From the office window

Cloudy with drizzly rain later, 8°, light SW.

Waited in for a delivery today so did not venture out, however the garden and meadow were quite busy with a Little Egret and a Grey Heron both fishing in the brook and making occasional appearances.

Usual Nuthatch (2), Coal Tit, Treecreeper and Great-spotted Woodpecker (2) all visiting along with the other regulars.

Quiet locally and a nearby Raven

Sunny’ ish, 8°, light NW.

Another fairly quiet day out at Lollingdon. A flock of 47 Corn Bunting, c50 Meadow Pipit, a mixed flock of 200+ Starling and Fieldfare, several Redwing and 6 Pied Wagtail.

A flock of around 100 Lapwing flew in and settled nearby.

A male Sparrowhawk ripped thru the garden mid-afternoon panicking everything present, including the Squirrels.

A Raven in Wallingford Yesterday. courtesy Alan Dawson.

Quiet times

A sunny day with variable cloud, 5°, breezy N.

Even quieter than yesterday, however still a few bits out and about.

The 2 Stonechat still on the hill and a male Blackcap seen out at Lollingdon feeding around some Ivy that was in full sun.

A female Blackcap in garden. Per TW.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Stonechats & Little Egret

Sunny, 8°, breezy NW.

Fairly quiet out there today, 2 Stonechat still wintering on the hill and a distant Little Egret in fields to the north.

A thin scattering of Fieldfare and Redwing and the odd Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting and a single Kestrel.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Stonechats

 Little Egret

Bullfinch

Bullfinch courtesy Alan Dawson.

Moorhens

I was out in the garden after dark last night topping up the bird feeders and I could hear a Moorhen calling overhead.

The calling and the movement of the bird lasted for around 5 minutes. Judging by the calls it flight was straddling the brook by approx. 50m each way.

This led me to believe that they are coming into breeding condition as the nocturnal flight is usually a territorial/mating display.

Today there was a confrontation of Moorhens in the garden. We usually have up to 5 Moorhens visiting but these 2 became very aggressive to each other. A brief fight ensued and a lengthy chase around the garden and in to the brook.

The dominant male presumably asserting his authority.

Apologies for the quality of the pics.

Stonechats & Ravens

A frosty start with sunshine, 2°, light WNW.

The hill was buzzing this morning, the 2 Stonechat still present along with c100 Fieldfare, 120+ Starling, 2 Mistle Thrush, 6+ Redwing, 50+ Meadow Pipit, 5 Pied Wagtail, 3 Reed Bunting, 5 Yellowhammer and a Corn Bunting.

A couple of Raven around Lollingdon and 5 Teal out on one of the floods and a couple of Lapwing flew over.

A Grey Heron near Little Lollingdon. Per Bill Nicholls.

2 Little Egret yesterday. Per Alan Dawson.

20+ Golden Plover on Cholsey hill yesterday. Per Gerry Quinn.

Stonechat

Raven

 Stonechat

Fieldfare

Reed Bunting

A mix

A mix of photos today from Bill Nicholls taken on some recent walks.

 A Brown Trout in Cholsey brook

 Snowdrops in flower in the churchyard

A couple of Rabbits taking advantage of the sunshine today

Song Thrush & Redwing

Another overcast day, 8°, light NNW.

The Song Thrush and several Redwing in the garden today taking the few Hawthorn berries that are left.

All along the Watchtower

Photographed by Loren on her way to work this morning

2019 off to a reasonable start

Overcast, 5°, light NNW.

A Little Egret seen today on the way out to Lollingdon and appeared to drop down near Amwell Spring.

The hill hosted around 100 Fieldfare and a flock of c50 Meadow Pipit for a time before moving off over the top. Several Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer around the hill and a single Corn Bunting. A small flock of c20 Pied Wagtail feeding out with the Sheep.

A few more Fieldfare and Redwing scattered around the Lollingdon area, a Goldcrest, Grey Heron, Kestrel, a couple of Jay, 2 Bullfinch and several Starling amongst other species.

A Brambling in a private garden. Per Alan Dawson.

2 Blackcap in TW’s garden and 2 Chiffchaff at CSW.

The flock of c60 Golden Plover still around Cholsey Hill.

Brambling (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Happy New Year

Happy New Year 

We would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year from Cholsey Wildlife.

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the blog regularly for 2018, Loren Chaplin, Alan Dawson, Tony Rayner and Richard Broughton for their photos and observations and Tony Williams, Phil Dyson, Ed Munday, Mike Amphlett and Gerry Quinn for their observations in Cholsey this year. Apologies for anyone I have forgotten to mention.

Any information, observations and questions regarding the Flora & Fauna of Cholsey are welcome, so please contact us on the email addresses on the Blog or Facebook. Thank you.

Garden visitor

Turned up Saturday afternoon and made it up on the roof.

Merlin, Stonechat & Green Sandpiper

Variable cloud with some sunshine, 9°, light W.

2 Stonechat still present on the hill today but quite elusive. A singing Corn Bunting, c20 Meadow Pipit a mobile flock of c200 Starling and c100 Fieldfare also around the hill area.

Scattered flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing elsewhere and a single Lapwing noted.

A Merlin flew overhead near Little Lollingdon and several Yellowhammer and a Kestrel around.

A dead Buzzard found in a ditch surrounded by a lot of white feathers (poss Little Egret). Can only speculate what happened there!

C60 Golden Plover on Cholsey Hill and 2 Herring Gull in the field opposite the Church.

2 Nuthatch, a Coal Tit, a Treecreeper and a Great-spotted Woodpecker in the garden today along with several other visiting species. And several Black-headed Gull feeding in the meadow.

A Green Sandpiper heard flying over the garden at 17:00.

A Mistle Thrush singing regularly in the meadow mainly at dawn and dusk.

 Stonechat

Robin

Remains of a Buzzard and a number of white feathers?

Christmas day with Fungi etc

A walk around Wittenham Wood today produced some interesting Fungi, lichens etc, nothing outstanding but pretty good none the less.

Just a few pics of what we found. All photos courtesy Loren Chaplin.