Portland

Cloudy, 12°, light ENE.

Arrived at Portland bird obs around mid-afternoon and by the time we unpacked and got some shopping in there was not much time for birding.

After an evening meal went out for a walk in the crown field and obs quarry area.

Plenty of House Sparrow and Linnet but no migrants other than 3 Swallow and a Whimbrel.

Later, a pod of what we believe were Common Dolphin seen “bow riding” a ship moving out of Weymouth bay.

A few Manx Shearwater moving early evening and after dark several Little Owl heard calling and a Barn Owl call.

Lets see what tomorrow brings.

 

 

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.

Fieldfare & Redwing

Overcast, 12°, light SSW.

Bunk area:

2 Little Grebe, 20 Shoveler and a Common Snipe at the gravel pit.

A mixed flock of c500 of mainly Fieldfare with a good number of Redwing spread along the Bunk, esp Green Lane.

3 Grey Heron, 2 Sparrowhawk, 2 Jay, a Little Owl, 3 Yellowhammer and 2 Chiffchaff at CSW.

Distantly over Cholsey Hill at dusk, c1000 Starling appeared to be flying NW.

Bunk

Sunny, 2°, light NW.

Bunk area:

A Mute Swan, 12 Shoveler and 6 Little Grebe on the gravel pit and c40 Lapwing on the bank briefly before disappearing in to another pit that is not possible to view.

Lots of Winter Thrush around, c200 Fieldfare and 60+ Redwing plus a single Mistle Thrush.

A Little Owl heard calling and a Chiffchaff at CSW plus a few more, new for the year.

Bunk area

Overcast, 12°, light NE.

Another gloomy day with this anticyclonic weather system overhead.

A Firecrest found in the SW corner of the gravel pit area but disappeared into a large garden nearby and not relocated.

8 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe and 30 Canada Geese on the pit that is partially visible.

Elsewhere along the Bunk area: 2 Goldcrest, 4 Chiffchaff, 5 Fieldfare, 16 Redwing, a Mistle Thrush, 2 Jay, 4 Raven, several Meadow Pipit, 10+ Pied Wagtail, a Little Owl, 2 Yellowhammer etc.

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.

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

Bunk, Lollingdon & Moreton floods

Overcast, 9°, light SSE.

Bunk: At least 3 Chiffchaff still, c100 Linnet, 100+ Fieldfare, 30+ Redwing, a Mistle Thrush, 200+ Starling, 40+ Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, Little Owl and 250+ Lapwing briefly settled then flew off towards the Moreton floods.

Lollingdon Floods: 11 Shoveler, c100 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Herring Gull, c50 Black-headed Gull, 3 Common Gull and c150 Lapwing.

Moreton Floods: c350 Lapwing, c30 Golden Plover, 2 Shelduck, 2 Cormorant over and a Sparrowhawk.

AD & PC.

Common Gull courtesy Alan

Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Part of the Lapwing flock

Starlings

Chiffchaff

Getting colder

Overcast, hazy, 9°, light ESE.

A complete contrast to Wednesday’s numbers along the Bunk area with bird numbers way down.

However still a fair bit around. c50 Fieldfare, 100+ Redwing, an increase in Blackbird and Song Thrush numbers, 

5 Yellowhammer, 2 Reed Bunting, Little Owl heard calling, a Chiffchaff, 2 Jay, 4 Grey Heron, 2 Egyptian Geese, the regular 2 Herring Gull, 20+ Pied Wagtail, 3 Grey Wagtail, a few Meadow Pipit and Skylark, etc.

Tony and I checked out the Lollingdon flood yesterday and no sign of the Sanderling but 6 Egyptian Geese in with the Gulls, a flock of 20+ Mistle Thrush nearby.

Alan checked the area again today, c50 Lapwing, 15 Teal, 15 Egyptian Geese and a Chiffchaff nearby.

AD, TW & PC.

Song Thrush

Yellowhammer ↕

One of many Rook feeding

A couple of Redstart

Overcast, 20°, breezy SW.

