Another Kingfisher

A showery weekend with sunny spells, 13°, light S.

A brief visit yesterday to the garden by 2 Brambling, by the time I got the camera something had spooked the birds in the garden and did not see them again unfortunately.

Meanwhile Alan Dawson managed a good photo of a Kingfisher along Cholsey Brook.

After the rain

Early rain followed by intermittent sunshine, 13°, moderate southerly breeze.

Very quiet out there today with only a handful of Fieldfare and Redwing and Starling.

The south side of the hill was very breezy and subsequently nothing there.

2 Jay, 3 Mistle Thrush, 5 Yellowhammer, 3 Reed Bunting and 2 Goldcrest on the north side of the hill.

A small flock of c20 Pied Wagtail and several Meadow Pipit feeding in the open fields and a flock of c20 Yellowhammer nearby.

C150 Golden Plover on Cholsey Hill. Per Richard Broughton.

A Coal Tit and 2 Nuthatch regularly visiting the garden.

Mammals: A Stoat.

Dragonflies: A single Common Darter.

 Yellowhammer

Mistle Thrush

Golden Plover

A Golden Plover flock between 60-70 back on Cholsey Hill, also a flock of 100+ Lapwing.

Photos courtesy Alan Dawson

Buntings

Hazy sunshine, 14°, light ESE.

Fairly quiet on the hill today, 8 Corn Bunting present and a few Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting.

Lots of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling scattered about the area and impossible to get a count.

30+ Pied Wagtail in a recently worked field and the flock of Yellowhammer more scattered now the stubble fields have been ploughed.

Little else of note seen.

Mammals: 2 Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: A Southern Hawker in the garden and a single Common Darter Lollingdon.

Butterflies: 3 Red Admiral.

Richard's Pipit revisited

Cloudy with some sunshine, 12°, light S.

A trip to the downs above Blewbury this morning to catch up with the Richard’s Pipit that was found by Roger Wyatt yesterday.

Some good views obtained, albeit fairly distant and interesting to get some comparison with a very close Meadow Pipit.

Lollingdon Hill was visible from where we were watching and it is approx. 1 mile away (as the crow flies).

Richard's Pipit (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Richard's Pipit

Sunny, 12°, light SSW.

A Richard’s Pipit found on the downs today just outside the Cholsey Parish boundary by Roger Wyatt. Only about 1 mile (as the Crow flies) from Lollingdon Hill (where a spring bird was found in 2017 that stayed for all of 15 minutes). This is the first twitchable one since the one in 2002, also found by Roger on the downs. This species is an Oxfordshire county rarity (4th or 5th county record?).

As for Lollingdon it was a reasonably quiet time out there today. The 2 Stonechat still present on the hill but very mobile.

A Raven disturbed whilst bathing in a trough and flew off rather quickly around the hill and appeared again flying south east.

4 Lapwing seen flying north, a single Goldcrest and Reed Bunting also on the hill. Little else noted.

A Merlin seen on Cholsey Hill yesterday. Per Brian Wyatt.

Dragonflies: 3 Common Darter.

Butterflies: a single Red Admiral.

Richard's Pipit (courtesy Roger Wyatt)

 Common Darter

Dunnock

Stonechats

 Goldfinch (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Buzzard

Thrushes dominant

Cloudy with a few sunny spells, 12°, light SE.

Not a great deal of variety around today! Plenty of “Winter Thrushes” around with in excess of 200 Fieldfare and 50+ Redwing scattered around Lollingdon.

A single Kestrel on the hill, 2 Yellowhammer and a single Reed Bunting and the usual Skylark and Meadow Pipit out in the fields and a single Raven over.

A single Herring Gull mixed in with the Gull flock out on recently worked fields and a few more Pied Wagtail around.

22 Goldfinch on the garden feeders yesterday. The biggest count yet!

Butterflies: a single Large White and 2 Red Admiral seen that were flying quite strongly south west.

Fieldfare (above & below)

Redwing

Chilly end to October

Sunny, 8°, light NNE.

A bit chillier than of late and the 2 Stonechat still present on the hill along with a Green Woodpecker.

Elsewhere plenty of Fieldfare and Redwing, c50 Starling and a single Siskin flew over.

Several Jay, Pied Wagtail and a single Grey Wagtail present out at Lollingdon.

Unfortunately not a lot else of note.

Redwing (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Grey Wagtail

 Wren

Pied Wagtail

GSW

2 Great-spotted Woodpecker in the garden together, plus 2 Nuthatch.

Kingfisher

Kingfisher near Cholsey Marsh

(courtesy Alan Dawson)

Sleepy Hollow again

Following on from the "Headless Kite" we now have a "Headless Kestrel"

courtesy Alan Dawson

Halloween

We have the "Tailless" Red Kite around Cholsey and now the "Headless" Red Kite 😊. This Kite settled briefly on a tree in the garden and Loren was the first to react but it took off before we could get any decent shots. Halloween and Sleepy Hollow spring to mind 💀 .

Red Kite (courtesy Loren Chaplin)

Skylark (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Stonechat (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Inside looking out

Light cloud, 12°, light NW.

The 2 Stonechat still present on the hill today and some movement of Thrushes and Starling with approx. 300 Fieldfare, 20+ Redwing, 200+ Starling and a single Mistle Thrush.

Several Goldcrest seen around the hill and a single Chiffchaff present.

A mixed flock of Buntings also present with a mix of Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting and Corn Bunting. Approx. 40 birds in total.

Another flock of Yellowhammer out on the stubble fields of roughly 20 birds.

2 Herring Gull loafing on a recently worked field out at Little Lollingdon with c100 Lesser Blackback Gull and c150 Black-headed Gull.

Dragonflies: 1 Common Darter.

Wren, spider hunting.

 Fieldfare

 Reed Bunting

 Stonechat (above & below)

Peacock (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Stonechats again

Cloudy with a few bright spells, 14°, breezy WNW,

2 Stonechat still present on the hill today and a flock of approx. 50 Fieldfare, 3 Redwing and 20 Starling.

2 Raven flew south east after spending a couple of minutes mobbing a Buzzard.

A Kingfisher present around a nearby pond.

A Wheatear on Cholsey Hill yesterday (22/10). Per Brian Wyatt.

The “Tailess” Red Kite still being seen regularly over the village with at least 4 different sightings.

Dragonflies: 4 Common Darter.

Butterflies: a Comma. Per Alan Dawson.

Stonechat

 Fieldfare (above & below)

 Stonechat (above & below)

 Comma (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Common Darter

Otmoor

Sunny, 14°, light WNW.

A visit to Otmoor this afternoon, initially struck by the lack of wet areas presumably as a result of the dry summer and subsequently a lack of birds!

2 Marsh Harrier seen quartering the reed beds and the odd Red Kite and Buzzard overhead.

Very few duck species seen, Mallard, Teal and Wigeon were the only ones noted and a few Common Snipe were the only waders.

Everything was quite distant so a lot of cropping on the photos.

A Cetti’s Warbler heard and quite a few Starling coming in presumably to roost but did not stay ‘til too late.

first 4 photos courtesy Loren.

 No Duck

2 Duck

A few Duck

 Common Darter

 Wigeon & Common Snipe

 Marsh Harrier (above & below)