 Common Wainscots! This is sort of numbers that I have only previously experienced in Bulgaria - again in high temperatures.

 One of four Grey Wagtail in the garden

 Kestrel

Green Woodpecker

Garden Birding

Sunny, 13°, light NE.

Have been watching the garden for the last couple of days and not venturing out and not doing too bad. Fortunately we overlook Whitehead Meadow and so have a good vista to look out on.

Birdwise, there have been 39 species in, over or near the garden, including Chiffchaff, Grey Wagtail, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Coal Tit, Nuthatch, Jay, Green Woodpecker, Tawny Owl and Canada Goose to name a few.

A few butterflies present with many Brimstone, 2 Small Tortoiseshell, an Orange Tip and a Comma but none staying too long.

Plenty of Hoverflies around but none staying still, so no id’s yet.

A single Spotted Bee-fly seen briefly.

Female Blackbird

One of the four Stock Dove that regularly visit.

Gone quiet

Overcast with light rain (again), 9°, light to breezy W.

Cholsey birders out in force today as I met both Tony W and Alan D along the Bunk line today.

However it has gone quieter along there. Very few Thrushes around today with just a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing and a small flock of Starling.

2 Grey Wagtail and 2 Herring Gull, a flyover Raven and a female Sparrowhawk flew low over the fields.

Tony went “off piste”, with the farmers permission of course and added a couple of Goldcrest.

Little else of note though.

Cool & Bright

Sunny at first then clouding over, 13°, light NW.

A lot of birds on the hill today with 50+ Meadow Pipit, c12 Yellowhammer, 6 Pied Wagtail and around 40 Linnet and all flushed by a marauding Sparrowhawk that was subsequently chased off by 2 Magpie.

25 Swallow and a single House Martin south over the hill and a few Skylark meandering about.

A Kestrel hunting on the hill and 4 Buzzard and 6 Red Kite enjoying the lift the wind was giving.

Still good numbers of Chiffchaff around with one in the garden this morning. Plus the Grey Wagtail in the garden and a Sparrowhawk caught a Goldfinch.

A House Martin still attending a nest along Church road with at least 2 young still present.

30+ Golden Plover over the village yesterday. Per Alan Dawson.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White (2), Red Admiral (3) and Speckled Wood (1).

 Swallows

 Meadow Pipit

 Speckled Wood

 Red Admiral

Sparrowhawk