Lollingdon & Bunk: A female type Common Redstart on the hill this morning and Alan found a male on there this afternoon.

A good numbers of Swallow moving through with 50+ in one flock and several more in smaller groups.

Richard Broughton had 3 Spotted Flycatcher out at Lollingdon earlier but not relocated later plus 5 Swift over the Lees early evening..

Elsewhere, 30+ Swallow, a few House Martin, 3 Blackcap, 2 Common Whitethroat, several Chiffchaff, a single Yellow Wagtail and a Little Owl.

Dragonflies: a single Common Darter and Banded Demoiselle.

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

Redstart ↕. female type above and male below. Male courtesy Alan

Swallow ↕

Red Admiral

Bunk & River

Sunny spells, 15°, light WNW.

Bunk and River: A cooler day with a reasonable selection of birds, very few butterflies on the wing and a relatively poor showing of other insects.

Singles of Black-headed Gull and Lesser Blackback Gull, Kingfisher, Little Owl, Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Goldcrest, Firecrest, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Beautiful Demoiselle, Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Emperor Dragonfly, Four-spotted Chaser.

Butterflies: did not see any myself but Alan found Brown Argus and Meadow Brown.

AD & PC.

Spotted Flycatcher courtesy Alan

WTF has someone done to Green lane? Very recent as foliage still green and dumped in ditch. Hedge cut and foliage gone. So very irresponsible!!!!!!!!!

adult Jackdaw above and youngster below.

Cold & Damp

Overcast, 7°, breezy NNW.

So far December has been pretty quiet. Today both along Bunk line and still very soggy underfoot.

The usual abundance of Fieldfare and Redwing plus several flocks of Starling moving around.

Singles of Cormorant, Little Owl, Treecreeper, Chiffchaff and Grey Wagtail and the usual 2 Herring Gull near CSW.

AD & PC.

Starling ↕

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

Slow times

Sunny periods, 11°, breezy W.

The slow times are persisting with little or no movement. Lollingdon was quieter than usual. A scattering of Fieldfare and Redwing, a few Siskin overhead, several Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer and a Little Owl and a Tawny Owl heard but little else noted.

Alan fared little better along the Bunk and River. Green Sandpiper still present, Water Rail, a Grey Wagtail, a Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, Siskin over, several Fieldfare and Redwing.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: 15+ Common Darter Lollingdon and 20+ Cholsey Meadows.

Common Darter courtesy Alan

Common Darter ↕

Bunk Line

Cloudy with the odd sunny spell, 10°, light E.

Bunk line: 50+ Fieldfare (2 flocks), 2 Redwing, 5 Mistle Thrush, 2+ Siskin over, 1 Grey Wagtail, 3 Pied Wagtail, 8 Meadow Pipit, 14 Skylark, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Grey Heron, 1 Cormorant, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel, 1 Jay, 2 Raven, 1 Common Snipe, 1 Jay, a Little Owl, 50 + Black-headed Gull, 23 Lesser Blackback Gull, etc.

Butterflies: 1 Red Admiral.

Dragonflies: Common Darter (Saturday).

8 Fieldfare, part of one of the flocks seen today

Black-headed Gull (above & below)

Grey Heron

Todays Red Admiral

Common Carder Bee

Speckled Bush Cricket

A wet one

Cloudy with light rain showers, 16°, light NW.

A bit of a damp trek up to the hill today, however still pretty busy out there.

The Redstart still present but elusive in the top Hawthorns. A large Tit flock passed thru with over 80 birds incl 10+ Chiffchaff, Great-spotted Woodpecker and a Lesser Whitethroat.

The Mistle Thrush flock appeared on the hill mid-way thru the watch and a flock of 100+ Starling nearby.

50 odd Swallow seen in several flocks moving south.

Nearby 2 Raven over, a Jay, a Little Owl, a couple of Common Whitethroat and Blackcap and several Yellowhammer.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Butterflies: few, given the weather. Small Skipper, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper.

Raven

Brown Hare