Bunk

Sunny spells, 22°, light WNW.

Bunk area still fairly quiet, 40 Swallow and 14 House Martin through, 12 Chiffchaff, a Willow Warbler, 2 Common Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 9 Yellowhammer, 50+ Linnet, a Hobby, a Peregrine (m) and a Grey Heron etc.

2 Yellow Wagtail over garden yesterday and a Raven.

Mammals: A Weasel along Green Lane.

Dragonflies: Common Blue Damsel, Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: a Clouded Yellow, Large White, Small White, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

2 European Hornet caught and released from indoors yesterday.

Marsh Harrier

Cloudy at first the a few sunny spells, 18°, light W.

A busy hill today with close on 400 Hirundines passing thru in 2.5 hours. approx 50/50 Swallow & House Martin, 3 Swift, 2 Raven and 5 Yellow Wagtail also in the mix.

Nearby, 30+ Linnet, 12 Yellowhammer, several Chiffchaff, a Common Whitethroat and a Grey Wagtail.

Alan along the Bunk line: Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff, Common Redstart, Wheatear and Common Whitethroat.

And to top the lot a Marsh Harrier seen out at Lollingdon mid-afternoon. Per Andy King.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Weasel.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: several Large White & Small White, a Holly Blue, a Peacock and 3 Speckled Wood.

Marsh Harrier courtesy Andy King

Speckled Wood

Suspicion!

Mainly overcast with minimal sunny spells. 19°, light SSW.

Some worrying observations today with Alan finding a dead Fox and Tony W finding a dead Buzzard and Badger all under suspicious circumstances with the latter 2 being suspected of being shot! Keep your eyes peeled for any suspicious activity please.

Not a lot going on out at Lollingdon today. A Little Owl present, several Chiffchaff and good numbers of Meadow Pipit and Skylark. Tony W had 4 Mistle Thrush earlier and a possible Ring Ouzel.

Alan along the Bunk line: Stonechat, several Meadow Pipit, Linnet and Skylark, Reed Bunting, Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

And along the river later in the day: 14 Mistle Thrush, Chiffchaff, more Jay and a Kingfisher.

A Kingfisher flew from Cholsey Brook in the Brook meadow and disappeared across Church road.  

Mammals: Weasel, Stoat, Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Migrant Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Red Admiral & Speckled Wood.

All photos courtesy Alan

2 Weasels at play? ↕

Stonechat

An excellent capture by Alan just outside the parish boundary

Red Fox deceased

Redstarts

Sunny spells, 20°, breezy NE.

2 very elusive Common Redstart on the hill today. Initially heard calling and waited for over an hour before I finally got a view of one. A male, but did not see the other.

Also present were a few Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and Chiffchaff and a few Swallow over, apart from that it was rather quiet.

Again fairly quiet along the Bunk line and Silly bridge. Per Alan.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Weasel.  

Dragonflies: Brown Hawker, Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker (Alan’s garden) & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Small Copper (Alan's garden) Speckled Wood & Meadow Brown.

Male Common Redstart from yesterday on the Oxfordshire Downs courtesy Alan.

Migrant Hawker courtesy Alan

Bunk Line

Sunny spells, 16°, breezy ENE.

A walk along the Bunk Line and Green Lane today with Loren.

The most frequent songster encountered was Common Whitethroat, closely followed by Yellowhammer and 2 Blackcap and 2 Chiffchaff.

Several Swift and Swallow overhead feeding on an abundance of insects.

Just a couple of House Martin seen, where are the rest? They should be here by now!

A couple of Canada Geese nearby, heard but not seen and 2 Buzzard displaying.

Alan reported a mixed flock of Swift, Swallow and House Martin feeding over the river, around 75+ birds in all.

Mammals: a Weasel ran across the road on Bunk Bridge and a couple of Pipistrelle hunting over Whitehead Meadow at dusk..

Dragonflies: Alan reports a Common Clubtail along the river.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

Common Whitethroat

Loren found an example of (Hybrid) Spanish Bluebell. It differs from our native Bluebell having thicker leaves and the bells are all around the stem rather than on one side. The flowers on English Bluebells are a deeper blue than the Spanish species and the flowers tips curl rather than flare.

Common Clubtail (courtesy Alan)

Still a little quiet

Cloudy with the odd sunny bits, 8°, light ESE.

Another quiet day out at Lollingdon.

