Jays & Stonechats

Overcast with a few light rain showers, 16°, light S.

Lollingdon, 2 Stonechat still present on the hill and approx. 20 Mistle Thrush but mobile and 30+ Redwing.

A single Chiffchaff, several Jay, 30’ish Skylark and several Meadow Pipit.

A Little Owl nearby and 2 more Stonechat and a Tawny Owl at Little Lollingdon.

Alan along Cholsey Marsh/River this morning. Mistle Thrush, Redwing, Stonechat and 2 Raven over and several more Jay.

Bunk line this afternoon. Redwing and Stonechat.

A Jay in the garden late afternoon. Both Jay and Stonechat have been very frequent in the area this month.

Mammals: a Stoat hunting a Rabbit and a couple of distant Roe Deer.

Jay

Stonechat

Garden visitors

Sunny, 8°, light NW.

A few images of garden visitors today. 

As well as Jackdaw and Magpie in the garden there were Carrion Crow, Rook and Jay in the meadow and a Raven flew over mid-afternoon. 6 Corvids in one day!

Redstart still present

Cloudy with a few sunny periods, 21°, light WSW.

The Common Redstart still present on Lollingdon Hill but very elusive. Per Alan Dawson.

A young Jay in the garden this morning checking out the feeders.

A Sparrowhawk over Church road this morning trying to gain height and being mobbed by Swifts, Swallows and House Martins.

At least one pair, probably two pair of Yellow Wagtail on Cholsey Hill. Per Richard Broughton.

 Jay

 Common Redstart (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Yucky, but the first Redwing of the autumn

A dull, wet and overcast day, almost constant light to heavy rain with varying wind, 14º, light to fresh SW.

A brief and wet visit to the hill late afternoon, subsequently the camera did not come out to play very much.

2 Wheatear present, a Raven overhead and a Jay on the north side.

A hedgerow to the north had a lot of activity with counts of 14 Blackbird, 9 Song Thrush and 2 Redwing, may have been more but my bins kept steaming up and I was getting quite wet, also at least 2 more Jay here.

The local tit flock was also out in this area and as usual dominated by 20+ Long-tailed Tit; there were also several Blue and Great Tit, at least 3 Goldcrest, 4 Chiffchaff, Great-spotted Woodpecker and a Treecreeper, (2 other Chiffchaff nearby).

2 Jay near the garden this morning and a Goldcrest and a Chiffchaff in the garden over the weekend.

A rather snatched shot of the Raven flying over.

A walk to the hill

Cloudy with little sunshine, 18º, light SW.

A walk out to Lollingdon.

Plenty of gulls around today scattered in fields that had recently been worked, mainly Lesser Blackback Gull with a number of Black-headed Gull and 2 Herring Gull.

Quite a few Meadow Pipit, 17 Yellowhammer, 20+ Pied Wagtail, 2 Reed Bunting and a handful of Skylark.

There were 3 Wheatear on the hill but little else other than the Kestrel (with no tail), a few Red Kite and Buzzard overhead and a single Swallow flew south.

20+ Chiffchaff in total with a couple in song, Great-spotted and Green Woodpecker, 3+ Jay and another single flew west from the Bullshole.

A Grey Wagtail on a garden pond and a Grey Heron flew in.

Dragonflies; 2 Southern Hawker and several Common Darter.

Butterflies; Small White and Speckled Wood frequent, 8 Red Admiral and 2 Small Tortoiseshell.

A Hedgehog in the garden this evening for it's 4th day.

Meadow Pipit

Grey Wagtail

 2 Wheatear

Yellowhammer

Jay

Jays and more!

Cloudy with hazy sunshine and a little cooler than of late, 18º, light SSW.

Jays.

More Jays seen today with 9 in a short stretch of hedge on the south side of the hill and they flew off towards Kingstanding hill and the downs. Another 1 flew into trees on the north side of the hill, at least 2 more seen and heard further back and another 2 flew from a hedge on the east side of the hill making a total of at least 14 and all moving in a southerly direction. So with TW’s sighting yesterday makes a total of at least 26 in 2 days. Is there a movement of Jays in the county?

A Stonechat, 2 Wheatear, a Redstart (diff from yesterday) and 4 Chiffchaff on the hill, 6 Meadow Pipit and 4 Swallow over.

2 Kingfisher nearby.

A Mistle Thrush seen near the church earlier.

A Redstart behind my garden along the brook. Also 6 Grey Wagtails coming into roost. (per RB).

