A drizzly day

Overcast with drizzly rain, 12°, light SW.

Bunk and Gravel pit:

A Shelduck, eventually flew off high south east, c30 Shoveler, 5 Tufted Duck, 2 Gadwall, 2 Greylag Geese, 10 Lapwing, an Oystercatcher and Little Ringed Plover, 2 Jay, 3 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 2 Grey Wagtail and a Stonechat.

No camera today due to wet weather, so a Shelduck from a while ago.

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.

The Lees

Overcast with frequent showers, 11°, light S.

The Lees: 3 Chiffchaff and a Treecreeper with a Tit flock and several Siskin and 2 Jay heard.

2 Stonechat and a Kingfisher along the Long Ditch and 2 Peregrine on the pylons.

50+ Fieldfare and 20+ Redwing.

30+ Skylark, 5 Meadow Pipit, a Reed Bunting, 2 Mute Swan and 100+ Black-headed Gull in adjacent fields.

Male Blackcap in garden.

Did not take the camera out today due to wet weather so an old pic of 2 Stonechat. Pretty much as I saw them today.

Bunk & Lollingdon

Mainly cloudy with rain late afternoon, 8°, breezy SSE.

A Woodcock found by Brian Wyatt today along the Bunk line area. First for this year.

10 Lapwing on the floods out at Lollingdon, the usual Fieldfare and Redwing, a few Meadow Pipit, 2 Stonechat and a Yellowhammer.

A flock of approx. 500 Corvid nearby and a Chiffchaff in the Millennium Wood.

Lollingdon

Sunny, 10°, light S.

Lollingdon floods:

A Merlin flew in, fast and low and took what I believe was a Meadow Pipit from a small flock on the flooded area.

Not much on the flood other than 2 Common Snipe, a handful of Black-headed Gull, 20+ Pied Wagtail, the afore mentioned Meadow Pipit (c20) and a Grey Heron.

On the periphery, 2 Stonechat, a Chiffchaff, 3 Yellowhammer, 2 Jay, many Fieldfare and Redwing, 2 Mistle Thrush and a Song Thrush - in song.

2 Little Egret flew east over the cattle field.

Lollingdon floods

Sunny, 7°, light NNE.

Lollingdon floods: 12 Teal, 9 Lapwing, 2 Common Snipe, 30+ Pied Wagtail, several Meadow Pipit, a Grey Wagtail, 50+ Black-headed Gull, 20+ Lesser Blackback Gull.

On the periphery: 2 Stonechat, several Fieldfare and Redwing, 2 Little Egret and a Raven over.

Near Bullshole: Chiffchaff and Goldcrest.

stock photos

Bunk Line

Overcast, 16°, light SSE.

No sign of Brent Goose this morning. Per MP.

I later took a walk along the Bunk line: A single Stonechat present, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Goldcrest, 33 Redwing, 36 Fieldfare, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 Jay, a single Meadow Pipit and hundreds of Gulls.

Cholsey recording area

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.

A wet one

Rain, 10°, light W.

Bunk area: No camera today due to rainy conditions.

Definitely 2, probably 6 Crossbill flew SSE over Green lane. First record since 2018.

2 Stonechat still present, Winter Thrush numbers still low with only 3 Fieldfare and 6 Redwing seen.

3 Yellowhammer, 2 Jay and up to a thousand Gulls loafing in fields on the periphery of the gravel workings. Quite distant but could make out mainly Lesser Blackback, with 60+ Black-headed and a handful of Herring Gull. Maybe something else but not noted.

TW noted several Siskin at Cholsey Marsh today.

Mammals: a Muntjac Deer and an Otter noted by Cholsey Marsh. Per TW.

Bunk

Sunny periods, 12°, fresh WNW.

A breezy day along the Bunk area: 2 Stonechat were of note, along with c40 Golden Plover high overhead heading in the Cholsey Hill direction.

A single Chiffchaff, a Grey Heron, numbers of Lesser Blackback Gull and Black-headed Gull and a couple of Herring Gull loafing in fields.

A Black Redstart seen at Cholsey Meadows on Saturday 25th Oct by James Beaumont. Michael Pocock had a look for it but not relocated.

Lollingdon

Sunny periods, 11°, breezy WSW.

