Hummer

Cloudy and muggy at first, then brightening. 20°, light E veering SW.

A Hummingbird Hawkmoth turned up in our garden today. These continental migrants seem to have arrived in some numbers this year. A fascinating moth to watch as it flits from flower to flower feeding on nectar, and beating its wings at around 80 beats per second. Very difficult to get a photo as they are always on the move………..at speed.

Lollingdon, the last few days with Alan visiting yesterday and myself today.

Pretty busy around the hill and adjacent farmland.

1 pos 2 Common Redstart on the hill, a family of Spotted Flycatcher, 2-3 Yellow Wagtail, a Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Common Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, 10+ Chiffchaff, 10+ Yellowhammer, 3 Reed Bunting, a flock of 32 Mistle Thrush (largest flock I think I have seen), a Sparrowhawk, a Little Owl, a few flocks of Swallow and the usual Corvids and BOP’s.

Local House Martins still present Church road area but no sign of Swifts for a few days now.

Another Common Redstart along the Bunk line near the Millennium Wood and 2 Raven, Little Lollingdon.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Muntjac Deer.

As it was early today only 1 Large White butterfly.

a few of the Hummer.

Spotted Flycatcher courtesy Alan

Moths & Corvids & How we treat Nature

A sunny day, 17°, light E.

A few bits and pieces from today, a Yellow Wagtail out on Lollingdon Hill and a Lesser Whitethroat heard singing nearby.

The Little Owl seen today and 2 Raven flew over headed for the Downs.

“There has been comments on Facebook recently regarding a section of hedge along the Wallingford road that was covered on a web of some description and today some elderly man was seen blow torching the area of hedge along the Wallingford road that had a colony of the caterpillars present. Why?

The caterpillars in question are Spindle Ermine Moth, they have been present for several years on a small area of Spindle in that section of hedge. They are native, they are not a pest and the Spindle will regrow with no problem.

There is no reason to eradicate them as they do no harm. Spindle has been co-existing with this species of caterpillar for eons and it still grows!

In fact blow torching the hedge has probably done far more damage than the caterpillars would do as the fire means the hedge will not grow back where damaged. All that has been achieved is possibly killing that bit of hedge and depriving some nestlings of some tasty grubs! Who was this ****?”

"TR has been regularly monitoring what shelters under his 30 odd reptile sheets. This year he is noticing a big decrease in the number of small mammals. It has reached the point now that he is not finding any mammals, and can only put this down to the spraying of the neighbouring farmland to clear for housing and one neighbour spraying everything in his garden.

Not surprising perhaps that our Kestrels seem to have gone."

“A pair of Mistle Thrush have decided to nest in the garden and yesterday were seen chasing off a marauding Magpie.

Since the demise of our resident Crows there have been more raids by Magpies in and near the garden whereas the Crows would keep any other Corvids at bay.

The nearby Song Thrush nest was raided by a Magpie recently and the Thrushes have not been back since.

From what we hear we believe some Crows were trapped and killed nearby thus interfering with the natural balance!”

A record of 4 Stock Dove in the garden today and one of them pushing a Wood Pigeon around, it’s usually the other way!!

Local Swift and Swallow appear to be around most of the time now but the few House Martin appear infrequently.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Reptiles: 2-3 Common Lizard.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Small Copper, Holly Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

Photo courtesy Hattie Hayes

A Common Whitethroat from today

Mistle Thrush

Mainly cloudy, 8°, light S.

A visit by 2 Mistle Thrush to the garden this morning. Also several Starling still visiting.

Further information on the Black Swan seen at Cholsey yesterday. It was seen recently at Shillingford (per Bob Wyatt) and after that was seen on the river at Benson. So it appears to be slowly making its way downstream.

An Autumnal day

Mainly cloudy, 17°, breezy W.

A flock of 25 Mistle Thrush flew on to the hill this morning but stopped only briefly before heading north over the top.

The Bunting flock still present on the hill in roughly the same numbers as yesterday.

Quite a few Skylark and Meadow Pipit around but no obvious movement going on.

A single Raven flew east and 5 Chiffchaff noted between the village and Lollingdon.

Dragonflies: 5 Common Darter.

Butterflies: singles of Large White, Red Admiral and Comma. And a Speckled Wood in the garden.

TW & PD were on the downs yesterday (not far from Lollingdon) and found 4 Clouded Yellow, several Small Copper and Common Blue.

Comma

 Some of the Mistle Thrush on the hill

Long-tailed Tit

The day after

Sunny intervals, 21°, light NNW.

A quieter day than yesterday’s flurry of migrant activity, I’m assuming that with a relatively clear sky and a tail wind most of them lifted off overnight to continue their migration south.

7 Mistle Thrush on the hill and 11 Corn Bunting and a Yellow Wagtail over.

Off the hill there were 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Willow Warbler, 3 Blackcap, 5 Common Whitethroat, a Garden Warbler and a lot of Chiffchaff.

A couple of Kestrel in the area and a Raven and a Grey Heron heard calling but not seen.

Reptiles: 3 Common Lizard.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, 2 Common Blue, 1 Small Tortoiseshell and several Speckled Wood.

Chiffchaff 

 Common Blue

Common Darter

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?

Stormcock!

Sunny intervals, showers, 10º, fresh to strong W. (force 6 gusting to 7 poss 8) 8 recorded near Abingdon today.

Woke this morning to another howling gale (not quite) and a Mistle Thrush singing away in the meadow.

The Mistle Thrush has an old colloquial name of “Stormcock” known for its habit of singing in tree tops during howling winds and inclement weather etc. Why? No idea J.

A Raven seen near Lollingdon Hill yesterday and a Chiffchaff in West End today.

Thanks to John Lucas and Tony Williams for the info.

Collared Doves now up to 6 in garden and Hedgehog again this evening.