Slow but sure

Sunny at first then clouding up by midday, 9°, light E.

A few firsts for the year today as migration is slow but sure.

A Common Redstart briefly on the hill but disappeared over the top and a Common Whitethroat present.

A small flock of approx. 20 Corn Bunting flew through and at least 3 regulars present and singing.

6 Buzzard and 10 Red Kite soaring high over the hill in the morning sunshine.

Nearby a Willow Warbler in song and a young Little Owl seen together with an adult.

Both Chiffchaff and Blackcap frequent and a few Meadow Pipit present.

A few Yellowhammer between the village and Lollingdon and 2 singing Goldcrest along Church road.

A good flock of Hirundines over the Sewage works around midday with 20+ House Martin, c10 Swallow and 3 Sand Martin. And a House Martin seen by Tony Rayner yesterday over his garden.

2 Willow Warbler, 1 Blackcap, lots of Swallow and House Martin at Cholsey sewage works. Per Alan Dawson.

A pair of Stock Dove considering a nest site in the garden.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Butterflies: Large White (per TR), Green-veined White, several Small Tortoiseshell and a Peacock.

Moths: another first for Cholsey, a Blossom Underwing. (Per TR).

Insects: Black Oil Beetle and Dark-edged Bee-fly.

Common Whitethroat

 Willow Warbler (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Stock Doves

Blossom Underwing

White Stork in Cholsey & Benson or was it Shillingford?

A murky and wet day, 10°, light NE.

A very different day today. I got back from Lollingdon this afternoon feeling quite damp after walking back in the rain.

After drying off I fired up my laptop and saw an email from Stephen Haigh with a photo attached asking if it was a Stork.

I downloaded the pic and enhanced it a bit and indeed it was a White Stork photographed over the Vets yesterday.

Shortly after I noticed a FB post by Michi Laxton to the Benson Nature Group saying he had spotted a White Stork in a Field opposite the Benson Café.

(Was it in Benson or Shillingford?).

Putting 2 & 2 together I thought I’d better alert someone, so I phoned Tom Stevenson of the BNG and he went to check it out and about 30 minutes later he had confirmed that there was a White Stork there.

At that point I phoned a few people to alert them to the news and managed to get a lift over myself with Alan Dawson to see it.

We arrived onsite at around 15:30 and saw the bird almost immediately in a field on the other side of the river.

In the time we were watching it up to around 20 people managed to get there to see it and eventually it flew off to the NW at approx. 16:40.

Whilst watching the bird both Geoff Wyatt and Badger noted it had a green ring on its right leg with the code Z9404.

Now this is where tech comes in to play, Geoff Wyatt made a call to Ian Lewington and between them and Badger we found out that the bird had been ringed in Poland in 2011 and had subsequently been sent to and rehabilitated in Norfolk after flying into some overhead cables and sustaining an injury. It and another had then escaped and is now flying free.

Not sure if it has been staying in the UK or migrating south each year and it had been seen in Oxfordshire in 2017 on Otmoor.

This is the 2nd record of White Stork for Cholsey, the 1st being 5 on Cholsey Hill on the 26th April 2012.

Whilst there I saw a small flock of around a dozen Sand Martin flyby, a Kingfisher and a Willow Warbler.

Back to this morning there was a female Wheatear on the Hill and around 10 Swallow appeared from the murk with several staying to feed flying around amongst the sheep.

Several Chiffchaff and Blackcap noted but little else.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

 The original and cropped photo of the Stork over Cholsey yesterday (courtesy Stephen Haigh)

 7 photos of the White Stork in Benson/Shillingford today. the last but 2 taking an earthworm and the last one of it flying off.

 A couple of rubbish shots of Swallows feeding around the sheep.

A quiet Saturday

Cloudy, 10°, light NE.

A Wheatear on Lollingdon hill today. Per Alan Dawson.

A Swallow over the village this afternoon and the "Tail-less" Red Kite over the allotments.

A Grey Wagtail singing by Church road Bridge. Per Richard Broughton.

Female Wheatear above and Great-crested Grebe below. Both photos courtesy Alan Dawson.

Very few migrants in so far

A cloudy day, 10°, moderate SSE.

A breezy morning with nothing on the hill today. A single Lesser Blackback Gull flew south and a Little Owl nearby.

Several Chiffchaff and a couple of Blackcap in song and not much else.

2 Swallow feeding over Cholsey Sewage Works, a Sparrowhawk and 2 Herring Gull present.

12+ Swallow seen later over CSW. Per Alan Dawson.

A single Swallow seen flying across Halfpenny Lane earlier in the week by Tony Williams.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Treecreeper +

an excellent photo of a Treecreeper by Alan Dawson. Seen on Cholsey Marsh yesterday.

The "tail-less" Red Kite seen near Cholsey Station yesterday. Per J&P Shearer.

Cetti's Warbler on Cholsey Marsh today and a few Chiffchaff. Per Phil Dyson.

A few migrants

Cloudy at first then rain, 7°, light WNW.

An interesting morning out there today.

A few things of note on the walk out to Lollingdon, several Chiffchaff, a few Yellowhammer, 3 Blackcap and a couple of Song Thrush in song and the first Willow Warbler of the year near Little Lollingdon.

