White Storks and the rest

Wall to wall sunshine, 25°, light S.

The first thing to start with is that 2 White Stork were seen drifting SW over Cholsey this morning at 09:45. Seen by a Benson birder who was at Cholsey Meadows.

There has been a White Stork seen earlier in the year around the Day’s Lock/Dorchester/Wittenham area. So it may be that one teamed up with another as some of the Storks from the Sussex release scheme have been wandering quite widely.

There is a lot of chatter on Wallingford Piper on FB regarding Storks being seen all over. Some of the reports refer to Egrets and Herons that are being misidentified as Storks. Although some reports are accurate.

Anyway back to feet on the ground in Cholsey as I was on a walk out to Lollingdon today and Alan was along the river and Cholsey Marsh.

A singing Sedge Warbler along Cholsey Brook at the millennium field,  a singing Willow Warbler on Lollingdon Hill and this evening Richard Broughton had a Reed Warbler singing by the Church road bridge over the brook. were unexpected and may actually be new arrivals.

House Martins heard calling over Lollingdon Hill but initially not seen. It was not until I scanned overhead with binoculars that I saw them flying very high in a southerly direction and at least 20 birds.

Also a single adult Lesser Blackback Gull overhead and a Yellow Wagtail.

A Lesser Whitethroat heard singing near Amwell Spring and all the usual suspects noted.

A Sparrowhawk seen thermalling over the village mid-afternoon and being mobbed by Swallows and House Martins. And a Mistle Thrush singing away near the Church.

Mammals: Roe Deer and Brown Hare.

Butterflies: again, very few. I wonder if last week’s cold weather had any effect on butterflies and insects in general? A single Brimstone and Orange Tip, a few unidentified Whites, 1 Common Blue and 1 Holly Blue.

Alans tally down by the river was:

Birds: Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting, Swift, Swallow, Corn Bunting and Grey Wagtail.

Dragonflies: Red-eyed Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly, Blue Emperor , Four-spot Chaser and Broad-bodied Chaser. 

Butterflies: Marsh Fritillary, Common Blue and Peacock.

 Left: White Stork, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret & Little Egret.

Right: Grey Heron & Little Egret.

All have been seen in Oxfordshire in recent months.

 Brown Hare

 Sorry, a Corn Bunting again 😀

A pair of Stock Dove.

White Storks

I received a report from Gerry Sexton of 15 White Stork flying north over Cholsey at dusk yesterday.

Again these are more than likely from a release scheme from the Surrey/Sussex area.

Keep an eye peeled as they may still be in Oxfordshire somewhere?

Seems like Cholsey is attracting released birds lately. 😀

White Stork in Cholsey & Benson or was it Shillingford?

A murky and wet day, 10°, light NE.

A very different day today. I got back from Lollingdon this afternoon feeling quite damp after walking back in the rain.

After drying off I fired up my laptop and saw an email from Stephen Haigh with a photo attached asking if it was a Stork.

I downloaded the pic and enhanced it a bit and indeed it was a White Stork photographed over the Vets yesterday.

Shortly after I noticed a FB post by Michi Laxton to the Benson Nature Group saying he had spotted a White Stork in a Field opposite the Benson Café.

(Was it in Benson or Shillingford?).

Putting 2 & 2 together I thought I’d better alert someone, so I phoned Tom Stevenson of the BNG and he went to check it out and about 30 minutes later he had confirmed that there was a White Stork there.

At that point I phoned a few people to alert them to the news and managed to get a lift over myself with Alan Dawson to see it.

We arrived onsite at around 15:30 and saw the bird almost immediately in a field on the other side of the river.

In the time we were watching it up to around 20 people managed to get there to see it and eventually it flew off to the NW at approx. 16:40.

Whilst watching the bird both Geoff Wyatt and Badger noted it had a green ring on its right leg with the code Z9404.

Now this is where tech comes in to play, Geoff Wyatt made a call to Ian Lewington and between them and Badger we found out that the bird had been ringed in Poland in 2011 and had subsequently been sent to and rehabilitated in Norfolk after flying into some overhead cables and sustaining an injury. It and another had then escaped and is now flying free.

Not sure if it has been staying in the UK or migrating south each year and it had been seen in Oxfordshire in 2017 on Otmoor.

This is the 2nd record of White Stork for Cholsey, the 1st being 5 on Cholsey Hill on the 26th April 2012.

Whilst there I saw a small flock of around a dozen Sand Martin flyby, a Kingfisher and a Willow Warbler.

Back to this morning there was a female Wheatear on the Hill and around 10 Swallow appeared from the murk with several staying to feed flying around amongst the sheep.

Several Chiffchaff and Blackcap noted but little else.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

 The original and cropped photo of the Stork over Cholsey yesterday (courtesy Stephen Haigh)

 7 photos of the White Stork in Benson/Shillingford today. the last but 2 taking an earthworm and the last one of it flying off.

 A couple of rubbish shots of Swallows feeding around the sheep.

White Storks!

Sunny spells, heavy showers, 13º, fresh SSW.

A walk out on the farmland today, dodging the rain showers!

Chiffchaff was the commonest warbler today, along with Blackcap. Still very few Whitethroats around, only one heard today. 2 Sedge Warblers along the “reedy ditch” near the Lees.

Linnet, Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting well represented today and Chaffinch in just about every hedgerow, Greenfinch and Goldfinch also regular. Several Reed Buntings present in fields of oil seed rape.

A male Ring Ouzel seen between Cholsey and Aston Tirrold in the horse paddocks and 5 Wheatear on Lollingdon Hill and a single Meadow Pipit seen, also the usual 2 Pied Wagtails feeding with the sheep.

Quite a few Buzzards in the air today, several Red Kite and singles of Sparrowhawk and Kestrel.

3 Yellow Wagtail seen, Lollingdon, the Lees and Manor farm.

A small flock of Hirundines over Cholsey SF had around 6 House Martin, 2 Sand Martin and a few Swallows, 8 other Swallows seen in various locations.

Tawny Owls heard in garden tonight! Hedgehogs also active in garden.

Also several Roe Deer seen today, Peacock and Brimstone butterflies.

A text from Ian Lewington at around 16:30 to say there were 6 White Storks on Cholsey hill (found by Tony Rayner), adrenalin rush! Quickly phoned Tony Williams and got there in 2 minutes! As I arrived, there was a couple sat watching them from a car and at that point they started to fly. Tony Williams then arrived and a few of us watched them fly over the hill towards Brightwell and disappeared from view. Then had a call to say they were being seen flying over North Moreton, then Didcot, last seen near to Sutton Courtney over the A34. No more news since!

More @ http://oxonbirding.blogspot.co.uk/

This represents the first record of this species in Cholsey!

                                        White Storks

               White Stork (photo courtesy Ian Lewington) 

                                  Ring Ouzel

                                         Ring Ouzel

                                       And........you’ve guessed it!