A Chiffchaff present on the north side of the hill and 2 Reed Bunting and several Yellowhammer with the Chaffinch/Linnet flock.

A Buzzard seen chasing a Sparrowhawk flying directly towards me and as they became aware of me in their path the Sparrowhawk broke right and the Buzzard left and both disappeared off over adjacent fields.

A male Blackcap visiting a garden at Lollingdon regularly. Per Dave M.

Sparrowhawk in the garden again but didn’t catch anything.

A Weasel seen and it looked as though it was chasing a Grey Squirrel. Several Roe Deer also seen.

 Song Thrush doing its best to avoid the camera.

Sparrowhawk wondering where all the birds have gone.

The track I was heading up when the Buzzard and Sparrowhawk came hurtling towards me. The Sparrowhawk went thru the gap on the right and the Buzzard left.

Going South

Cloudy with some showers and sunshine, 20°, breezy WSW.

Fairly active out at Lollingdon today with birds on the move, the Common Redstart still present, also 2 Blackcap, a Common Whitethroat and 2 Chiffchaff in the same section of hedge on the hill.

Nearby a Willow Warbler, 2 more Blackcap, 3 Common Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Spotted Flycatcher and several Chiffchaff. Most birds quite actively feeding.

A few Hirundines moving through with a flock of approx. 40 House Martin, and several small Swallow flocks (numbering approx. 80 in total). 4 Swift also drifted south.

A couple of Jay heard and a Grey Heron seen.

Mammals: Short-tailed Vole, Weasel, Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: few on the wing: Large White, Small White, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Young Roe Deer

Redstart again!

Windhover

Another breezy and cloudy day and a little cooler, 16°, breezy S.

Rather quiet on the south side of the hill, a couple of Kestrel hunting on the hill and a few Red Kite and Buzzard high overhead.

The leeward side had a bit more activity with 2 Willow Warbler seen on the hill, the first ones since the spring and presumably on return passage.

Also a rather large Tit flock of around 80 birds, mainly Long-tailed Tit and Blue Tit and at least 5 Chiffchaff. A bit further down were a couple of Blackcap feeding on Elder berries, another small group of around 12 Blue Tit and 2 Whitethroat and 5 Yellowhammer.

The Nuthatch still visiting the garden and 2 juvenile Robin in the garden this week and the Tawny Owls now regular again.

Mammals: a Weasel ran across a track in front of me and a Hedgehog still regular in the garden.

Butterflies: fewer around today, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Still waiting!

Hazy sunshine, 8°, light NNE.

Still cool but getting milder and back to a feel of spring today.

A Chiffchaff singing in the meadow on and off all morning and a Peacock butterfly in the garden.

As I was approaching the hill this afternoon, a Weasel ran across the road in front of the car and disappeared into a field, first one I've seen this year.

Still no sign of Wheatear on Lollingdon hill but should turn up soon.

A movement of Fieldfare and Starling today with c500 of the former flying overhead north and several flocks of the latter also flying north c400.

A Sparrowhawk flew over south, the lone Starling still out feeding amongst the sheep flock and several Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit still present.

 

29th Feb

Overcast (sunny early eve), 12º, light SSW.

Churn.

A few Linnets, Yellowhammers and Corn Buntings in the area and a single Curlew seen.

Lollingdon Hill.

5 Meadow Pipit, 6 Pied Wagtail, 2 Buzzard and 2 Red Kite. 3 Corn Bunting (1 in song) there also.

Cholsey Marsh.

Between 60 to 70, Corn Bunting coming in to roost and a few more Reed Bunting on the marsh.

A female Teal flew in and landed on the Thames and 2 pairs of Great Crested Grebe showing territorial and courtship behaviour.

1 flyover Lapwing, Treecreeper heard in song.

2 Kingfisher also present, a pair of Red Kite checking out a nest site and a Buzzard surveying the marsh from a high vantage point.

2 Song Thrush singing in the evening.

Fieldfare and Redwing at every site in fair numbers.

3 Roe Deer seen near Lollingdon and a Weasel seen on the marsh.

                                          Buzzard at dusk.

Golden Plovers

Overcast, light rain showers, 17º, light SW.

Looks like the weather has changed, feeling rather autumnal today.

c20 Golden Plover on Cholsey Hill this morning and 3 House Martins over Marymead.

A Weasel seen crossing the road near Cholsey Hill.