Lollingdon

Hazy sun, 10º, light SSE.

A walk around Lollingdon today, nothing much on the hill apart from a few Meadow Pipit and a couple of Corn Bunting.

Around two hundred Fieldfare and a handful of Redwing feeding on some recently ploughed fields and then flushed by a Sparrowhawk.

A couple of Chiffchaff present (one in song) and the first Willow Warbler in song by the spring.

Thanks to Biffa for collecting all the rubbish sacks at Cholsey marsh today.

A ♂ Blackcap in the garden today again with a ring on its right leg and am trying to ascertain whether it’s the “French ringed” bird from earlier in the year. It’s not a regular in the garden as its feeding behaviour is different from previous visitors and two more Blackcap appeared this evening (both unringed birds).

 A nice pic of a Canada Goose on Ferry lane a few weeks ago © Ben Hobbs

 The garden Wren out in the open for a change

 The 2 unringed Blackcaps

Serious looking sheep in Lollingdon

Swallows and Rubbish.

Cloudy, rain, 9º, light to moderate ENE.

Several hours spent on Cholsey Marsh today clearing rubbish, a lot plastic in particular had been brought down river by the floods and deposited along the marsh but a fair bit had previously been dumped by various visitors over the summer. We focussed more on the northern stretch as the other end I had been clearing over the last few months when accessible.

Thanks to Tony Williams and Andy from the village council who helped and we filled 14 large sacks with mainly plastic and glass bottles and cans but also a litter bin and a fire extinguisher collected.

Some of the rubbish exposed by the floods was dumped by fisherman, boat visitors and picnickers and people emptying their cars, you can usually tell by the type of litter left.

Having mentioned fisherman I would say that most do not leave litter but there are some who have no respect for the environment who do!

Maybe we should get some remote CCTV down there!

As for birds this morning there were around thirty Common Snipe on the marsh, several Water Rail, two Chiffchaff (one in song), two Grey Wagtail and two Swallow flew through and a few Siskin in the Alders and a Jay.

A visit to Lollingdon hill after did not produce much other than two singing Corn Bunting.

Blackcap still visiting the garden and feeding on apple that I put out for the Thrushes and a Coal Tit singing nearby. Two Brambling being seen in a Cholsey garden.

A few Buff-tailed Bumble Bees seen today.

 

 

Cholsey, 8th April

Hazy sunshine, 10º, light to moderate N.

A singing Chiffchaff and Goldcrest in the millennium wood also a Yellowhammer in song and a couple of Mistle Thrush nearby.

A few Linnet and Yellowhammer on the way out to Lollingdon but little else, the hill had a single ♀ Wheatear and quite a few Fieldfare (200+ in total), several Redwing, fifty odd Starling and another couple of Mistle Thrush with them moving around the area and around a dozen Song Thrush seen along hedgerows.

Ten plus Stock Dove a Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming and three Green Woodpecker around, a single Lapwing flew west and a few Pied Wagtail seen, also good numbers of Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Chaffinch noted.

♀ Sparrowhawk seen mobbing a Buzzard and several Buzzards seen in display flight.

Several Reed Bunting back on their breeding areas near the Lees.

An increase in the number of Meadow Pipit around and good numbers of Skylark in the open fields but fewer gulls around today.

Two Small Tortoiseshell butterflies seen.

Blackcap, Song Thrush, Moorhen and Stock Dove in the garden still and a Green Woodpecker frequenting the meadow.

 Song Thrush

 Rooks

Don’t hold your breath but spring may be here.

Sunny, 10º, light N, still chilly out of the sun.

A couple of hours on Lollingdon hill produced at least one surprise of a Redshank that flew over calling. Where did that come from?

Five Wheatear (3♂, 2♀) present feeding on the hill with one of the ♀’s there flycatching (flycatcher style) quite frequently.

A single Fieldfare on the hill feeding with a small flock of seven Starling, three Meadow Pipit and a flock of twenty plus Starling flew west.

Two Yellowhammer and two Corn Bunting also present in the hedgerow and two Chiffchaff seen, one in either hedgerow (east and west).

A Peacock and a Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly both noted.

Great-spotted Woodpecker and Blackcap still visiting garden.

Spring still not sprung!

Sunny, 8º, cold northerly wind.

A visit to Lollingdon hill produced two Wheatear, two Song Thrush a Robin and three Blackbird and a Buzzard and three Red Kite overhead.

