Lollingdon

Mainly cloudy, 11°, light SSE.

Not a great deal on the floods out at Lollingdon today. 135 Lesser Blackback Gull and a single Herring Gull that disappeared after being flushed by a Buzzard.

On the walk out, 2 Goldcrest and 2 Chiffchaff in the Millennium wood and another Chiffchaff out at Lollingdon. A handful of Meadow Pipit, c20 Redwing and a few Fieldfare, a single Mistle Thrush, 2 Jay, 2 Raven, 4 Grey Heron and a Little Egret.

This Starling was in song for c20 minutes before joining a small flock passing by.

Lollingdon

Sunny, 10°, light S.

Lollingdon floods:

A Merlin flew in, fast and low and took what I believe was a Meadow Pipit from a small flock on the flooded area.

Not much on the flood other than 2 Common Snipe, a handful of Black-headed Gull, 20+ Pied Wagtail, the afore mentioned Meadow Pipit (c20) and a Grey Heron.

On the periphery, 2 Stonechat, a Chiffchaff, 3 Yellowhammer, 2 Jay, many Fieldfare and Redwing, 2 Mistle Thrush and a Song Thrush - in song.

2 Little Egret flew east over the cattle field.

Little Egrets

Overcast with light rain, 6°, light NW.

Lollingdon floods were rather quiet, just a few Gulls and 5 Common Snipe. 2 Little Egret nearby and a Raven over.

Still plenty of Fieldfare and Redwing around, a single Mistle Thrush, Goldcrest and Chiffchaff.

Lollingdon floods

Sunny, 7°, light NNE.

Lollingdon floods: 12 Teal, 9 Lapwing, 2 Common Snipe, 30+ Pied Wagtail, several Meadow Pipit, a Grey Wagtail, 50+ Black-headed Gull, 20+ Lesser Blackback Gull.

On the periphery: 2 Stonechat, several Fieldfare and Redwing, 2 Little Egret and a Raven over.

Near Bullshole: Chiffchaff and Goldcrest.

stock photos

Spring on its way

Sunshine, 16°, light E.

Lollingdon, Bunk and Marsh:

Our first Wheatear of the year out at Lollingdon today, plus 2 Corn Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer, a Reed Bunting, a couple of Meadow Pipit, c20 Fieldfare, 6 Teal and c20 Lapwing.

3 Cetti’s Warbler, Water Rail and Reed Bunting on the Marsh.

Bunk: 21 Lapwing, 4 Shoveler, 8 Tufted Duck, 2 Teal, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Jay, 6 Meadow Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Grey Heron, Little Egret and a Little Owl.

Chiffchaff, everywhere.

A Swallow, 2 Gadwall and 2 Oystercatcher over the weekend.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Green-veined White and Peacock.

AD, PC & TW.

The Floods

Overcast, 7°, light ENE.

Lollingdon floods: c500 Lapwing, c100 Black-headed Gull and a handful of distant large Gulls, 20+ Pied Wagtail and a Little Egret.

Nearby, 3 Corn Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer, the usual Fieldfare and Redwing and 4-5 Redpoll near the Bullshole.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

May ends on a quiet note

Cloudy day, 14°, breezy N.

A fairly quiet day and a little cooler.

Good news with 2 well grown young Lapwing noted. Second year running that Lapwing has bred locally and hopefully a few more young to be noted.

The River, Bunk and Lollingdon all pretty static at the moment and very few insects on the wing today.

2 Little Egret noted by Alan and c30 House Martin feeding over CSW.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Brown Hare

Teneral Black-tailed Skimmer courtesy Alan. earlier in week

Large Skipper (yesterday) courtesy Alan

White-legged Damselfly (yesterday) courtesy Alan

Bunk & Lollingdon

Sunny spells and showers,13°, breezy NW.

Bunk: Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Treecreeper, 2 Common Sandpiper, Swallow, Common Whitethroat and Little Egret.

Lollingdon: 4 Wheatear, Chiffchaff and Blackcap.

photos courtesy Alan

Little Egret

Oystercatcher

Hithercroft & Bunk

Sunshine and showers, 14°, breezy SW.

Hithercroft floods: Little Egret, 3 Shelduck over, Common Snipe, Herring Gull, Lesser Blackback Gull, Black-headed Gull, Chiffchaff - many singing, Reed Bunting and Lapwing.

Bunk area: 7 Chiffchaff, several in song, a Blackcap singing, 3 Yellowhammer, 2 Siskin, a Sparrowhawk, 14 Fieldfare, 1 Redwing, 50+ Starling, a Grey Wagtail, 8 Pied Wagtail, 5 Meadow Pipit, 1 Lapwing, 1 Mute Swan, 32 Lesser Blackback Gull, 7 Black-headed Gull, 2 Herring Gull and 1 Common Gull, etc.

