Summer arrivals

Mainly cloudy, 10°, light S.

Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Willow Warbler and Common Whitethroat, Cholsey Marsh. Per Brian Wyatt.

Bunk area: on the walk out there were 10+ House Martin feeding high over CSW. On the way back the numbers had grown to 20+ House Martin, 5+ Swallow and several Sand Martin, this time feeding a lot lower over the beds.

The Gravel pit hosted a Mute Swan, 2 Shelduck, 4 Gadwall, 3 Oystercatcher and 30+ Lapwing, c12 House Martin, 5 Swallow and several Sand Martin.

2 Peregrine over. I think I’ve mentioned these before and I believe these 2 males to be the ones raised in South Stoke last year. I’ve seen them together on several occasions this year and they appear to hunt together. Maybe a successful survival strategy.

Elsewhere on the walk: 2 Common Whitethroat, several Blackcap and Chiffchaff and a couple of Jay etc.

Butterflies: just a couple of Brimstone and Peacock.

Mallard & Muntjac both in garden today

A warm one

Sunny, 23°, light W.

A couple of hours well spent up by the gravel pit today:

3 Shelduck, an Egyptian Goose, 2 Gadwall, 2 pair of Mallard with 18 young between them, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Little Ringed Plover, a Dunlin, 7 Lapwing, a Peregrine and 2 Grey Heron over, a Sedge Warbler, a Swallow and 2 Sand Martin.

On the walk out: a Willow Warbler at CSW, a Common Whitethroat, Green Lane, 4 Blackcap and 5 Chiffchaff.

A single Fieldfare flying alongside the road on Cholsey Hill.  

Good to see Michael P at the pit today. yesterday he had 3 Wheatear on Lollingdon Hill, 6 Fieldfare nearby and a singing Cetti’s Warbler on Cholsey Marsh.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

LRP & O's

Cloudy, 15°, breezy WSW.

Cloudy, cool, breezy WSW… classic April conditions that often keep things subdued but can still turn up a few movers.

Not a great deal around today, the gravel pit was fairly quiet, a Little Ringed Plover, 2 Oystercatcher, 3 Lapwing, 3 Tufted Duck, a Grey Wagtail and around 50 Gulls including a Common Gull.

I had a feeling a fair number of birds were out of sight in other pits.

Nearby, 3 Chiffchaff and a Blackcap.

Butterflies:2-3 Brimstone and a Speckled Wood, is pretty respectable given the weather. Brimstones especially seem to appear even when everything else is hiding.

Swallows

Sunny spells, 11°, brisk NW.

Bunk and Gravel pit: 7 Swallow today, initially 2 then an hour later a small flock of 5. All spent around 5 minutes before moving off.

2 Mute Swan present along with a single Shelduck with 4 more flying in but landing on a pit that is not in view. 6 Gadwall, 8 Shoveler, 6 Tufted Duck, a Little Grebe, a Little Ringed Plover, an Oystercatcher, 15 Lapwing, 3 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 2+ Fieldfare and a single Redwing.

A Little Egret on the flood near Church Road.

Phil Dyson had a Swallow over the Thames at Cholsey Marsh this afternoon.

Lollingdon flood on Saturday - 1 Lapwing, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Little Egret. Per Michael Pocock.

Mammals: Hedgehog in garden.

Butterflies: a single Comma.

Swallow and Chiffchaff

A drizzly day

Overcast with drizzly rain, 12°, light SW.

Bunk and Gravel pit:

A Shelduck, eventually flew off high south east, c30 Shoveler, 5 Tufted Duck, 2 Gadwall, 2 Greylag Geese, 10 Lapwing, an Oystercatcher and Little Ringed Plover, 2 Jay, 3 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 2 Grey Wagtail and a Stonechat.

No camera today due to wet weather, so a Shelduck from a while ago.

Ducks etc

Hazy sunshine, 12°, light ENE.

A few hours put in at the gravel pit today.

2 Little Grebe, a Great-crested Grebe, 2 Shelduck, 32 Shoveler, 16 Tufted Duck, 6 Gadwall, a Pochard, 20 Lapwing, an Oystercatcher, 1, pos 2 Little Ringed Plover, c60 Lesser Blackback Gull, 6 Common Gull, 12 Black-headed Gull, a Grey Wagtail and a Chiffchaff and Blackcap.

On the walk, 4 Lapwing near Green Lane, 2 Chiffchaff, 20 Fieldfare and 7 Redwing, 2+ Herring Gull in their usual spot at CSW.

This morning, on the Wally road flood, an Oystercatcher, a Lapwing, a Black-headed Gull, 8 Teal and last evening 2 Lapwing and 3 Gadwall. Per Michael Pocock.

Butterflies: just Peacock today.

Lollingdon & The Lees and a Hummer

Sunny periods, 12°, breezy SW.

Lollingdon and The Lees:

Firstly a Hummingbird Hawkmoth in the garden this morning feeding on Rosemary flowers. A very early record for these parts, presumably over wintered nearby.

A flock of c200 Gulls (Lesser Blackback Gull) on the flood out at Lollingdon. Initially didn’t see any waders until a low flying Buzzard spooked the flock. Amongst the panicking Gulls I heard an Oystercatcher calling, then a Ringed Plover call and saw the bird fly off to the north. When the Gulls settled down the Oystercatcher was still present.

Also a single Common Gull present, 16 Black-headed Gull, 32 Lapwing flew in later and 2 male Peregrine overhead.

Fairly sure there was a Yellow-legged Gull in the mix but too distant to be confident of ID.

The Lees was a bit windswept but 2 Stonechat still present and feeding low on the fields, presumably out of the wind.

Elsewhere: 2 Chiffchaff, a Goldcrest, Meadow Pipit, 2 Yellowhammer and several Skylark.