The garden had a Great-spotted Woodpecker and a couple of Long-tailed Tit, also a Blackcap still visiting though less frequently.

Lots of Chaffinch still visiting

Lollingdon

Sunny, 8º, still a bitingly cold wind though.

Ventured out to Lollingdon today, two Wheatear on the hill (♂ & ♀), along with six Fieldfare and a single Starling, also a couple of Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer, the Wheatear kept disappearing down Rabbit dugouts.

The fields below held around thirty Fieldfare and a couple of Redwing and a Little Owl but that was about all!

Blackcap again in garden and  ♂ Brambling in the Eastenders garden since Friday.

Blackcap again!

Sunny spells, 4º, light to moderate ENE.

Still cold out and feeling a bit under the weather today so stayed in even though I missed a Lapland Bunting that turned up at nearby Churn. See Oxon bird log for details.

Had to be content with what turned up in the garden and typical after posting that the Blackcaps had gone a ♂ Blackcap turned up in the garden for around an hour today to blow my comments right out of the water!

Also another visitor that is not a regular is a Pied Wagtail that spent most of the afternoon feeding, they usually only turn up in harsh weather when food is difficult to find so maybe this prolonged spell of cold is affecting them?

The two Stock Dove and a Moorhen still visiting regularly and a couple of Long-tailed Tit visiting.

The hills

Sunny spells, 5º, light E.

Two Wheatear still on Lollingdon hill along with two Pied Wagtail and a handful of Meadow Pipit, not a lot else around.

Approximately two hundred Golden Plover seen over Cholsey hill probably from the Moreton flood area.

Blackcaps

Sunny spells, 4º, light wind.

For the first time this year the Blackcaps have not shown in the garden, I know it’s only today but I am assuming they have now left as at least one has visited every day this year with up to five in the garden over the last few months, three ♂ and two ♀, (the French ringed male, the locally ringed male, an unringed male and assuming two different females)!

The ♀ that TW had in his garden has not been seen for four days.

As mentioned in earlier posts the Blackcaps in the garden initially found suet/fat balls to their liking but soon settled on exclusively sultanas as their preferred food and occasionally apple.

Judging from reports in the village there have been double figures wintering in Cholsey, however there must be some movement between areas depending on weather and food availability so possibly no more than twelve birds.

According to some information from RB fifteen different Blackcaps were ringed in a Somerset garden since last November supporting movement in areas.

We now await our summer visiting Blackcaps.

Lollingdon

Sunny spells, 4º, light NE, a little milder as a few insects in the air today.

Still at least two Wheatear on Lollingdon hill, if there was a third today it may have been over the top where there is no access, also a few Meadow Pipit around, fifty Fieldfare and three Redwing.

The flooded field is drying rapidly but still up to fifty Lapwing and a few Black-headed Gull there.

A ♀ Blackcap in the garden today to add to the two ♂,s, she must be new as she was feeding on the suet balls whereas the ♂’s although initially on suet balls discovered the sultanas and have fed exclusively on them ever since.

Wheatears

Overcast, 3º, light to moderate NE, at least the birdbath was liquid today!

A brief visit to Lollingdon hill today produced my first Wheatear with three present and struggling to find any insect food. One Wheatear was noted systematically dissecting some sheep droppings, presumably looking for insect larvae and seemed successful.

Tony Williams was on the hill this morning and no Wheatear present so they must have just arrived this afternoon!

A Buzzard present, eight Starling flew over and a distant flock of around one hundred and fifty Lapwing flew towards the downs.

A lot of gulls in the pig fields but too distant for ID.

Brian Wyatt had three Raven in Cholsey yesterday.

The Fudgie Duck and the Fauvette à tête noire

Overcast, 4º, light to moderate NE, colder in the wind.

The Ferruginous Duck was showing again today so I decided to make a visit and although it showed only intermittently, it did come out of the reeds a few times but stayed distant. However it spent most of the time in the reed bed out of site or partially hidden.

A lot of other ducks and geese around also Water Rail, Curlew, Redshank, Common Snipe and a lot of Lapwing also noted.

We now have some info on the French ringed Blackcap that RB caught and ringed back on the 5^th Jan this year.

