All in all: Pretty quiet

A cloudy day, 17°, light NNW.

Bunk line: all in all, pretty quiet. c30 House Martin, 10+ Swallow, at least 2 Sand Martin and a handful of Swift. A Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Common Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff, 5 Yellowhammer, 3 Reed Bunting, a Corn Bunting, Raven, a Lapwing, 3 Black-headed Gull and a single Lesser Blackback Gull etc.

River: Cetti’s Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Cuckoo over, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Black-headed Gull, Reed Bunting, Swift, Swallow and House Martin.

A Ring-necked Parakeet in a Church road garden this evening, chased off by a Jackdaw. Per RB.  

Dragonflies: Beautiful Demoiselle and Azure Damselfly.

Butterflies: Green-veined White and Speckled Wood.

AD, RB & PC.

Black-headed Gull

Red-eyed Damselfly (yesterday) courtesy Alan

Dragons, Damsels & Butterflies

Mainly cloudy, 19°, light SSW.

A day of insects with Dragonflies & Damselflies dominating.  

Bunk line/Green lane today, little change. Lesser Whitethroat still in song but less frequently than of late.

Frequent Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Common Whitethroat and Blackcap still in song and a couple of Yellow Wagtail overhead along with a few Swallow and Swift. A flock of c50 Starling CSW.

Alan along the river over the last 2 days: Both Sedge and Reed Warbler, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Bunting, Nuthatch and Kingfisher.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Azure Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Red-eyed Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly and Four-spot Chaser (both sites).

Butterflies: Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Common Blue, Brown Argus, Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma & Small Heath.

Moths: Mother Shipton.

All pics courtesy Alan

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Four-spot Chaser

Azure Damselfly

Red-eyed Damselfly

Brown Argus

Common Blue ↕

Mother Shipton

Audio Clip

Lesser Whitethroat ( Robin & Wren)

White Storks and the rest

Wall to wall sunshine, 25°, light S.

The first thing to start with is that 2 White Stork were seen drifting SW over Cholsey this morning at 09:45. Seen by a Benson birder who was at Cholsey Meadows.

There has been a White Stork seen earlier in the year around the Day’s Lock/Dorchester/Wittenham area. So it may be that one teamed up with another as some of the Storks from the Sussex release scheme have been wandering quite widely.

There is a lot of chatter on Wallingford Piper on FB regarding Storks being seen all over. Some of the reports refer to Egrets and Herons that are being misidentified as Storks. Although some reports are accurate.

Anyway back to feet on the ground in Cholsey as I was on a walk out to Lollingdon today and Alan was along the river and Cholsey Marsh.

A singing Sedge Warbler along Cholsey Brook at the millennium field,  a singing Willow Warbler on Lollingdon Hill and this evening Richard Broughton had a Reed Warbler singing by the Church road bridge over the brook. were unexpected and may actually be new arrivals.

House Martins heard calling over Lollingdon Hill but initially not seen. It was not until I scanned overhead with binoculars that I saw them flying very high in a southerly direction and at least 20 birds.

Also a single adult Lesser Blackback Gull overhead and a Yellow Wagtail.

A Lesser Whitethroat heard singing near Amwell Spring and all the usual suspects noted.

A Sparrowhawk seen thermalling over the village mid-afternoon and being mobbed by Swallows and House Martins. And a Mistle Thrush singing away near the Church.

Mammals: Roe Deer and Brown Hare.

Butterflies: again, very few. I wonder if last week’s cold weather had any effect on butterflies and insects in general? A single Brimstone and Orange Tip, a few unidentified Whites, 1 Common Blue and 1 Holly Blue.

Alans tally down by the river was:

Birds: Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting, Swift, Swallow, Corn Bunting and Grey Wagtail.

Dragonflies: Red-eyed Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly, Blue Emperor , Four-spot Chaser and Broad-bodied Chaser. 

Butterflies: Marsh Fritillary, Common Blue and Peacock.

 Left: White Stork, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret & Little Egret.

Right: Grey Heron & Little Egret.

All have been seen in Oxfordshire in recent months.

 Brown Hare

 Sorry, a Corn Bunting again 😀

A pair of Stock Dove.

Red-eyed Damselfly

A Red-eyed Damselfly with what looks like the remains of a Banded Demoiselle!

Photo courtesy Alan Dawson.

Cooler

Cloudy with few sunny spells, 17°, light W.

Fairly quiet around the hill today and quite breezy, Skylark and Corn Bunting in song with the odd Yellowhammer and Common Whitethroat joining in.

2 Lesser Whitethroat in the area along with several Blackcap.

A Raven flew west over the hill and 300+ Corvids in the pig fields. Mainly Rook and good numbers of Jackdaw and the odd Crow.

2 Jay made their presence known as a Buzzard passed close overhead.

On returning another Swallow alarm call alerted me to a Hobby that flew over the garden approx. 20 second later.

Mammals: Short-tailed Vole, Brown Hare, Weasel and Roe Deer.

Reps: a single Common Lizard.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Orange Tip and Peacock.

 Brown Hare (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Nuthatch 

Dad & Junior

Red-eyed Damselfly (courtesy Alan Dawson)