Ducks etc

Hazy sunshine, 12°, light ENE.

A few hours put in at the gravel pit today.

2 Little Grebe, a Great-crested Grebe, 2 Shelduck, 32 Shoveler, 16 Tufted Duck, 6 Gadwall, a Pochard, 20 Lapwing, an Oystercatcher, 1, pos 2 Little Ringed Plover, c60 Lesser Blackback Gull, 6 Common Gull, 12 Black-headed Gull, a Grey Wagtail and a Chiffchaff and Blackcap.

On the walk, 4 Lapwing near Green Lane, 2 Chiffchaff, 20 Fieldfare and 7 Redwing, 2+ Herring Gull in their usual spot at CSW.

This morning, on the Wally road flood, an Oystercatcher, a Lapwing, a Black-headed Gull, 8 Teal and last evening 2 Lapwing and 3 Gadwall. Per Michael Pocock.

Butterflies: just Peacock today.

Bunk & Gravel pit

Sunny, 15°, light E.

Bunk area pretty quiet today, a couple of Chiffchaff, a Blackcap and 10 Fieldfare.

Gravel pit a bit more productive until everything flushed by a couple of workers walking around the banks.

2 Shelduck, a Little Ringed Plover, 22 Shoveler, 4 Gadwall, 2 Teal, a Little Egret and 12 Lapwing.

Butterflies: More Peacock than Brimstone today.

Lollingdon and The Lees

Sunny, 0°, light NNW.

Lollingdon and The Lees area:

9 Teal, and 8 Common Snipe all flushed from ditches as the flood was frozen over, 5+ Chiffchaff (4 out by the Lees and 1 Lollingdon), 2 Little Egret, a Grey Heron, 18 Lapwing, a Merlin flushed 20 Golden Plover from Cholsey Hill and they settled near the farm.

Plenty of Fieldfare and Redwing scattered around, 5 Mistle Thrush and a flock of 20+ Meadow Pipit.

2 White-fronted Geese flew from the river to a field near the Waterloo. Per Roger Wyatt.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

White-fronted Goose courtesy Roger Wyatt

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

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

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.

Bunk & Moreton Floods

Cloudy with sunny spells, 9°, light NNE.

Bunk Line: Not much going on. Pair of Kestrel, Fieldfare, Redwing, c300 Starling, Grey Wagtail, usual gulls, Mistle Thrush 🎶 singing and Goldcrest in the churchyard.

Moreton floods: c30 Pintail, c100 Teal, c20 Shoveler, 1 Shelduck, 2 Gadwall, 6 Wigeon, c400 Lapwing, 1 Little Egret, c12 Snipe and Skylark.

AD.

all pics courtesy Alan

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)

Solo

Rain at first then sunny, 15°, light SW.

Alan out today along the river and Green lane. Plenty of Fieldfare and Redwing around now, plus Teal, Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff, 2+ Redpoll and a Raven overhead.

All photos courtesy Alan

Teal

Common Buzzard

Redpoll

Fieldfare

Bunk

Sunny spells, 12°, light S.

Bunk line covered twice today, Alan, a.m. and myself p.m. Alan also covered the River and Lollingdon but both somewhat quiet.

The Gravel pit hosted 2 Little Ring Plover, 6 Tufted Duck, 2 Teal, 3 Mallard, 2 Herring Gull and a Swallow dropped in for a drink and continued north.

Bunk Line, Little Owl, 14 Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Black-headed Gull, 6 Fieldfare, 2 Redwing, several Yellowhammer, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Linnet etc.

Sparrowhawk almost took a Blackbird in the garden this morning but not quite quick enough.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell.

3 Little Ringed Plover from yesterday courtesy Alan

Herring Gull courtesy Alan

Tufted Duck (M&F)

LRP again plus Teal

Sunshine, 10°, light WNW.

Alan checked out the gravel pit this morning and found 3 Little Ringed Plover present. Potential for breeding as a pair seen mating.

Little Ringed Plover first nested in the UK in 1938 and have successfully spread through England and Wales. This colonisation has been attributed to an increase in their preferred gravelly habitats - man-made flooded gravel pits, reservoirs and quarries have provided them with just the right breeding grounds.(courtesy WT). 

2 Teal also present.

Teal

LRP

Cholsey Gravel Pit & Garden

Overcast with light rain, 7°, light ENE.

Alan out today and checked out the gravel pit again. 5 Tufted Duck (3m & 2f) plus 2 Little Grebe.

A Green Sandpiper present again on a flooded area and c200 Lesser Blackback Gull and another flock of c150 Lesser Blackback nearby.

Also noted were Teal, Sparrowhawk, Bullfinch, Little Owl and Fieldfare and Redwing.

I made do with a couple of Song Thrush in the garden and probably breeding nearby.

Mammals: Red Fox.

Not a Lot

Bright at first then cloudy, 10°, light SSW.

Not a lot going on out there today with both Alan and I along the Bunk line area. A few smallish flocks of Fieldfare and Starling plus a few Redwing chucked in feeding in some of the fields.

Bullfinch, Teal, Kestrel, Green Woodpecker and a flock of Chaffinch, Linnet, Greenfinch and Goldfinch, and a single Herring Gull but not a lot else noted.

Kestrel

Snowdrops

Bunk and Bow

Rain at first then sunny, 6°, light WNW.

Both along the Bunk line area this morning after the rain but still somewhat quiet.

A Grey Wagtail and Grey Heron along Green lane and 2 Teal flushed from the ditch. A Bullfinch in the hedgerow, along with Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Goldfinch.

The cover crop area had a small flock of Chaffinch with several Linnet, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer and Alan flushed 2 Teal from another ditch and a singing Goldcrest nearby and a couple of Grey Heron noted.

Alan paid a visit to Bow Bridge later, Nuthatch, 6 Siskin, a Grey Wagtail and a Kingfisher.

Also good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing around both sites.

2 Jay and 2 Magpie around the garden today.

Jay

Grey Heron courtesy Alan

Grey Wagtail

Reed Bunting

Chaffinch, unfortunately suffering from Trichomonosis. 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 Dull Day

Overcast, 6°, light ENE.

Alan out along the Lees area this morning and somewhat quiet, 2 Peregrine on the pylons plus Skylark, Meadow Pipit, a Grey Wagtail and good numbers of Pied Wagtail. Usual mix of Gulls with Black-headed, Lesser Blackback and Herring.

Also the leucistic Carrion Crow present.

I went out along the Bunk line mid-afternoon and again rather quiet, a Sparrowhawk hunting along Green lane and numbers of Fieldfare feeding in surrounding fields along with smaller numbers of Redwing.

The usual mix of Finches and Buntings, 200+ Black-headed Gull and a couple of Herring Gull.

On Saturday Alan was along the Bunk and had c80 Teal fly over along with 50+ Lapwing and Bullfinch along Green lane.

And 2 Stonechat still present Cholsey Meadows/Marsh area.

Mammals: Roe Deer and Brown Hare.

Peregrine Falcon & Leucistic Carrion Crow courtesy Alan.