Spot Flys and Yellow Wags

Cloudy with a few light rain showers, 22°, light WSW.

9 (6+3) Yellow Wagtail over the hill today all moving SW, also several small flocks of Swallow.

4 Spotted Flycatcher still present by one of the paddocks and quite a few Chiffchaff around and 1 Willow Warbler present.

3 Common Whitethroat and 2 Blackcap also seen.

A Jay briefly in the garden around midday.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, 1 Common Blue. Speckled Wood and 3 Meadow Brown.

All photos courtesy Alan Dawson.

 Roe Deer

 Smooth Newt

Mothing

Light cloud with some very light rain, 22°, breezy WSW.

A mornings “Mothing” at Tony Rayners with “Abingdon Naturalists Soc”.

Not a particularly good haul according to Tony but 20+ species identified.

Other than moths there was a Jay in the garden, a Muntjac Deer, a Common Toad, a Common Blue butterfly, a Southern Hawker dragonfly.

Not all the Moths identified yet!

Spectacle

 Burnished Brass

 Dusky Thorn

Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Red-legged or Forest Shieldbug

 Tawny Speckled Pug (bottom right)

 Flame Shoulder (left)

 Flounced Rustic (right)

 Common Blue

 Setaceous Hebrew Character

 ?

                                            Heart & Dart

Photos © Paul & Loren

Quietish

Mainly cloudy, 22°, breezy WSW.

The hill was fairly quiet today with a couple of Kestrel around and a Chiffchaff and Common Whitethroat along the hedgerow.

A few Swallow passing through and 2 Raven flew from east to west.

2-4 Spotted Flycatcher around the paddocks out at Lollingdon along with a Willow Warbler and several Common Whitethroat and Chiffchaff.

A Little Owl near Amwell spring.

Another Willow Warbler in the Brook meadow early morning and a Blackcap present.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, 2 Common Blue, 2 Small Tortoiseshell, 1 Comma, Speckled Wood and 1 Meadow Brown.

A wet one!

Rain all morning then sunny spells, 20°, breezy WSW.

A Hobby over TR’s garden today and a Willow Warbler there at the week end.

A Grey Heron in the meadow this afternoon.

Grey Heron

Buzzard (courtesy Alan Dawson)

On the way back

Cloudy, 22°, breezy SW.

The first returning Wheatear on the hill today and apart from a Kestrel and several Red Kite there was not a lot else.

A light passage of Hirundines moving through, mainly Swallow and several House Martin.

The breeding Swallows out at Lollingdon look as though they are raising a second brood and appears some of the first brood young are helping out.

Several Chiffchaff and the odd Common Whitethroat present in the area.

A covey of 14 Grey Partridge noted.

A Nuthatch in the garden early morning.

Butterflies: very few today: Large White, Small White, Speckled Wood, 1 Gatekeeper and 1 Meadow Brown.

 Wheatear

Meadow Brown

15000 steps

Mostly cloudy, 23°, breezy, WNW.

A long loop walk out today via the Lees, Aston Tirrold and Lollingdon.

The fields out by the Lees had a good flock of c60 Linnet and several Skylark, the dyke and Reedy ditch had several Reed Bunting, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Sedge Warbler, 2 Common Whitethroat and a Reed Warbler present and a Sparrowhawk hunting the fields.

A few Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, several Yellowhammer and a Kestrel between Aston and Lollingdon.

A Spotted Flycatcher, several Chiffchaff and Common Whitethroat out a Lollingdon and a Kestrel on the hill but little else.

A Peregrine this morning out near Lollingdon. Per Alan Dawson.

Mammals: Brown Hare, Muntjac Deer and Roe Deer.

Reptiles: Common Lizard.

Dragonflies: 1 Migrant Hawker, 5 Southern Hawker, 2 Brown Hawker and 6 Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, 1 Small Blue, Common Blue, Red Admiral, 1 Painted Lady, Speckled Wood, 1 Gatekeeper and 2 Meadow Brown.

Other Insects: Hornet Robber Fly.

Peregrine Falcon (courtesy Alan Dawson)

 Hornet Robber Fly with prey

 Gatekeeper

Spotted Flycatcher

A little more going on!

