A cold end to April

Mainly cloudy again, 11°, light NE.

Both out today in various spots around Cholsey.

Gravel Pit and Bunk line: 2 Little Ringed Plover, c20 Swallow, 8+ House Martin, 2+ Yellow Wagtail, a Lesser Blackback Gull (has a dodgy wing, can fly but not too far), 6 Pied Wagtail and 6 Tufted Duck.

Nearby, several Blackcap, 2 Common Whitethroat.

River/Marsh: no change, Reed and Sedge Warbler all present.

Both Ring Ouzel and a Redwing still present.

Butterflies: despite the cool weather: 2 Small White, a Red Admiral and a Peacock.

Cooler

Cloudy, 11°, light NE.

The colder weather seems to have put the brakes on migration locally at the moment.

The 2 Ring Ouzel, Fieldfare and Redwing all still present out at Lollingdon probably waiting for better weather to continue their northward journey.

Lollingdon Hill still relatively quiet, Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Linnet, Blackcap and Common Whitethroat in the vicinity and a Little Owl seen nearby. Plus 2 Raven overhead.

The River and Marsh area produced the usual Sedge and Reed Warbler, a Nuthatch, 2 Kingfisher and a couple of Swallow.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Paul & Alan.

Reed Bunting

Corn Bunting

Yellowhammer

Ring Ouzel courtesy Alan

Large Red Damselfly (from yesterday) courtesy Alan

Ouzels still present

Sunshine, 14°, light NNE.

The 2 Ring Ouzel still present out at Lollingdon along with the Fieldfare and Redwing.

The Gravel pit today, 3 Little Ringed Plover, a couple of Egyptian Geese, 4 Canada Geese, 6 Tufted Duck, 3 Mallard plus Hirundines passing thru, c10 Swallow, 4 House Martin and a Sand Martin.

2 Lapwing over and a couple of Yellow Wagtail and 5-6 Pied Wagtail.

Little Owl nearby and the regular Warblers and Yellowhammer present.

A couple of Swallow back in the Church Road area.

The river from the 4-Arches to Bow produced the regular that has been noted over the last week.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Large Red Damselfly.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Peacock & Speckled Wood.

Alan & Paul.

Photos courtesy Alan

Ring Ouzel (M)  

Sedge Warbler

Ring Ouzels

Sunny periods, 14°, light NNE.

A nice find by Tony Williams of a pair of Ring Ouzel out at Lollingdon today and singles of Fieldfare and Redwing associating with them.

6 species of Thrush in one field with Blackbird, Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush added to the mix.

Alan got there shortly after and also had 2 Raven over Lollingdon Hill and I made it mid-afternoon.

Earlier in the day Alan was out along the river, with Cetti’s Warbler, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Chiffchaff etc.

I made it out earlier along the Bunk to the Gravel pit, 2 Sand Martin, up to 5 House Martin, c10 Swallow, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 8 Tufted Duck, a Grey Wagtail, 2-3 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Pied Wagtail, a Kestrel, several Yellowhammer, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and a Garden Warbler.

Sparrowhawk visiting garden again.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

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

Ring Ouzel pics (M & F) last 3 courtesy Alan

A Birdy day

Bright at first then clouding over, 12°, light SSW.

A hike out to the Lees then loop around to Lollingdon and back.

Lollingdon threw up some good birds today and some more good sightings along the river for Alan.

The Lees were fairly quiet but for Chiffchaff and Blackcap singing, a Grey Heron feeding in the “Long Ditch” and several Reed Bunting present. 1 Reed Warbler and at least 2 Sedge Warbler along the “Reedy Ditch”

The walk then to Lollingdon was uneventful with just Chiffchaff and Blackcap in song along with a couple of Common Whitethroat.

Lollingdon Hill was fairly active with a male Ring Ouzel, a male Whinchat, 2 Wheatear, a Kestrel, c6 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Pied Wagtail, 3 Corn Bunting, 2 Common Whitethroat and 2 Blackcap and a Raven overhead.

A quick call to both Alan and Tony who both arrived and saw the birds.

A Little Owl and another Ring Ouzel (female) nearby but she was not as obliging as the male and flew off along the hedgerow and was not seen again.

A steady walk back found good numbers of Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting and several more Common Whitethroat.

Alan took an early visit to the Marsh with Common Tern, Common Sandpiper and a pair of Tufted Duck. Along with the usual suspects on the Marsh.

Later in the day along the Bunk Line but somewhat quiet except for a handful of Yellow Wagtail at CSW.

Also some action in the garden with a male Blackbird feeding 3 young only for a male Sparrowhawk to take one of the youngsters 5 minutes later. A Mistle Thrush bathing in the garden and a small flock of adult and juvenile Starling feeding in the meadow early evening.

A Swift and a House Martin seen over Station road allotments this afternoon. Per Frederick Hurd.  

