Is it Spring yet?

Overcast, 14°, mod W.

Lollingdon Hill was somewhat quiet with just a small flock of Linnet and Goldfinch feeding on Dandelion seeds and several Skylark in song.

Nearby a male Common Redstart, heard calling and then flew off towards the Amwell Spring area.

The Lollingdon flood is now the mud, as it mainly dried up. Just 2 Lapwing in the vicinity.

On the walk out, a Common Whitethroat, 5 Blackcap, 9 Chiffchaff, 4 Yellowhammer and 10 Fieldfare.

Geoff Wyatt had 2 Ringed Plover fly north over Ilges Lane repeatedly making alarm calls. A Sparrowhawk had just flown over heading north with Starlings mobbing and alarm calling.

A Swallow over Church Road c18:00 and Loren had one cross her path on Cholsey Hill a little earlier and a Raven heard “kronking” over home at 19:30.

Butterflies: very few on the wing, Brimstone, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

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.

Bunk

Sunny, 24°, light WSW.

Fairly quiet along the Bunk area today, a Ringed Plover heard calling and 4 Sand Martin and 20+ Swallow over. 9+ Chiffchaff, a Yellow Wagtail, 2 Jay, 2 Herring Gull at CSW, a few Lesser Blackback and Black-headed Gull overhead and a Sparrowhawk.

House Martins feeding a second brood along Church road.

Dragonflies: Common Blue Damsel, Migrant Hawker, Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

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

Waders

A sunny day, 10°, light NE.

A bit of a “Wader fest” on Lollingdon floods today. not often that we have had waders turn up in Cholsey but today found by Alan: 3 Redshank, 3 Ruff ( 2nd record), a Dunlin and a Ringed Plover along with c200 Lapwing, c10 Shoveler, 6 Teal, c100 Black-headed Gull and c50 Lesser Blackback Gull.

2 Raven, 2 Yellowhammer and a Blackcap in song.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

AD, MM, PC & RB.

Ruff courtesy Alan

Ruff (1st record) and Lapwing, January 2013, courtesy Richard Broughton

Bunk & Lollingdon

Sunny periods and light showers, 17°, breezy S.

Lollingdon fairly quiet again. Alan found a Ringed Plover and 7 Lapwing on floods between Aston and Lollingdon along with c350 Lesser Blackback Gull.

Sparrowhawk, Meadow Pipit, several Chiffchaff, a Blackcap and Corn Bunting.

A female Merlin seen along the Bunk and flew off towards Cholsey Hill and in the process put up c80 Meadow Pipit and 20+ Skylark, plus 2 Swallow hawking over CSW.

Dragonflies: Migrant Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White, Red Admiral and Speckled Wood. Painted Lady and Small Tortoiseshell. Per RJ.

AD, TW, RJ & PC.

Ringed Plover courtesy Alan ↕

A raucous Rook 

Lollingdon & Bunk

Overcast, 19°, light SW.

Both Alan and myself out at Lollingdon today with Alan on the earlier visit.

The hill was a little quiet but a lot of Skylark in the area with around 100+ scattered around and a flyover Ringed Plover.

Some movement going on with both Redwing and Fieldfare noted, plus 20+ Meadow Pipit, 6 Pied Wagtail, 2+ Siskin, 11 Yellowhammer and 8 Reed Bunting.

2 Tawny Owl heard, a Common Snipe, 9 Chiffchaff and 3 Jay noted.

Alan then out along Bunk Line: Redwing, Fieldfare, Chiffchaff, Raven etc.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Red Admirals still noted moving south but in fewer numbers. Large White, Small White and Speckled Wood also seen.

A Red Admiral resting up

Common Darter

Plovers

Sunny spells, 17°, light NW.

Alan out and about this morning along the river, Bunk and Lollingdon. Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, Blackcap etc. Bunk: Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, Whitethroat and 2 (f) Wheatear out at Lollingdon.

I didn’t get out ‘til this afternoon and walked out to Lollingdon. 3 Ringed Plover and a Little Ringed Plover on the flood and eventually flushed by a Hobby. Also 2 Lapwing, 5 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Pied Wagtail, a Mandarin Duck, 5 Swallow and 2 Sand Martin.

Alan went back to the flood and the 4 Plovers were relocated late afternoon.

