The Lees

Cloudy, 11°, light SSE.

The Lees:

4 Stonechat today and with 2 along the Bunk and 2 out at Lollingdon there are at least 8 Stonechat in Cholsey at the moment.

A Chiffchaff and a Goldcrest with a Tit flock, a small movement of Finches noted with, 10+ Siskin, a handful of Redpoll, 20+ Linnet, 30+ Goldfinch and 20+ Chaffinch, plus 20-30 birds unidentified.

20+ Skylark, 36 Meadow Pipit, 3 Yellowhammer, 2 Reed Bunting, a Kingfisher and several Fieldfare and Redwing and 7 Shoveler flew north east.

Tawny Owl calling from garden @ 21:35.

Floods still prevalent

Sunny spells, 3°, light SE.

Nice to see the sun today but still a bit on the chilly side.

Long Ditch: 3 Common Snipe, 2 Stonechat, many Skylark in good voice, Reed Bunting, Peregrine Falcon over and c30 Lesser Blackback Gull.

Lollingdon: c30 Teal, 14 Shoveler, 2 Common Gull, 20+ Lesser Blackback Gull, 100+ Black-headed Gull, 100+ Lapwing and a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing.

Moreton Floods: Chiffchaff, c600 Lapwing, 1 Pintail, c50 Teal, 2 Shelduck, 25 Shoveler, 1 Gadwall, 9 Wigeon and 2 Cormorant over.

A Chiffchaff in the garden late afternoon and Alan has a regular Blackcap visiting his garden.

AD & PC.

Shelduck

Lapwings approaching the flood with a small flock of Starling flying point. As the Lapwing flock landed, one of the Starling attempted to land with them. It took around 15 seconds of hovering before it realised the water was too deep for it and eventually flew of to join the others that landed in a nearby tree.

Still quietish

Overcast, 7°, light WSW.

2 Wigeon on the Flood near Church Road today and a Raven overhead.

Lollingdon Flood held 4 Shoveler, a number of Teal, Lapwing and Black-headed Gull.

AD.

Wigeon (archive pic)

Nothing too exciting

An overcast day, dull, 6°, light NE.

A little milder and flood waters receding. Both out in the Bunk line area today.

3 Mute Swan still on the flood along with the usual Gulls plus c50 Pied Wagtail. 4 Shoveler, 10 Tufted Duck and c50 Canada Geese noted.

Several hundred Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling present in the area plus Chiffchaff, c7 Siskin, 5 Yellowhammer, a Reed Bunting, 3 Raven and a single Lapwing.

Forgot to mention, yesterday Alan found a Stonechat out at Lollingdon.

Pied Wagtail on ice

2 of the 3 Mute Swan, a pair with the male on the right

some of the many Fieldfare present

Reed Bunting

It nearly snowed

Overcast with sparse snow, 2°, light to breezy NNE.

I hesitate to say it snowed but it did, albeit very sparsely and then the weather couldn’t make up its mind with rain and snow.

Very flooded along Bunk line and the footpath unpassable in some places.

A Mute Swan and 4 Shoveler on one of the floods along with up to 300 Black-headed Gull, c20 Lesser Blackback Gull and 3 Herring Gull dispersed on most flooded areas.

A handful of Siskin flew over plus 2 Raven. Singles of Grey Heron and Mistle Thrush and several Song Thrush. Fewer Fieldfare and Redwing than of late.

Stonechat, Cholsey Meadows, Sunday. Per Michael Pocock.

AD & PC.

Shoveler Duck courtesy Alan

Mute Swan

Shoveler

Shoveler

Black-headed Gulls

Bunk & Long Ditch

Sunny with variable cloud cover, 15°, light SSE.

Alan covered the long ditch area this morning: Common Snipe, 3 Stonechat, Reed Bunting, Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Lesser Blackback Gull.

We both covered the Bunk line at different times: 12 Shoveler overhead, 20+ Fieldfare, about the same of Redwing, 2 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 2 Raven, 2 Grey Heron, 10 Siskin, a Grey Wagtail, several Meadow Pipit, 100+ Lesser Blackback Gull, 50+ Black-headed Gull, 5 Herring Gull and 2 Common Gull. Plus 2 Egyptian Geese flew south over Church Road.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: several Red Admiral.

All photos courtesy Alan

Blackcap

Meadow Pipit

Stonechat

Lesser Blackback Gull

Jackdaw

Bunk & Lollingdon

Misty at first then clouding over, 16°, light ENE.

Alan up at Silly Bridge early with a few Corn Bunting and Skylark.

Later along the Bunk line and Gravel Pit. 2 Shoveler and 4 Tufted Duck present on the pit.

And 100+ Fieldfare along the Bunk, plus a Little Owl, 2 Herring Gull, 40’ish Golden Plover, a Grey Wagtail and several Chiffchaff.

I trekked out to Lollingdon. The flooded field, now almost dry had a flock of 40+ Meadow Pipit and a few Pied Wagtail feeding.

The Hill was fairly quiet other than 100+ Fieldfare that flew over in a couple of flocks.

Nearby, a handful of Redwing, more Fieldfare, 2 Little Owl, several Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer.

Sparrowhawk and Wren in the garden today. The Wren is regular and the Hawk an opportunistic visitor.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Brimstone and Peacock.

