Lollingdon

Sunny spells, 22°, breezy S.

A Lesser Whitethroat and 2+ Corn Bunting on Lollingdon Hill. Nearby, Chiffchaff, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap, 2 Lapwing plus the usuals.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Banded and Beautiful Demoiselle.

Butterflies: Small Skipper, Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Marbled White, Comma, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Speckled Wood.

River and Bunk rather quiet. Per Alan.

A Ring-necked Parakeet seen by RB in the Church Road area on Saturday then seen at various places in the village over the weekend.

Insects: Stag Beetle, male found by Alan and a female near the Bullshole.

Long-tailed Tit

Stag Beetle (f)

Common Blue ↕

Stag Beetle (m) courtesy Alan

Some insects from the week end.

Some insects from the week end. Stag Beetle & Southern Hawker courtesy Andrew McBirnie and the White-legged Damsel, Blue-tailed Damsel, Comma and Ringlet courtesy Alan Dawson.

Quiet times

Mainly cloudy with a few sunny spells, 21°, light S.

A rather uneventful walk out to Lollingdon and back today. A Goldcrest singing along Cholsey brook and a flyover Yellow Wagtail at Little Lollingdon.

Nothing much changed.

Common Tern along the Thames today. Per Alan.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, White-legged Damselfly (Alan).

Butterflies: Large Skipper, Small Skipper (Alan), Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood and Meadow Brown.

Moths: Cinnabar, Scarlet Tiger (Alan), both these moths being noted frequently.

Insects: Stag Beetle (Alan), a lot of records in Cholsey this year. Good news, and a Hornet Mimic Hoverfly out at Lollingdon.

Common Tern (courtesy Alan Dawson)

 Stag Beetle (courtesy Alan Dawson)

 Brown Hare (again, running away)

 Hornet Mimic Hoverfly

 Large Skipper (courtesy Andrew McBirnie)

Scarlet Tiger (courtesy Alan Dawson)

News from the West

Aston Tirrold News

Fluked a few nationally scarce inverts in the garden in Aston Tirrold the last few weeks- went to release a "fly" trapped in our utility room and it turned out to be a Currant Clearwing Moth! Unclear where the food plant is, presumably in other gardens. Delighted- I don’t have a moth trap so might have to save up and get one to see what else is around.

Also one evening at dusk a male Stag Beetle crash landed on our shed and got itself stuck on some slippy plastic at the bottom - duly rescued, and hopefully romancing the lady stag beetles - lots of old trees along the stream in the village- need some more age ranges to keep this going though! Also saw (I think) a couple of Crescent Plume moths on Lollingdon south west corner amongst the flower rich area. I wondered about Yarrow Plume but when compared crescent looks most like it. Welcome to defer to someone's better knowledge though if you know this moth! Also spotted Lesser Stag Beetle near Blewburton Hill, and had a Beautiful Demoiselle in the garden.

Also a juvenile Tawny Owl chick was calling on the Lollingdon track track in woodland east of the Astons recreation ground.

Photos and information courtesy V. Gilson.

Stag Beetle

Lesser Stag Beetle

Currant Clearwing Moth

Beautiful Demoiselle

Plume Moth species (Yarrow or Tansy?)

Editor note: I did not realise there are approx 35 species of Plume Moth in the UK.

Garden stuff

Sunny with cloud cover later, high of 25°, light to mod E.

A day in the garden today.

A Nuthatch still visiting on and off and a ♀ Sparrowhawk flew through this evening carrying prey.

Swift, Swallow and House Martin feeing overhead most of the day.

A Song Thrush singing well in to the evening.

A ♂ Stag Beetle flew through the garden this morning, the first one I have seen in a while, and a Common Darter appeared briefly before moving off.

A few butterflies today: Large White, Small White, Small Tortoiseshell, Meadow Brown and Speckled Wood.