A Grey Wagtail in the garden.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

Lollingdon

Overcast and rain, 10°, light SE.

A walk out to the flooded area at Lollingdon today proved rather wet.

Having said that the birds were not too bad.

As a flock of Tits passed through, I heard a call I’ve not heard for a while and confirmed it when a Marsh Tit popped up and soon moved on along the hedgerow with the rest of the flock. I couldn’t follow as the water was too deep along the field edge. First record in 5 years. Also a Chiffchaff with the flock.

The flood was deserted but I had an Oystercatcher fly over and there were 2 Little Egret and 3 Grey Heron nearby. A distant flock of c100 Lapwing in the air again and the usual Fieldfare and Redwing.

A Chiffchaff, a Blackcap and a couple of Goldcrest in the Bullshole area and 20+ Pied Wagtail on the football field.

8 Song Thrush heard singing on the walk out. Great to hear them. In the 90’s when we took part in a bird race, we had a job to find a Song Thrush. So good they have made a comeback over the last 20 or so years.

Yesterday: A male Merlin and Jack Snipe at Hithercroft along with c. 50 Common Snipe and 2 Peregrine. Per Connor Pimm. Not sure if they were seen in or close to the Parish boundary but worth a mention. The 2 Peregrine were probably the same 2 that I saw out by the Lees last week and maybe the 2 males from last years nest out at South Stoke?

Mammals: Roe Deer (3 Bucks).

Sunday

Bunk area: 4 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Lapwing, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Shelduck, Yellow Wagtail and 2 pristine Black-headed Gull dropped in. Per Michael Pocock.

Still moving

Sunny periods, 16°, light NE.

A milder day than of late and a few more Butterflies on the wing as migrant birds still continue to arrive and pass through and Gull species virtually absent.  

Bunk: 14 Tufted Duck, 2 Oystercatcher, Little Ringed Plover, 3 Lapwing, Herring Gull, 2 Yellow Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, 2 Yellowhammer, 5 Common Whitethroat, a Lesser Whitethroat, 7 Blackcap, a Willow Warbler, 8 Swallow and 2 Sand Martin.

Yesterday on Cholsey Marsh: a Cuckoo and poss Grasshopper Warbler.  

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

Oystercatcher

Dunnock

Red Admiral

Some needed rain

Cloudy with showers, 15°, fresh SE.

Bunk, Lollingdon and River/Marsh:

Oystercatcher, 3 Shelduck, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, 2 Little Ringed Plover, Greenshank, 3 Lapwing, Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, Yellow Wagtail, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Blackcap, 3 Common Whitethroat, 3 Wheatear, etc.

Butterflies: a single Speckled Wood.

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Photos courtesy Alan

Reed Warbler

Wheatear

Little Ringed Plover

A change in the weather

Cloudy with some light rain showers. 12°, light SW.

River: Common Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, Oystercatcher over, 2 Swallow + usual suspects.

Bunk: 6 Swallow, Common Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Greenshank, 20 Tufted Duck, Grey Wagtail, Oystercatcher, 4 Yellow Wagtail over, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff.

AD.

Common Whitethroat courtesy Alan

Greenshank courtesy Alan

Black Red & Green

Another sunny one, 20°, light NNE.

Bunk, River and Lees areas: A female Black Redstart (3rd record) found by Alan late in the day out towards the Lees, elsewhere, 3 Willow Warbler, usual Chiffchaff and Blackcap, Cetti’s Warbler, Common Sandpiper, Greenshank, Oystercatcher, Little Egret, 2 Herring Gull, 8 Black-headed Gull, 5 Lesser Blackback Gull, Gulls becoming less frequent now, 2 Little Grebe, a Teal, 12 Tufted Duck, a Sparrowhawk and a Raven over.

A Ring-necked Parakeet north over Church road approx. 19:00. Per RB.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Green-veined White, Orange Tip and Peacock.

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Black Redstart courtesy Alan

Black Redstart ↕

Greenshank courtesy Alan

Roe Deer

Weather?

Sunny then clouding over, 18°, breezy E.

Everywhere a little quiet at the moment. Is the weather playing a part?

Green Sandpiper, a Little Ringed Plover, 2 Oystercatcher and 6 Lapwing were the waders noted today. 6 Tufted Duck and 2 Teal and a few Blackcap in song, a Cetti’s Warbler, Water Rail, Yellowhammer, etc.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Green-veined White and Peacock.

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Green Sandpiper courtesy Alan

First Swallow

Prolonged sunny spells, 12°, fresh WNW.

Our first Swallow of the year seen by Alan out at Lollingdon this morning and 4 Ringed Plover later in the day seen by Tony Williams and possibly a 5th one dropped in later. Per Alan.

Elsewhere, pretty quiet, 2 Cetti’s Warbler at Cholsey Marsh along with a Water Rail. A Common Gull, Goldcrest and a couple of Meadow Pipit along the Bunk, an Oystercatcher yesterday but little else.

Butterflies: Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock.

AD, PC & TW.

Peacock

Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Bunk & Lollingdon

Cloudy with very light rain, 6°, light NNE.

Another somewhat chilly day.

Bunk: 2 Oystercatcher, 8Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, a Little Egret, 2 Herring Gull, 1 Common Gull, c30 Lesser Blackback Gull, a Stonechat, Treecreeper and 4 Chiffchaff and singing well.

Lollingdon: Much the same as yesterday but with fewer Gulls, 2 Common Gull, several Fieldfare and Redwing, a Mistle Thrush, 3 Song Thrush, 2 Yellowhammer and a Chiffchaff.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

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Oystercatchers courtesy Alan

Song Thrush

Greenfinch perched up after a display flight