Mammals: Short-tailed Vole, Wood Mouse & Brown Hare.

Amphibians: Smooth Newt (per Bill Nicholls, garden pond).

Butterflies: Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock.

AD, BN & PC.

Shelduck courtesy Alan

Sparrowhawk

Wood Mouse courtesy Bill Nicholls

Egrets

Overcast, 13°, light S.

The day started with a Great White Egret found by Geoff Wyatt on the Thames flood by Nosworthy Way, Winterbrook bridge. When Michael Pocock arrived a little later it had been joined by a second. 3rd & 4th records for Cholsey.

Possibly a 3rd GWE seen on the flood in the horse field  near Caps lane later in the day. Per MA.

Bunk pretty quiet. Very few Thrushes with c20 Fieldfare and a handful of Redwing. 4 Yellowhammer, several Chiffchaff, 2 Mute Swan still on the flood and c50 Shoveler flying over and 2 Peregrine.

River: Water Rail, Little Egret, singing Mistle Thrush, Siskin and good numbers Of Fieldfare and Redwing. Per Alan.

A Ring-necked Parakeet over CSW yesterday and a Blackcap in song. Per Alan.

Mammals: Otter.

Butterflies: Red Admiral.

Great White Egret courtesy Michael Pocock

Great White Egret courtesy Alan Dawson ↕

Little Egret courtesy Alan

Shoveler ↕

Its stopped raining

Cloudy then brightening up, 7°, light NW.

Alan along the Bunk with 3 Chiffchaff at CSW, 6 Teal and a Cormorant on a flood.

Loads of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling on the fields plus a Little Egret.

Goldcrest, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Meadow Pipit, Little Owl, Kingfisher, Sparrowhawk and Grey Wagtail.

I took a muddy and wet walk out to Lollingdon. A Chiffchaff at the Bullshole and 2 Raven over Little Lollingdon.

A female Merlin flew through spooking good numbers of Fieldfare and 50+ Redwing.

Several Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer, 2 Reed Bunting and 5 Corn Bunting noted.

Mammals: 13 Roe Deer.

Nuthatch

Roe Deer courtesy Alan

Soggy underfoot

Hazy sunshine, 10°, light SW.

A nice 1stw m Bullfinch seen on Lollingdon Hill today, only the 2nd sighting of this species in Cholsey this year.

Again a lot of Fieldfare and Redwing in the area plus at least 6 Mistle Thrush. A scattering of Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting and Skylark plus a couple of Siskin over and 2 Raven.

2 Little Egret a couple of days ago near the flooded field.

Garden very busy this week with Coal, Long-tailed, Blue and Great Tit, Nuthatch, Treecreeper and Great-spotted Woodpecker all visiting.

Reed Bunting

Yellowhammer

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Fog & Sunshine

Foggy, clearing by 13:00, 4°, very light SE.

Bunk area fairly quiet today apart from the hundreds of Fieldfare and Redwing present feeding on Hawthorn berries, plus a good number of Blackbird.

A few small flocks of Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and Skylark scattered around.

Singles of Raven and Grey Wagtail.

Cholsey Hill area, c50 Golden Plover, c100 Lapwing, a Little Egret and several Meadow Pipit, Per Alan.

Robin

A trio of Collared Dove

A very vocal Rook

Jackdaw

Blackbird

Loads of Thrushes and little else

Overcast with some light rain, 9°, light N.

A trek along the Bunk line this afternoon turned up a Little Egret and c 20 Pied Wagtail out with the cattle.

A lot of Fieldfare and Redwing, just about every hedgerow had good numbers present plus numbers feeding in fields. Alan had a lot this morning along the Bunk and also along the river area, maybe an influx from further north?

Little else other than a Little Owl calling, 2 Herring Gull and a few Meadow Pipit.

One of the Pied Wagtail feeding alongside cattle

Little Egret

2 Herring Gull and 3 Magpie

A little quiet

Mainly cloudy, 9°, breezy NW.

Both along Bunk Line today but at different times:

Little Egret, 2 Raven, good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing, c20 Meadow Pipit, c30 Pied Wagtail, 10 Yellowhammer, 100+ Lesser Blackback Gull, c50 Black-headed Gull, 2 Herring Gull, 1 Grey Heron, c70 Egyptian Geese and the same of Canada Geese.

Tony W saw the Geese flying from the river over Caps Lane and towards the Bunk Line area earlier.

Tony also had 4 Chiffchaff with a Tit flock at Bow Bridge.

Fieldfare (again)

Redwing & Fieldfare

Raven in the twilight