A Wren systematically searching the garden pots for prey

Pied Wagtail

Reed Bunting

Roe Deer courtesy Alan

Ducks and stuff

Cloudy, 7°, light NNW.

Both out at different times along the Bunk line area.

The Gravel pit had 3 Tufted Duck, 2 Shovelor Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Mallard and a Green Sandpiper, 2 Herring Gull, a handful of Black-headed Gull and Lesser Blackback Gull.

Worth keeping an eye on this area over the next few months for migrating Waders and Terns etc.

Elsewhere along the Bunk, a Chiffchaff, Little Owl, a Kestrel, 2 more Herring Gull plus good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing.

Distantly a field on Cholsey hill was being ploughed and had in excess of 500 birds present incl Lesser Blackback Gull, Black-headed Gull, Rook and Jackdaw and the odd Red Kite patrolling.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Tufted Duck (photos from previous encounters)  

Thames & Bunk

Overcast, 11°, light S.

Cholsey Meadows/River and Bunk line covered today.

Initially Alan along the river area, Cetti’s Warbler, Kingfisher, Reed Bunting, Greenfinch, Stonechat and Meadow Pipit.

Then up to the gravel pit where a Little Grebe, 2 pair of Tufted Duck and a pair of Shovelor.

I covered the Bunk/Green Lane area. Large mixed flock of Fieldfare (c200), Redwing (c80) and c 100 Starling.

Another flock of Fieldfare and Redwing near Green Lane totalling a couple of hundred birds.

C120 Black-headed Gull at CSW and 80+ Lesser Blackback Gull towards the gravel pit and 2 Herring Gull between.

A small flock of 22 Skylark, 42 Lapwing, c 80 Linnet, 60+ Chaffinch and 2 Brambling, several Yellowhammer and 3 Reed Bunting.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Shovelor courtesy Alan

Reed Bunting courtesy Alan

Garden Birdwatch plus

Sunny, 7°, light SW.

RSPB’s garden birdwatch today. A little quieter than usual and nothing unexpected. Although a male Blackcap turned up to partner the female that has been visiting.

Around 40 birds of 15 species.

A Sparrowhawk also visited out of the hours birdwatch and a couple of Tawny Owl last night.

8 Shovelor and a single Teal along Green lane. Per Richard Broughton.  

A male Brambling reported from a garden. Per MA.

Down on the river today, the boat clubs were out and 15 cars unloading paddle boards down Ferry lane. A lot of disturbance!

There is 6.5 km between Benson lock and Cleeve lock making it good stretch for sculling crews.

Alan visited Day’s Lock yesterday and got some good pics of Goosander on the river.

And still 200+ Golden Plover on Cholsey Hill.

Blackcap

Goosander courtesy Alan ↕

A quiet one

Cloudy, 5°, light SSE.

7 Golden Plover seen flying over Silly Bridge this morning and heading towards the downs. Per Michael Pocock.

I had an afternoon visit along the Bunk line and not much noted other than 2 Shoveler flew east and a Chiffchaff at CSW. Also the usual Thrushes around.

Photo of Shoveler taken in 2008

Cholsey: 3rd Jan

Sunny, 8°, light NW.

Still rather quiet out there. 200+ Thrushes and 80+ Starling on Lollingdon hill, thrushes were mainly Fieldfare with a few Redwing and 2 Mistle Thrush.

A few Meadow Pipit and Skylark moving around and a couple of Kestrel present.

3 Shoveler flew over the Wallingford road this afternoon. Per Richard Broughton.

40 Golden Plover and a Barn Owl, Cholsey Hill. Per Alan Dawson.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

A few photos today. Alan's are the Lapwing, Golden Plover and Barn Owl.

Ducks

Overcast with light rain, 13°, light S.

Started to brighten up around midday but more rain coming.

Another venture out along the Bunk line and very similar to yesterday with good numbers of Thrushes around.

A surprise of 5 Shoveler flew west (first for the year), a very scarce duck to see in Cholsey even at a distance.

5 Bullfinch, a Reed Bunting and a couple of very active Goldcrest of note.

Not 100% certain but a possible Firecrest heard in the small wood by Bunk Bridge. Could not locate the bird though!

Shoveler

Lollingdon

Cloudy with a few sunny spells, 7°, light WNW.

Another quiet time out at Lollingdon, c200 Fieldfare and a handful of Redwing, a Kingfisher, 1 Chiffchaff with a Tit flock and a few Yellowhammer.

Close on 1000 Gulls seen distantly on a recently ploughed field and a few Skylark in song and a few small Starling flocks around.

A female Shoveler seen on the Thames at Cholsey Marsh yesterday (per Bob Wyatt).

Quiet times

Cloudy, 12°, light SSW.

Lollingdon was exceptionally quiet today probably because of some tree work happening on the hill…….very noisy.

Did not stay long but around 20 Redwing and 6 Song Thrush feeding on haws nearby and a flock of 50+ Starling in the fields.

Then a brief visit to Cholsey Marsh: A Shoveler flew downstream, a new one for the year in Cholsey and a scarce sighting of a Mute Swan on the river.

A handful of Redwing and Fieldfare around but not in any numbers!

A Chiffchaff still on the marsh, 3 Siskin in the riverside Alders and a couple of Bullfinch present also a Water Rail heard calling.