Cholsey Marsh; much the same as yesterday + a large Tit flock including a couple of Goldcrest and Treecreeper plus a Hobby overhead. (minus the Jays) (per TW).

Dragonflies; a Southern Hawker and several Common Darter.

Butterflies; a few Small White and Speckled Wood, 2 Peacock and 1 Red Admiral.

A couple of the Jays from a distance.

 Stonechat

Wheatear

Roe Deer

Even More Blackcaps

Sunny, 15º, moderate to fresh SW.

Six Blackcap in the garden today (4♂ & 2♀), had a brief word with Lew and we assume that these are wintering birds from further west moving through and they were feeding mainly on apples and doing a fair bit of flycatching in the sunshine.

This evening a Jay visited the bird table briefly and the year’s first (for me) House Martin over Marymead, a Goldcrest singing nearby and a Kestrel in the meadow.

Two visits to Lollingdon hill today did not produce much, Two Wheatear was about it and they were down on one of the tracks probably in the shelter from the wind that was blowing in to the face of the hill. A couple of Buzzard and Red Kite around, three Swallow and two Chiffchaff.

Cholsey marsh was rather quiet also; five Chiffchaff in song and a couple of Reed Bunting also two Swallow feeding along the river and two Swallows over Cholsey hill.

Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock butterflies all seen today.

Hedgehog out and about again clearing up under the bird feeders.

Fieldfare fest

Overcast, misty, 8°, no appreciable wind and poor visibility.

A brief look around Lollingdon hill today produced somewhere in the region of five hundred thrushes, again mainly Fieldfare but also a hundred plus Redwing and most of the Hawthorn berries are now gone from the hedgerows so I guess they will be moving on shortly.

Eight Blackbird on the north side, a few Chaffinch, two Great Tit and several Blue Tit, a couple of Jay heard nearby but not seen, four Magpie in the hedgerow to the east along with a small flock of ten Long-tailed Tit and five Stock Dove feeding in a nearby field.

Merlin and Stonechats

Overcast then sunny, 12º, light SE.

A single Lapwing seen flying from near the Bullshole towards Cholsey hill and may have joined a small flock on the other side of the hill in the flooded fields at South Moreton.

Around a dozen Tit flocks noted today between ten and thirty birds in each flock
(Long-tailed, Blue, Great and Coal Tit, plus Goldcrest (20+) ).

Winter Thrushes quite widespread now, Fieldfare in the majority but also good numbers of Redwing and approximately one hundred Blackbird noted, small numbers of Song and Mistle Thrush seen also.

At one point along a track in Lollingdon, a flock of thrushes came whooshing past me low and fast alarm calling and disappeared in to the trees behind me. On looking up to where they had come from I saw a ♂ Merlin flying through, it did not look like he was on the hunt but I guess the thrushes were not taking a chance!

Again, several small flocks of Starling seen, also a single Jay, several Meadow Pipit and Skylark and the odd Buzzard and Red Kite. A good flock of House Sparrow around Manor farm and Siskin also heard in a few places.

Two Stonechat also seen but were not allowing a close enough approach for a decent photo unfortunately.

Tony W has seen several Common Snipe recently in some of the flooded fields locally and also the Lollingdon Little Owl.

Two Coal Tit visiting the garden regularly this week.

A rather late Common Hawker dragonfly and a Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell butterfly seen today!

                                   Buzzard

Lollingdon hill

Sunny, 6°, light WSW, chilly!

Have been given the OK from the hospital to drive and more importantly get out and get some birding done (with caution)!

As usual decided on a visit to Lollingdon hill for about an hour, quite a few Thrushes there with a flock of two hundred plus consisting mainly of Fieldfare, approximately twenty Redwing, five Blackbird, three Song Thrush and two Mistle Thrush with most feeding on the hawthorns on the south slope. Amazing how many Fieldfare can fit in one hawthorn bush! Also a flock of around one hundred Fieldfare flew from the northern side and flew towards the downs.

Several Meadow Pipit and Skylark nearby, a single Buzzard a Jay and three Pied Wagtail flew over and a single Chiffchaff still present in a hedgerow along the east side.

Cholsey, 18th Oct

Overcast, 16º, a few showers, light to fresh SW.

A milder day but still showery, a fair amount of rain this week has left streams and ditches running high and some partial flooding of some fields.

Quite a few Mistle Thrush around today, around sixteen seen but only in ones or twos and several Jay heard in a few locations.