Lollingdon, again pretty quiet: 2 Stonechat, 5 Fieldfare, 6 Redwing, 3 Chiffchaff, 6 Yellowhammer, 22 Meadow Pipit, 2 Raven and a Common Snipe etc.

Lollingdon & Garden

Overcast, 14°, light E.

A walk out to Lollingdon:

6 Stonechat, 100+ Fieldfare, c30 Redwing, 10 Mistle Thrush, 7 Siskin, a single Chiffchaff, 20+ Meadow Pipit, 9 Yellowhammer, 2 Raven, a Peregrine, 60+ Stock Dove over and a flock of 200+ Black-headed Gull accompanied by a handful of larger Gulls flying high north east.

Late afternoon a Sparrowhawk took a Collared Dove in the garden. Started to pluck it but was disturbed, flew with the prey to a sheltered corner of the garden and spent the next hour consuming the Dove.

4 Little Grebe, 18 Tufted Duck and over 150 Lesser Blackback Gull in/on/around the pit next to the bunk on Friday afternoon. 3 Teal there a couple or so weeks back as well. Per MA.

Distant Fieldfare

Lollingdon

Overcast, 15°, light NNW.

Not a lot to show for 4 hours in the field out in the Lollingdon area.

4 Stonechat, 5 Chiffchaff, a handful of Meadow Pipit, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 Yellowhammer and 2 Raven etc.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Quiet start to October

Mainly cloudy, 17°, light SSW.

2 Stonechat out at Lollingdon, 3 Raven, Sparrowhawk, a Kingfisher, 20+ Meadow Pipit, 4 Yellowhammer, several Siskin, 9 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap etc.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White, Red Admiral and Peacock.

Lollingdon

Sunny periods, 17°, light ENE.

A walk out to Lollingdon and back.

30+ Meadow Pipit in a weedy field, 4 Stonechat nearby,7 Mistle Thrush, 17 Chiffchaff, 24 Swallow and 32 House Martin over, a Grey Wagtail and 16 Grey Partridge.

Several Siskin over Church Road. Per RB.  

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: numerous Whites, several Red Admiral and Speckled Wood and a single Gatekeeper.

A wet one

Variable cloud and heavy showers, 16°, light to moderate S.

A trip out to Lollingdon and birding in between the rain showers.

Managed to cover most of the hill area: a Spotted Flycatcher, a Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, 6 Chiffchaff, 3 Yellow Wagtail overhead, 2 Wheatear, 2 Stonechat, a Whinchat, Raven etc and c50 Swallow and 6 House Martin over.

A few Geese flying over the garden early evening, 20+ Canada, 20+ Greylag and at least 1 Egyptian Goose.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawkmoth in garden.

Bunk & Lollingdon

Sunny spells, 27°, Light WSW.

2 Common Redstart, Lollingdon. Per RW.

Tree Pipit, Bunk area. Per RB.

Bunk: a Stonechat, a Willow Warbler, 9 Chiffchaff, 3 Common Whitethroat, 5 Blackcap, 12 Swallow, 4 House Martin, 7 Swift, 5 Yellowhammer, 30+ Linnet, 2 Sparrowhawk, a Hobby, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Herring Gull, etc.

8 Swift over garden at 20:10 last evening.

Mammals: Short-tailed Vole. Common Pipistrelle hunting around garden frequently in last few weeks.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Migrant Hawker.

Butterflies: Small White, Common Blue, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Redstart courtesy Roger Wyatt

Stonechat

Lancaster Bomber with a Swallow above but a lot closer

Some welcome sunshine

A sunny day, 6°, light ESE.

A nice bright day with a number of Chiffchaff around and an abundance of small insects in a few sheltered/sunny spots. 5 Chiffchaff feeding along a stretch of hedgerow along the Bunk near CSW and another 2 further along towards Green Lane and 1 in the garden.

A few of note: 60+ Fieldfare, 20+ Redwing, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 Grey Wagtail, c30 Pied Wagtail, 20+ Linnet, 3 Grey Heron, 2 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 100+ Black-headed Gull, 5 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Herring Gull, etc.

Lollingdon flood: 2 Shoveler plus the usual Gulls.

Long Ditch: Peregrine Falcon, 2 Stonechat, Reed Bunting, Meadow Pipit, etc.

AD & PC.

Several of the Chiffchaffs

Skylark courtesy Alan

Stonechat ↕ courtesy Alan

Long-tailed Tit

Grey Heron

Herring Gull