Mainly cloudy with a little light rain, 23°, breezy NW.

A Peregrine seen whilst walking out to Lollingdon this morning perched high on one of the pylons.

A Kingfisher along Cholsey Brook and 2 Siskin flew overhead.

6+ Spotted Flycatcher out at Lollingdon, quite spread out in a large garden, also a flock of 30+ Goldfinch and a flock of 24 Swallow present.

3 Raven flew over and headed in the direction of Cholsey Hill and several Jay still in the area and a female Sparrowhawk overhead.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Reptiles: a single Common Lizard seen.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Brown Hawker.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood and Gatekeeper.

Ravens

Spotted Flycatchers

 Speckled Wood

Common Blue

Possible Bechstein's Bat

Tony Rayner's son Fred has been recording Bats in Cholsey using a sound device and he sent some off for analysing.

You might be interested to read this response from one of Chris Raper's colleagues at the Natural History Museum.

They think that the Bat that I detected might be Bechsteins; however, they do go onto say that some other of the Myotis Group of bats can make short high frequency calls.

Because Bechsteins is an ancient woodland species they go onto say "It’s very much a tree/woodland dweller though, specialising in being able to fly and hunt in quite enclosed environments so that’s not quite the right habitat. Are there reasonable woodlands nearby (including coniferous, they’ve been known to use flaking bark in older conifer stands)?"

Bechsteins is supposed to range 1-2Km from their roost; the question is whether there are woods locally that might meet this criteria?
For your info:

Woodlands containing it may be considered for notification as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and may attract a grant under Natural England’s Environmental Stewardship scheme. On the rare chance one is spotted in the wild, authorities suggest immediately reporting it to a local bat group or the wildlife trust.

Click here for info

Bechstein's Bat courtesy Archive.org

Hare Coursing?

Cloudy, rain showers, 18°, light to breezy S.

Some apparent hare coursing out at Lollindon today but fortunately the police had a handle on it.

photos courtesy Alan Dawson.

More Flycatchers

Alan Dawson found 3 Spotted Flycatcher out at Lollingdon today.

Swallows

Mainly cloudy with a few sunny spells, 22°, breezy SW.

All quiet on and around the hill today apart for a flock of 50+ Swallow and some unusual behaviour observed.

Whilst the some of the Swallows were flying around aerial feeding or sitting preening on nearby telegraph wires and fences which is the usual behaviour, some were feeding on the ground and appeared to be actively chasing insects and taking prey from the ground.

A feeding strategy? that I do not recall having seen before.

I came off the hill a couple of hours later and the Swallows were still present and was greeted by a few alarm calls. On looking up I could see a Hobby high above the flock, the Hobby circled a few times and then went in to a steep dive as if it had picked out a target. Unfortunately lost to view behind some trees so could not see if it caught anything.

Several Jay still present in the area and a few Common Whitethroat, Blackcap and Chiffchaff all noted.

Several hundred Gulls loafing out by the pig fields only a few ID’d Black-headed Gull and Lesser Blackback Gull, most were too distant.

3 Common Redstart seen nearby but outside the Cholsey boundary. Per BJW.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: very few: Large White, Small White, Small Copper, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

 Swallows

 Large Yellow Underwing (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Silver Y (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Unexpected Garden visitor

A Jay this afternoon in the garden.

Still a warm one!

Sunny with increasing cloud, 28°, light SW.

Another quiet day out at Lollingdon, a few Common Whitethroat and Chiffchaff and a single Blackcap seen.

3 Jay present and a good number of Yellowhammer still around,

A reasonable passage of Swallows today with 200+ moving south including a flock of c50, a few House Martin with the flocks. 

A couple of Swift still overhead in Cholsey.

Mammals: an unfortunate Mole found dead.

Dragonflies: a few Common Darter.

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

Not too far away good numbers of Adonis Blue and Chalkhill Blue being found. Unfortunately outside Cholsey's boundary.

 Common Darter (above & below)

Roe Deer (courtesy Alan Dawson)

 A snatched shot of a Jay

 Brimstone

Yellowhammer