Another wet one

Sunshine and showers, 17°, fresh SW.

Along the Bunk Line this afternoon and fortunately missed most of the rain with a thunder storm passing a few kilometres to the east, then another passing closer but to the west.

A Wheatear, 2 Yellow Wagtail, several Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, 3 Meadow Pipit, 16 Chiffchaff (incl 2 in garden), 2 Blackcap, a single Common Whitethroat, 2 Yellowhammer, 26 Swallow, 30 House Martin, a single Sand Martin, 3 Raven etc.

Dragonflies: A Common Blue Damsel and a Migrant Hawker.

Butterflies: few: Large and Small White, 6 Red Admiral, a Speckled Wood and a Meadow Brown.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

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.

Cholsey

Mainly sunny, 20°, light S.

Whinchat, Bunk Line yesterday. Per MA.

Muntjac with a fawn in the garden.

Today:

2 Yellow Wagtail over garden and a juv Chiffchaff in garden.

Bunk line, 3 Chiffchaff, Grey Wagtail and a Yellowhammer.

A warm one

Sunny, 27°, fresh SSE.

Fairly quiet out today. singles of Common Redstart, Whinchat and Wheatear out at Lollingdon and 3 Swallow over. Nearby, 3 Blackcap, 2 Common Whitethroat, several Chiffchaff and a Tit flock with Coal Tit and Nuthatch present.

50+ House Martin and a Yellow Wagtail over Church Road.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: very few. Several Whites, Red Admiral, Peacock, Speckled Wood and Meadow Brown.

A regular garden visitor

Bunk

Sunny, 24°, light WSW.

Fairly quiet along the Bunk area today, a Ringed Plover heard calling and 4 Sand Martin and 20+ Swallow over. 9+ Chiffchaff, a Yellow Wagtail, 2 Jay, 2 Herring Gull at CSW, a few Lesser Blackback and Black-headed Gull overhead and a Sparrowhawk.

House Martins feeding a second brood along Church road.

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

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

The Lees

Sunny, 26°, light SW.

The Lees area: Another warm one. Several Sedge and Reed Warbler in brief song, a couple of Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Common Whitethroat, 3 Reed Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer and a Corn Bunting. 2 Pied Wagtail taking food to a nest site and a single Yellow Wagtail and Grey Heron.

Dragonflies: Banded and Beautiful Demoiselle and Common Blue Damsel.

Butterflies: Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma, Speckled Wood, Marbled White, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

Cholsey

Sunny at first then mostly cloudy, 15°, light S.

Bunk, Lollingdon and River/Marsh:

6 Shoveler, 4 Tufted Duck, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, 3 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Lapwing, 4 Black-headed Gull, 20+ Swallow, 3+ House Martin, 14+ Sand Martin, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Wheatear, many Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, 5+ Blackcap, 2+ Common Whitethroat, 3 Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Sparrowhawk and Tawny Owl.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

AD & PC.

Yellow Wagtail courtesy Alan ↕

More sunshine

Sunshiny day, 17°, light ENE.

Lollingdon, River and Bunk areas: Another sunny day but we need some rain.

Wheatear, Yellow Wagtail, Willow Warbler, Common Whitethroat, several Blackcap, Cetti’s Warbler, 3 Meadow Pipit, 2 Mistle Thrush, Swallow, Green Sandpiper, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 5 Lapwing, 8 Tufted Duck, a Teal and a Little Egret on Church road flood again.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

AD, MM, PC & RB.

Kestrel

Roe Deer

Wren

Wheatear courtesy Alan

Peacock courtesy Alan

Bunk & River

Overcast and showery, 15°, breezy NNE.

Relatively quiet along the Bunk area today: good numbers of Skylark and Meadow Pipit with 100+ of each, 20+ Pied Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 5 Swallow, a few Siskin heard overhead, 2 Mistle Thrush, a Jay, 6 Chiffchaff, 3 Teal and a lot of Gulls with most moving in a northerly direction.

River: several Meadow Pipit, Yellow Wagtail, Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, Reed Bunting and Chiffchaff.

Dragonflies: A Southern Hawker and several Common Darter. River: Willow Emerald, Migrant Hawker, Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: several Whites and 2 Red Admiral.

AD & PC.

A little livelier

Sunny periods, 20°, light W.

A slow start with little initially seen along the Bunk area today. Around 20 minutes in I started to note a passage of Hirundines and over the next few hours counted over 200 birds. Majority being Swallow and the rest House Martin.

Alan also noted a passage of Hirundine over Westfield Road plus a juv Peregrine Falcon.

A Whinchat also found and seen briefly before being spooked by a worker on the railway and I was unable to relocate the bird.

Alan relocated the Whinchat approx. 2 hours later.

Plus: 2 juv Hobby, 2 Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk, 4 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Common Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 10+ Chiffchaff, 5 Yellowhammer, a Raven, 300+ Starling etc.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large and Small White, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and a Small Tortoiseshell in the garden.

Whinchat courtesy Alan

Yellowhammer

Still pretty quiet

Sunny periods, 25°, light SSW.

Still pretty quiet out there with visits to both Lollingdon and Bunk areas today.

Common Redstart, 3 Common Whitethroat, several Blackcap and Chiffchaff, Yellow Wagtail, 1, pos 2 Hobby, 2 Raven, a Common Sandpiper and the odd Swallow.

Both Swallow and House Martin still visiting nest sites in Church Road.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker and Common Darter.

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

AD & PC.

