Birds, Mammals & an Insect!

Sunny spells, 12°, light SSW.

A Spring like day with a fair bit of bird song heard, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Yellowhammer, Greenfinch and Great Tit to name a few.

A number of small bees (10+) feeding on Mahonia flowers in the garden today. Worker Honey Bee?

The 2 Stonechat still present on Lollingdon Hill and 2 Raven overhead.

A flock of c30 Yellowhammer out at Little Lollingdon and a couple of Reed Bunting present.

An interesting Song Thrush on the hill today with warm brown upper parts and a yellowish wash to the under parts. Made it look quite different to our local birds.

Alan was out along the river today: The Teal are back in numbers on the marsh with 50+, a couple of Kingfisher and Little Grebe, several Reed Bunting, a Nuthatch and a Treecreeper, 50-60 Lapwing overhead, a single Common Snipe, Grey Wagtail, several Cormorant, a couple of Grey Heron and Canada, Greylag and Egyptian Geese. Over the weekend there were several Wigeon on the river and a Peregrine seen. Per Alan.

There were a lot of Lapwing sightings in Oxfordshire over the weekend of birds moving south west escaping the snow and freezing conditions in the east.

A good sighting of 2 Water Vole by Vicky Gilson today along one of the brooks in Cholsey and a Little Egret also noted.

Also an Otter seen on the river this morning by Sasha Norton.

Mammals: Water Vole, Brown Hare, Otter & Roe Deer.

Teal photos courtesy Alan.  

Worker Honey Bee

Teal (m)

Teal (f)

Expect the Unexpected

Thick cloud and rain showers, 12°, moderate breeze from the south.

An interesting day despite the weather and a few unexpected birds.

A Chiffchaff in the garden this morning and it or another singing in the Millennium Wood.

2 Stonechat (♂&♀) on the hill today (not the same pair that wintered) and a couple of Meadow Pipit present.

A small flock of 14 waders flew north over the hill during a rain shower, most were Dunlin but at least 2 were different, the others were Ringed Plover and both species called a couple of times as they passed overhead.

(Another Ringed Plover heard calling @22:40 whilst retrieving something from the car, sound moving west)

A ♂ Brambling flew over with 6 Redwing out at Lollingdon and a scattering of Fieldfare and Redwing in various places.

A Raven heard and several Yellowhammer and a couple of Reed Bunting present.

A Blackcap heard singing in Little Lane recently. Per TR.

A ♀ Brambling still present near Waterloo Close. Per MA.

And 3-4 Otter seen yesterday adjacent to Cholsey Marsh. Per Ed M.

A deceased Common Frog found on the track leading to the hill.

Both ♂&♀ Great-spotted Woodpecker in garden today along with 1-2 Nuthatch and a Green Woodpecker nearby.

The following butterflies have been noted in TR's garden recently: Brimstone, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma and Peacock.

 Stonechat

Song Thrush bathing

Stock Dove 'chillin' in the garden

Male Great-spotted Woodpecker

One of the Otters (photo courtesy Ed)

Plovers

Sunny again but cold, 1°, very light SSE.

On returning from Didcot over Cholsey Hill this afternoon Loren noticed a few Golden Plover in the field on the hill. So we popped back, grabbed the camera and bins and went back to have a look.

We eventually located at least 50 Golden Plover and approx. 10 Lapwing feeding on the hill. There may have been more plovers as they were scattered widely on the hill.

There was also around 40 Fieldfare out in the fields and several Black-headed and Lesser Black Back Gull cruising the area.

I had a report of an Otter on the river between Wallingford and Cholsey today. (per Will).

Lutra lutra!!!!!

Cloudy, 3°, light wind, a heavy overnight frost and -8° temp.

A highlight along the river today with an Otter, a first in Oxfordshire for me. I arrived at Cholsey marsh early in the afternoon and decided to take a walk along the riverbank primarily to look for Siskin (which have been very scarce this winter) but no luck.

However, the Otter more than made up for it. TW joined me a little later but we did not see it again.

I managed a few iffy shots before it dived but did not see it again.

The roost at the marsh this evening had up to 150 Corn Bunting, which is the best count this winter, and c20 Reed Bunting and 20+ Meadow Pipit.

Around 10 Teal also noted on the river (TW had a flock of c40 on the Thames this morning), also 37 Lapwing flew over flying east and a little later 20+ Golden Plover flew over heading in the same direction.

A few Redwing and Fieldfare around in small numbers, at least 2 Bullfinch and a Kingfisher flew downriver.