Mammals: Brown Hare, Stoat and Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Orange Tip, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

Lots of photos today 😲

Wheatear

Whinchat courtesy Alan

Ring Ouzel ↕

Ring Ouzel courtesy Alan

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail courtesy Alan

Wheatear

Kestrel

Whinchat

Male Blackbird feeding young

Sparrowhawk on prey

Mistle Thrush taking a bath ↕

Ring Ouzel & Wheatear

Cloudy with rain showers, 7°, light NW.

A Ring Ouzel and 3 Wheatear on Lollingdon Hill this morning found by Alan. Unfortunately they did not linger and soon disappeared over the top not be seen again.

Another visit by Alan this afternoon and 5 Wheatear present on the hill but no sign of the Ouzel.

Ring Ouzel taken out at Lollingdon 2017

Wheatear from today courtesy Alan

Birds and Insects

Sunshine, 18°, light E.

An eagerly awaited Cuckoo turned up at Cholsey Marsh early this morning and 2 Oystercatcher flew up and downriver possibly looking for somewhere to settle. Been quite a few in the county recently.

Also Cetti’s Warbler. Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. Per Alan Dawson and Brian Wyatt.

TW has been out to the south west of the village several times recently and has had up to 10 separate Lesser Whitethroat, good numbers of Common Whitethroat, Blackcap and Chiffchaff and several Wheatear. A single Raven and a female Ring Ouzel (that makes 4 this spring, a record).

Also still a flock of c20 Fieldfare with 6 Starling and a Song Thrush associating with them.

2 catches from TR’s Moth trap last night included a Purple Thorn Moth and a Cockchafer.

And a couple of insect pics from Alan.

Purple Thorn (TR)

Cockchafer or MayBug/JuneBug (TR)

 Sedge Warbler (AD)

Reed Warbler (AD)

 Large Red Damselfly (AD)

Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (AD)

 Alder Fly sp (AD) Thanks to Vicky Gilson for the ID.

A scarce sight these days (AD)

Breezy days

Sunshine, 17°, breezy NE.

One of the Ring Ouzel still present out at Lollingdon early morning (Paul Rainsden) but not seen later. It was being hassled by a Magpie and may well have flown off to somewhere nearby.

Seen again this evening around 19:00, per Kev Polley.

Other species noted were Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Swallow and a flyover Yellow Wagtail. Per AD & AS.

Common Lizard also noted.

Ring Ouzel (AD)

Wolf Spider? (AD)

Ring Ouzels

Sunny and breezy, 17°, fresh ENE.

2 male Ring Ouzel out at Lollingdon today. Per Alan Dawson.

And a singing Lesser Whitethroat at Tony Rayner’s this morning. Also a regular Hedgehog.

My “Garden lockdown list” is currently running at 42 species. Is anyone else keeping a garden list at the moment, be it birds or anything else?

Currently have a singing Chiffchaff and Blackcap regular at the end of the garden and a Song Thrush at dawn and dusk.

Ring Ouzel pics courtesy Alan Dawson and Hedgehog courtesy Tony Rayner.

April so far.

Migrants have been arriving or passing through most of the month so far.

Reed and Sedge Warbler have arrived in good numbers along with Blackcap and Common Whitethroat and a single Garden Warbler noted.

A few Willow Warbler have been seen along with several male and female Wheatear and a couple of Yellow Wagtail flying over.

A single female Ring Ouzel seen on the 17th and a couple of singing Lesser Whitethroat.

Swallow have been moving through in good numbers but not sure if local ones are present yet and several small flocks of House Martin noted.

One lucky person saw a Stoat in their garden last week.

Butterflies have been plentiful during the sunny weather with Brimstone and Orange Tip frequent, also Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Comma, Peacock, Holly Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral and Speckled Wood. And a surprise of a Painted Lady found by TR in his garden on the 10th.

Tony has also trapped and ID’d a few Moths, Early Thorn, Brindled Beauty and Streamer amongst others and AD has photographed some Spindle Ermine Moths (totally harmless).

Tony has also recorded at least 10 Grass Snake and 60+ Slow-worm in his meadow.

VG has managed to find several specimens of Rugged Oil Beetle in Aston Tirrold but have not had any reports yet of other Oil Beetle species in the Cholsey area.

Thank you to Alan Dawson, Tony Williams, Tony Rayner, Vicky Gilson, Paul Rainsden and others for the information and photos.

Wheatear (AD)

Necklace Ground Beetle (VG)

Rugged Oil Beetle (VG)

 Ashy Mining Bee? (AD)

Brindled Beauty (TR)

 Painted Lady (TR)

The Streamer (TR)

  Ermine Moth Caterpillars (AD)

As a footnote: Loren and I have been ill over the last few weeks and are now making a slow but steady recovery. Subsequently have not been out for almost a month so there are no observations from me here.