Common Sandpiper courtesy Alan

Common Blue

Nuthatch

Marsh Harrier

Sunny spells, 24°, light SW.

Richard Broughton was lucky enough to find a female Marsh Harrier over the Bunk/Green Lane area today.

150+ Linnet, Willow Warbler and 30+ Yellow Wagtail overhead.  

Also had 2 Hobby over Church Road yesterday.

Photo taken on phone so not the greatest quality but there you go.

Sunny but cool

Sunny periods, 11°, breezy NW.

Usual areas covered today: 4 Wheatear, a Yellow Wagtail, 2 Willow Warbler, 3 Common Whitethroat, Cetti’s Warbler, several Chiffchaff and Blackcap, 10+ Swallow, 3 House Martin, 7 Sand Martin, a Bullfinch, 5 Yellowhammer, a Common Sandpiper, several Lapwing, 8 Lesser Blackback Gull, a Grey Heron, a Cormorant etc.

Mammals: Red Fox.

Dragonflies: Large Red Damselfly.

Butterflies: Orange Tip, Red Admiral and Peacock.

AD & PC.

Photos courtesy Alan

Yellow Wagtail

Large Red Damsel

Wheatear

A blustery day

Rain at first then sunny, 10°, blustery SW.

Lollingdon and Bunk area:

3 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Wheatear, a Common Redstart, Willow Warbler, several Chiffchaff and Blackcap, 10+ Swallow, c50 House Martin, 6 Lapwing, 3 Lesser Blackback Gull and a Sparrowhawk.

Whilst Alan was watching the Yellow Wagtails and Pied Wagtails, a Sparrowhawk appeared and went for one of the Yellow Wagtail. It missed but took a Pied Wagtail that was present.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

AD & PC.

Yellow Wagtail courtesy Alan

Stonechat

Mainly cloudy, 18°, freshening SW.

A Green Sandpiper on a flood beside Wallingford Road early morning, then flew off. Per Michael Pocock.

Bunk Line this morning: another good passage of Hirundines, mainly House Martin this time with 25% Swallow. Approx. 200 birds.

A Stonechat (same bird Alan found Monday), 9 Chiffchaff, a Kingfisher, 3 Grey Heron, 19 Skylark (one flock), 40+ Meadow Pipit, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Kestrel, 2 Raven, a Green Woodpecker and 5 species of Finch including at least 1 Siskin heard overhead.

Alan along the river: 2 Common Sandpiper flying upstream, several Chiffchaff and numbers of Swallow and House Martin.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White, Red Admiral, Peacock & Speckled Wood.

A few different aspects of the Stonechat.

A few migrants moving

A sunshiny day, 28°, light E.

Both along Bunk line in the morning/early afternoon. 3 Yellow Wagtail, a Redstart, a Willow Warbler, several Chiffchaff, and Blackcap and 2 Common Whitethroat.

A steady flow of Swallow passing thru plus a few House Martin. At least 2 Raven, 100+ Lesser Blackback Gull, several Black-headed Gull and 2 Herring Gull.

Alan also covered Bunk line and River later.

Dragonflies: Willow Emerald, Emperor, Southern Hawker, Brown Hawker, Migrant Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Brown Argus, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

Insects: Hornet Robberfly.

Photos courtesy Alan  

Raven

Migrant Hawker

Willow Emerald

Chiffchaff ↕

Hornet Robberfly

Bunk & Green Lane

Rain at first then hazy sunshine, 24°, breezy ESE.

After the rain I took a walk along the Bunk line/Green Lane. A Redstart, 2 Raven, 3 Yellow Wagtail and 10+ Chiffchaff.

100+ Hirundines passing over with roughly equal numbers of Swallow and House Martin.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Common Blue Damselfly, Emperor, Brown Hawker, Southern Hawker, Black-tailed Skimmer and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Small Blue, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

Black-tailed Skimmer

Waiting for the train

Greenfinch

Bunk Line & River

Sunny, 23°, light W.

Bunk line: Per Alan:

c25 Yellow Wagtail, Lesser Blackback Gull. Black-headed Gull, Common Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and a Raven over.

River: Reed Bunting, Chiffchaff, Common Whitethroat Etc.

Dragonflies: Emperor, Ruddy Darter, Common Darter, Common Blue Damselfly, Small Red-eyed Damselfly, Brown Hawker, Migrant Hawker and Southern Hawker.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Peacock, Red Admiral, Comma, Common Blue and Brown Argus.

Had a quick look at the Redstart, I see that it has a ring on its left leg.

Yellow Wagtail courtesy Alan

Common Redstart ( note ring on left leg)

Lollingdon, Bunk & Thames.

A few sunny spells, 14°, fresh E.

Usual areas covered today: 2 Little Egret, 3 Green Sandpiper, Lapwing, 4 Black-headed Gull, Mandarin Duck, a Sparrowhawk going for a Mistle Thrush unsuccessfully, 1 pos 2 Fieldfare, 1-2 Yellow Wagtail, 5-6 Swallow, 2 Wheatear, Common Whitethroat, several Blackcap, a Garden Warbler, several Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer & Corn Bunting.

A Common Sandpiper earlier in week along the river. Per PR.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Butterflies: Orange Tip, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock & Speckled Wood.

3 Green Sandpipers on the floods at Lollingdon courtesy Alan ↕

Black-headed Gull, 1 of 4 on the flood

Mandarin Duck with Mallards on the flood courtesy Alan ↕

Wheatear