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.

2025 bows out

Sunny, 2°, light W.

The last walk of the year out to the Lees and Long Ditch:

Initially appeared very quiet but the longer you are out the more you see.

Up to 100 Skylark in total spread around and c50 Meadow Pipit. 2 Common Snipe along the Long Ditch and a Kingfisher noted nearby.

A fairly large Tit flock at the Lees with c20 Long-tailed Tit, 4 Chiffchaff, 3 Goldcrest and a Treecreeper plus the odd Blue and Great Tit.

A Raven over and a few Fieldfare and Redwing moving and to bow out the year a male Merlin flew towards Cholsey Hill from near the Church.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

And finally a thank you to all contributors of 2025 for various wildlife sightings.

Alan Dawson, Richard Broughton, Marta Maziarz, Tony Williams, Geoff Wyatt, Brian Wyatt, Roger Wyatt, Ian Lewington, Michael Pocock, Mike Amphlett, Andy King, Bill Nicholls, Paul Rainsden, Richard James and several other who’s names I have forgotten, apologies.

A European Beaver photographed by Janie Maclean on 7th May on the River Thames was certainly the most significant observation this year.

Bunk area

Mainly cloudy, 4°, breezy NNW.

A bit chilly and pretty quiet along the Bunk area today:

12 Shoveler, 2 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, c50 Canada Geese on the viewable area of the gravel pit.

50+ Fieldfare, 30+ Redwing, a Goldcrest, Treecreeper and Chiffchaff with a large Tit flock, 2 Jay and a Grey Heron and 3 species of Gull.

I’ve seen more Goldcrest in the last 4 weeks locally than I usually see in a year or more!

A Raven and 2 Egyptian Geese yesterday. Per MA.

Another January passes by

Cloudy with a few rain showers, 6°, light ESE.

Still fairly quiet.

Bunk: 5 Chiffchaff, 40+ Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, 5 Meadow Pipit, Goldcrest, Treecreeper, 40+ Redwing, 20+ Fieldfare, 2 Coot, 2 Gadwall, 6 Tufted Duck, usual Gull species, etc.

Lollingdon: c150 Lapwing, c50 Lesser Blackback Gull, c100 Black-headed Gull, 5 Teal, a few hundred Fieldfare and Redwing and a Goldcrest.

Caps Lane: Barn Owl hunting - 5.00pm ‘ish.

AD & PC.

Pied Wagtail

Robin

A rather naff shot of a Treecreeper

Cold & Damp

Overcast, 7°, breezy NNW.

So far December has been pretty quiet. Today both along Bunk line and still very soggy underfoot.

The usual abundance of Fieldfare and Redwing plus several flocks of Starling moving around.

Singles of Cormorant, Little Owl, Treecreeper, Chiffchaff and Grey Wagtail and the usual 2 Herring Gull near CSW.

AD & PC.

Starling ↕

Blackcap

Sunny intervals, 12°, light NNW.

A visit by a male Blackcap to the garden this morning. I am assuming it is one of the overwintering birds that is still around rather than a newly arrived migrant.

Several species singing in the garden today: Coal Tit, Treecreeper, Goldcrest, Song Thrush, Chiffchaff, Robin and Great Tit.

Busy Garden

Cloudy then rain, 8°, fresh SSE.

A windy and wet day and not particularly fond of birding in those conditions, so a watch kept on the garden and a busy garden it was!

A lot more Finches today, the usual Tit flocks with associated species including Coal Tit, Treecreeper, Great-spotted Woodpecker (2), Green Woodpecker and a few House Sparrow.

More from the Garden

Sunny spells and rain showers, 11°, fresh SW.

A busy garden today with a couple of Tit flocks accompanied by 2 Treecreeper, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker (♂ & ♀), 2 Nuthatch, a Coal Tit and several Long-tailed Tit.

Several transient Redwing in the garden trees on and off and a couple of Fieldfare over and a brief visit by a Grey Wagtail.

24 species noted in the garden today.

Fieldfares

Mainly cloudy with some sunshine, 6°, light SE.

Fieldfare were everywhere today unable to count but a guestimate of up to 1000 birds, plus many Redwing and 12 Mistle Thrush.

Redwing heard calling as soon as I went out with some around the Millennium wood and more passing over.

2 Mistle Thrush around the garden again and a Treecreeper mid-afternoon.

Mammals: An elusive Stoat.

Fieldfare (above & below)

 Red Kite

 Green Woodpecker

 Blackbird

 Green Woodpecker

Treecreeper

Grey Days

Cloudy and dull, 12°, light SW.

Rather dull and overcast for the last few days with SW winds light to strong with the winter storm Clodagh passing through and blowing in a second Grey Phalarope to Farmoor reservoir. Both still present today.

click link - Grey Phalaropes.

Not been out over the last few days due to not being 100% so have to be content with garden stuff.

2 Nuthatch and 2 Coal Tit and a Treecreeper frequenting the garden of note, also a few more species either visiting the garden or nearby or flying overhead - 5 Mallard, 1 Red Kite, Buzzard (over), Sparrowhawk, 2 Moorhen, Lesser Blackback Gull and Black-headed Gull (over), 6 Wood Pigeon, 2 Stock Dove, 2 Collared Dove, Tawny Owl, Kingfisher (heard along the brook), Great-spotted Woodpecker, Skylark (over), 2 Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Dunnock, 2 Robin, Redwing (over), Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare (over), Blackbird, Wren, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Jackdaw (over), Rook (over), 2 Carrion Crow, Starling (over), House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Greenfinch.

Also a Hedgehog still active in the garden after dark.

Brrrr

A cold day and no birding, 0º, and trying to snow most of the day but not quite making it!

Hundred plus Golden Plover on Cholsey Hill and a few Lapwing seen over the now dwindling Moreton floods.

A Treecreeper in the garden this morning.

Apparently the longest period of dry weather currently since July 2012! (Cheers Tom).

Blackcap feeding on sultanas.

Cold and frosty morning.

Foggy, 0º, negligible wind.

Not as foggy as yesterday but still cold, only some garden updates today as had to go out for the day.

Topped up garden feeders prior to daylight and put some apples and sultanas out.

At least twelve Blackbird present at any one time most squabbling over the apples but enough to go round, a Song Thrush also visited and settled for the sultanas out the way of the Blackbirds.

Two Treecreeper put in an appearance along with a small flock of Long-tailed Tit (6), also two Coal Tit and the usual Great (4) and Blue Tit (6).

The usual Wood Pigeon (14), Collared Dove (4) and two Stock Dove in the garden along with up to fourteen Chaffinch, four Greenfinch and six Goldfinch.

And of course the pair of Carrion Crow.

                                   Blackbird and Chaffinch

Golden Plovers and Treecreeper

About 70 Golden Plover flew onto Cholsey Hill from the east this morning.

Adult and fawn Muntjac prints near Church Rd railway bridge recently.

Thanks to RB for the info.

Hedgehog active in garden again tonight!

The Treecreeper with dodgy legs has been visiting the garden again, still surviving. First seen in November last year.

It appears to compensate for this apparent disability by using its tail more heavily than usual which can be seen angled to the right and never climbs more than a metre up a tree.