On arrival I started scanning one of the large meadows out at Lollingdon when the rain started coming down rather heavy. I moved under a tree to get cover from the worst of the rain and shortly after I heard a Common Whitethroat give a few brief snatches of song from the other side of the hedge. I went round to the other side just in time to see it fly further down the hedgerow towards Amwell Spring. As I followed it along the hedge I then heard a Sedge Warbler start singing from the ditch nearby. I didn’t manage to locate the Sedge Warbler.

It led me to wonder whether the sudden onset of heavy rain had grounded the migrants passing overhead?

Just to reinforce that, a flock of Thrushes arrived in the same field, 60+ Fieldfare, 10+ Redwing and c6 Song Thrush.

Little on the Hill apart from a singing Corn Bunting and a couple of Yellowhammer.

The Little Owl seen again sheltering in the hollow of a broken bough.

No photos from me today as the camera didn’t come out to play due to the rain!

Mammals: Brown Hare.

A few photos from Alan Dawson from Monday.

Peacock

 Brimstone

Speckled Wood

31st March: Pagham Harbour

Sunday 31st March, Sunny spells, 10°, fresh NE.

A sunny day with a biting onshore wind at Pagham Harbour West Sussex.

Mainly a day of waders, however the tide was out and most were quite distant.

Not many passerines present but a couple of Willow Warbler, several Chiffchaff and Blackcap were apparent.

Back to the waders: at least 12 Avocet present on the Ferry pool, approx. 80 Black-tailed Godwit, elsewhere, several Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, and a single Little Ringed Plover.

Amongst the many Gulls present were 2 Mediterranean Gull and up to 4 Sandwich Tern.

Shelduck, Shoveler, Teal and Wigeon were notable duck species around.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock.

Redshank video (courtesy Loren)

 Avocet

 Shoveler

 Teal

 Black-tailed Godwit

 Redshank

 Curlew

Oystercatcher

Tufted Duck & Orange Tip

A couple of photos from Alan over the weekend

A pair of Tufted Duck, Cholsey Meadows.

Orange Tip

Garden helper and Blackcaps arrive

Sunny, 17°, light W.

Some gardening to do today and our little helper appeared.

Photos courtesy Loren

A Holly Blue and several Brimstone in the garden.

A Green-veined White in TR’s garden today. 

At least 6 Blackcap singing on Cholsey Marsh today plus a Cetti’s Warbler present. Per Alan Dawson.

Spring has nearly sprung

Sunny, 15°, light S.

a beautiful sunny day and expecting more but not quite there yet.

A single Wheatear on the hill today and a singing Corn Bunting.

The Little Owl still loafing around out at Lollingdon but not easy to find.

An increase in the number of singing Chiffchaff with 12 noted between the village and Lollingdon Hill.

Not really that much else of note.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Reptiles: first Common Lizard of the year with 2 seen.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Orange Tip, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock. Plus Holly Blue & Small White (per TR).

Insects: 2 Black Oil Beetle and Dark-edged Bee-fly.

Dark-edged Bee-fly

Wheatear

Coal Tit

Skylark

A nice photo of a Skylark by Alan Dawson.

Their distinctive flight song can be heard frequently at the moment.

Blackcap

Sunny intervals, 12°, light NNW.

A visit by a male Blackcap to the garden this morning. I am assuming it is one of the overwintering birds that is still around rather than a newly arrived migrant.

Several species singing in the garden today: Coal Tit, Treecreeper, Goldcrest, Song Thrush, Chiffchaff, Robin and Great Tit.

Wheatear again

A sunny day with variable cloud, 13°, light SW.

Not a lot to shout about today.

A single male Wheatear on the hill today and a flurry of Meadow Pipit flying over, approx. 30 birds in total. A Corn Bunting in song and a few Yellowhammer around.

The Little Owl nearby and a Grey Heron.

And of course the usual Chiffchaffs in song.

Most of the Gulls have left the farm land now, just a small flock of Black-headed Gull and a single Lesser Blackback Gull noted.

2 Song Thrush feeding in the garden at dusk.

Mammals: Roe Deer, a (Common) Pipistrelle flying at dusk again.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock.

Wheatear

Chiffchaff (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Little Owl

 Grey Heron

Roe Deer

Game of Crows………………continued.

Over the last 10 years I have been observing a pair of Carrion Crow that held a territory in Whitehead Meadow and the surrounding area (including the garden).

Any other Corvid (Rook, Jackdaw, Magpie etc.) that ventured to feed in their territory were quickly chased off.

It has not always been the same birds present over the years as at one point the male disappeared and was replaced by another male and I assume that this could have happened more than once and also maybe the female.

Most years only one young was raised with at least 2 years with no young.

Back in mid-December last year another pair of Crows appeared and there was a violent confrontation.

Since that time Crows have been markedly absent from the meadow and garden area with only minimal sightings and no aggression to other Corvids.

Subsequently other Corvids are now seen feeding regularly in the meadow and garden. The Church road Rookery is close to the garden and there is a small colony of Jackdaw nesting at the other end of the meadow and these seem to have the freedom to forage more openly in the area now.

Even a pair of Jay have moved in to the area this year and can be heard regularly nearby.

I am unsure of what has now happened, maybe the resident pair of Crows now have different territorial responsibilities due to another pair nearby, or have they been completely ousted?

But it obviously leaves a vacuum in this area for another pair of Crows. What has changed in the Corvid dynamics of the area?

All photos from the garden

 Carrion Crow

 The Fight

 Jackdaw

 Rook

 Magpie

Jay