Some decent Skylark flocks building up with one consisting of around one hundred birds, also some fair sized flocks of Meadow Pipit and an increase in Pied Wagtails with approximately twenty noted.

The Wheatear still present on Lollingdon hill and two Goldcrest on the north side.

A few Common Darter seen and one Red Admiral.

     Red Kite with what appears to be some remains of another bird?

Cholsey, 17th Oct

Sunny spells, 14º, showers, one thundery and a blustery SW wind.

A visit to Lollingdon hill again, the Wheatear still and two Chiffchaff present.

Twelve Buzzard seen, four were in the vicinity for a time but the other eight drifted over the hill and continued south towards the downs. Also several Red Kite, two Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk seen.

At one point, a Raven came over the hill pursuing a Red Kite and after a brief encounter the Red Kite was grounded by the Raven, the Raven then landed about five metres from the Kite and after around thirty seconds flew off towards the downs.

Also a Pied Wagtail visiting a manure heap there.

Cholsey marsh was quiet a few Reed Bunting and a Chiffchaff present, sixteen Siskin flew into an Alder tree and were joined by approximately twenty Goldfinch.

Three Jay flew across the Thames, as did seven Mistle Thrush. Caught the edge of a thundery shower so did not get too much rain and three Swallow flew down river keeping to the edge of the rain.

Further, upstream there were four Cormorant in their usual rest spot and a couple of Great-spotted Woodpecker nearby also a Kingfisher at Bow Bridge.

Six Common Lizard seen and a few Red Admiral, Small White and a Brimstone on the wing several Migrant Hawker and Common Darter.

Thrushes.

Rain, 14º, light E.

A rather dull and soggy day, Lollingdon hill was quiet on the south side, two flocks of Hirundines passed over the hill, the first was exclusively House Martin but the second had at least six Swallow with them, both flocks comprised roughly twenty birds, also a Chiffchaff working its way down the hedgerow to the south.

As I approached the north side, fourteen Redwing flew off, also there were five Song Thrush and eight Blackbird feeding on Hawthorn berries and two Mistle Thrush present, there was also a single Jay briefly, the ♂ Blackcap still there feeding on Elderberry and three Chiffchaff present.

A Corn Bunting heard in song and three Pied Wagtail in nearby fields along with eight Yellowhammer and several Meadow Pipit, also several Starling (c20) around.

Cholsey Marsh had five Chiffchaff present and a Reed Warbler in bank side vegetation. A flock of approximately thirty House Martin were feeding over the marsh and slowly drifting down river in the drizzly weather, two Siskin flew over and a Treecreeper heard.

Three Jay were in the trees on the opposite bank of the Thames and a Kingfisher flew downstream, also a Green Woodpecker heard.

Two Red Admiral seen on the wing.

Lollingdon hill, 9th Oct

Overcast, a few sunny spells, 12º, little wind.

No rain forecast so a walk to Lollingdon hill looked on the cards, not much on the way, a few Yellowhammer en route and a three Goldcrest and a single Chiffchaff in Jubilee wood.

Spent a few hours on the hill and it proved worthwhile, three Jay stopped briefly before heading towards the downs, also nine Mistle Thrush, two Siskin and three Pied Wagtail over.

The more wooded north side of the hill held, a Reed Bunting, a Corn Bunting, five Chiffchaff, a ♂ Blackcap, a Goldcrest, three Song Thrush, fourteen Blackbird

(Incidentally, they were all ♂’s), seven Robin, a Great-spotted Woodpecker and a small tit flock of around ten birds.

Usually only a couple of Robin and Blackbird so I guess birds are moving through.

There were twenty-four Starling feeding briefly on the southern side and Yellowhammer, Meadow Pipit and Skylark regular, a few Buzzard and Red Kite and the usual Gulls and Corvids in the area.

Several Small White, Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral butterflies and twenty plus Common Darter dragonflies seen, however these soon disappeared as the afternoon got cooler.

I dropped in briefly on the hill yesterday during the rain, only a single Chiffchaff and a party of six Swallow flew over.

A large finch flock near East Hendred numbering several hundred birds, as I was driving I did not ID the birds but would assume most were Linnet?

Also another two Jay seen in Wantage at the weekend.

At least three different Hedgehog in the garden recently.

                                   Jay

                                   Chiffchaff

                                   Chiffchaff

                                   Robin

                                   Yellowhammer