Fauvette à tête noire

 

http://stuffthatricharddid.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/fauvette-tete-noire.html

Michael Pocock having 3 Blackcap visiting garden feeders (2♂, 1♀) and a male this morning had yellow pollen on its face and the assumption is that it has been feeding on the nectar of Mahonia flowers from a bush nearby.

Cold and quiet

Overcast, 1º, light ENE.

Cholsey marsh was very quiet today the only bird of note was a Chiffchaff in the Sallows. The river is still high but not over the banks and the marsh is still draining in to the Thames at several places but still quite flooded.

Lollingdon hill was still quiet and fewer numbers of thrushes than yesterday and the flooded field held around one hundred and fifty Lapwing.

Blackcaps still feeding in the garden, I doubt they will be leaving until the weather changes, a ♀ Sparrowhawk seen in the meadow this afternoon.

The Ferruginous Duck still present on Otmoor.

Sad to see a dead Barn Owl along the Wallingford bypass today.

Here and There.

Just a few words on today’s weather........Bloody Freezing!

Started off with a visit to Lollingdon hill which was rather barren of birds, Robin, Great Tit and Blackbird. However the meadows behind the hill were rather active with a large flock of mainly Fieldfare, Redwing, Starling and Song Thrush (400, 200,100, 10+), and a lot of chattering that normally precedes migration with the Thrushes.

The flooded field at the rear of the hill held seven Dunlin, a Ringed Plover, two Common Gull and around one hundred Black-headed Gull and a few Lapwing. I have been keeping an eye on some of the flooded fields locally and was hoping for a few waders and struck lucky today. The pig fields held quite a few gulls around the flooded areas.

I had an email from Tony Rayner for a possible "Hobby" today over Cholsey and one was recorded in Hampshire yesterday!

Then I got a text confirming the presence of a Ferruginous Duck on Otmoor, so as I had not seen one in the county since 1989 I thought why not!

Forty minute drive through Oxford to Otmoor then a fair walk out to the second screen where it had been seen. On arriving Rog, Badger and Gnome, plus a couple of others were already there but the duck was showing very intermittently so I decided to stick around.

I stayed until dusk but the duck did not show again, possibly with the water levels so high it could just swim off through the reed beds and stay out of sight!

Having not seen the duck there was a few other birds, around eight species of duck, a few geese sp, Little Egret, Lapwing, Golden Plover, Redshank, Bittern, Dunlin, Water Rail, Barn Owl and a Marsh Harrier that appeared late afternoon. Also a flock of mainly Fieldfare, with Redwing and approximately two hundred Starling all chattering away in a field behind us while we were looking for the elusive duck.

A few pics of the Marsh Harrier and Barn Owl © Roger Wyatt and a distant one of the Dunlin © Paul Chandler

Where is spring?

The weather just recently has been rather unseasonal with cold north easterly winds, snow, rain, overcast conditions and temperatures hardly getting above freezing.

Some of our early migrants are in with the odd Wheatear, Chiffchaff and Sand Martin and even a few Swallow noted yesterday in Dorset and a Swift and scarce Red-rumped Swallow on the Isles of Scilly but the ariel insect feeders will be having a hard time finding food because there are very few insects around at the moment and these condition are forecasted to go on for at least another week. Considering this time last year when temperatures were in the 20’s and shorts were the dress of the day.

The Blackcaps that frequent the garden over the winter here have usually migrated back east by now but they are still here although blackbird and Chaffinch numbers are down suggesting they have moved out in to their breeding areas?

The local Blue and Great Tits are busy investigating the nest boxes here but no sign of any nest material being taken in yet.

A lot of fields around are flooded again and conditions underfoot are quite soggy so we may get a few waders showing up, still quite a few Golden Plover around Cholsey hill and the Moreton floods but Lapwing numbers are down but Redwing and Fieldfare still around in good numbers.

I have noticed one of The Carrion Crows collecting nesting material (moss) yesterday so they are building and the Rookery nearby is in full swing and it looks as though some are sitting on eggs.

Two Song Thrush, the Pheasant, two Stock Dove and a Moorhen are still visiting the garden along with the other regulars and a pair of Moorhen seen mating in the meadow recently.

Just a note on House Sparrows here at Marymead, there is a small population of around a dozen birds. I hear them often, they visit a few feeders in the front of Marymead and are frequently in a neighbour’s garden just 20 metres from all the feeders but very rarely are seen visiting them where most of all the other birds feed and I cannot figure out why yet.

 

 A reminder of days when the sun shone!