Tony W noted that a couple of Reed Warbler are back on Cholsey Marsh.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Large Red Damselfly.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Orange Tip, Holly Blue and Peacock.

3 Ringed Plover and a (fuzzy) Little Ringed Plover far right.

Little Ringed Plover courtesy Alan

Mandarin Duck

Pied Wagtail

Dunlin & Ringed Plover

Mainly sunshine, 10°, light NNE.

The Whinchat still present today out at Lollingdon plus at least 10 Wheatear.

Early afternoon I received a call from Alan to inform me of 2 waders on the floods out at Lollingdon. A Dunlin and a Ringed Plover found by Tony Williams.

A quick dash down there and they were both still present feeding on the mud.

Both are rare passage migrants to Cholsey and the last record of both was March 2013 in the same area.

Ringed Plover & Dunlin

Ringed Plover & Dunlin courtesy Alan

Dunlin

Ringed Plover

Dull weather but a few birds

Overcast, 12°, very light WSW.

A dull day and approx. 4 hours spent along the Bunk line/Green lane area today and Tony W present for a time.

A lot of Gulls initially this morning fanning out on the farm land, mainly Black-headed Gull with several Lesser Blackback Gull.

A surprise of the day was a Ringed Plover that flew from the vicinity of the sewage works and headed north east.

A lot of Thrushes along Green lane with approx. 100 Redwing and 40-50 Fieldfare plus quite a few Blackbird and several Song Thrush.

The usual flock of c100 Meadow Pipit and several Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting present and several small Starling flock feeding in nearby fields.

2 Green Woodpecker also seen along with a couple of Chiffchaff (1 in song).

On the walk back, found another Stonechat!

A small flock of Siskin with Goldfinch feeding on Alder trees along the river. Per TW.

A single butterfly seen today and that was a Small White on the allotments.

Stonechat

Starlings

Green Woodpecker

Meadow Pipit

Shaggy Inkcap ↕ the one below I believe is a mature version of the one above.

Goldcrest at Cholsey Marsh courtesy Alan Dawson

Samhain

Cloudy, 11°, breezy ESE.

A Raven seen by Alan flying over Cholsey Church whilst photographing Jackdaws.

And a Nuthatch amongst several species on the feeders in the garden.

A male Blackcap and a Goldcrest in the Church yard on Tuesday, Per Alan,

A Ringed Plover heard calling over Church road @ 19:55 yesterday.

 Jackdaws

Raven

Nuthatch

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)

Here and There.

Just a few words on today’s weather........Bloody Freezing!

Started off with a visit to Lollingdon hill which was rather barren of birds, Robin, Great Tit and Blackbird. However the meadows behind the hill were rather active with a large flock of mainly Fieldfare, Redwing, Starling and Song Thrush (400, 200,100, 10+), and a lot of chattering that normally precedes migration with the Thrushes.

The flooded field at the rear of the hill held seven Dunlin, a Ringed Plover, two Common Gull and around one hundred Black-headed Gull and a few Lapwing. I have been keeping an eye on some of the flooded fields locally and was hoping for a few waders and struck lucky today. The pig fields held quite a few gulls around the flooded areas.

I had an email from Tony Rayner for a possible "Hobby" today over Cholsey and one was recorded in Hampshire yesterday!

Then I got a text confirming the presence of a Ferruginous Duck on Otmoor, so as I had not seen one in the county since 1989 I thought why not!

Forty minute drive through Oxford to Otmoor then a fair walk out to the second screen where it had been seen. On arriving Rog, Badger and Gnome, plus a couple of others were already there but the duck was showing very intermittently so I decided to stick around.

I stayed until dusk but the duck did not show again, possibly with the water levels so high it could just swim off through the reed beds and stay out of sight!

Having not seen the duck there was a few other birds, around eight species of duck, a few geese sp, Little Egret, Lapwing, Golden Plover, Redshank, Bittern, Dunlin, Water Rail, Barn Owl and a Marsh Harrier that appeared late afternoon. Also a flock of mainly Fieldfare, with Redwing and approximately two hundred Starling all chattering away in a field behind us while we were looking for the elusive duck.

A few pics of the Marsh Harrier and Barn Owl © Roger Wyatt and a distant one of the Dunlin © Paul Chandler