A Butterfly Day

Sunny, 14°, light NE.

Alan out early along the Bunk line this morning with me a little later.

2 Common Redstart (M&F) near CSW but not seen later in the day.

A Common Whitethroat, 2 Willow Warbler, 3 Blackcap, c20 Fieldfare, 1 Redwing, 2 Lapwing, a Little Owl, 4 Swallow, a single Meadow Pipit, 2 Herring Gull, 2 Lesser Blackback Gull and c20 Black-headed Gull.

A Willow Warbler singing in the garden mid-afternoon.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

As the weather has started warming up more butterflies are starting to appear.

Brimstone, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Comma & Peacock.

Red Admiral

Peacock courtesy Alan

Comma courtesy Alan

Small Tortoiseshell courtesy Alan

Orange Tip courtesy Alan

Brimstone courtesy Alan

Redstart & Badger

Sunshine, 12°, light NE.

Alan out at Cholsey Marsh this morning with roughly the same as on previous days, no new arrivals.

This afternoon along the Bunk line he found a male and female Redstart. A good find.

An unusual occurrence this afternoon. Was alerted by a neighbour that we had a Badger in the garden.

When I went down to check I noticed that the Badger had an injury to its lower back. May have been grazed by a vehicle or even attacked by a dog?

It was obviously disorientated and frightened but very mobile and it went under the fence and into a neighbouring garden and disappeared despite further searching. So I hope it is okay!

Still quiet

Sunny intervals, 10°, light NE.

Alan out early along the Marsh this morning: Common Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Reed Bunting, Treecreeper and Sparrowhawk.

I walked out to Lollingdon Hill and that was absolutely dead. 2 Kestrel present and that was it!

Just the usual bits and pieces along the way.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Butterflies: a single Small Tortoiseshell.

A couple of Dark-edged Bee-fly.

A quiet day

Sunny intervals, 10°, light NNE.

A fairly quiet day with a slow trickle of Swallow moving thru.

Alan was down on the Marsh early this morning with a Barn Owl hunting over and just a single Common Whitethroat present still.

Also Cetti’s Warbler, Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Kingfisher etc. then later out at Lollingdon where 12 Fieldfare were around.

The Bunk line today was also somewhat quiet with a few Swallow and Sand Martin feeding over the gravel pit. A pair of Lapwing present and the usual Little Owl and 4 Jay.

Hopefully when this northerly airflow disappears we should start getting more migrant sightings!

A single Brimstone butterfly seen.

Common Whitethroat courtesy Alan

Jay ↕

Bee-Fly & Pasque flower

 A couple of pics of a Dark-edged Bee-fly from Alan today. And a Pasque flower from a nearby site. Pasque flower is now a rare plant in the UK and classed as vulnerable on the "Red Data List". Restricted to a few chalk and Limestone grasslands. 

It flowers around Easter and is known a the "Anemone of Passiontide"

Milder at last!

Sunny intervals, 12°, light NNE.

The male Common Redstart still present on Lollingdon Hill along with a single Wheatear, 2 Kestrel, at least 3 Corn Bunting singing, 2 Blackcap and a couple of Yellowhammer.

A Little Owl and 2 Redwing present nearby and a single Swallow overhead.

A Willow Warbler singing near the Bullshole.  

Alan reports the usual stuff on the Marsh and a few Swallow moving thru and our first Common Whitethroat of the year.

2 Tufted Duck on the gravel pit yesterday . Per Alan.

Butterflies: a few on the wing today, Brimstone, Orange Tip, Peacock and Comma.

Kestrel

Wheatear

Sedge Warbler courtesy Alan ↕

Common Redstart

April Snow

Snow at first then sunny spells, 8° max, light NNW.

Well, was not expecting snow! A few centimetre cover early this morning but soon thawed by midday.

A walk out to Lollingdon with snow cover on the way out and all thawed on the way back. Quite a contrast.

The male Common Redstart still present on the hill but keeping in the Hawthorns on the top of the hill.

5 Wheatear also present but appeared to have moved off by the time the snow thawed and a Willow Warbler and Blackcap in song.

A handful of Fieldfare and Redwing present along with 3+ Corn Bunting, a few Meadow Pipit and a good number of Skylark. A female Sparrowhawk flew high south.

A Chiffchaff that has been present on the hill for a couple of weeks is singing a little different from the norm. Instead of the usual chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff etc. this one is singing chiff-chaff-chuff. Chiff-chaff-chuff etc.

Alan out along the Marsh and river: Cetti’s Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler, Blackcap, Treecreeper, Grey Wagtail and few Swallow.

Lollingdon Hill, snow cover then 2.5 hours later. Gone.

Redstart courtesy Alan (photographed at a nearby site)

Mistle Thrush

A couple of naff pics of Wheatear in the snow ↕

Redstart & Wheatear

Sunny spells with wintry showers, 8°, light NW.

Male Redstart and 3 Wheatear on Lollingdon Hill. Per Alan.

Sadly the Redstart too distant and elusive for a pic.

Wheatear & Reed Bunting courtesy Alan

Ring Ouzel & Wheatear

Cloudy with rain showers, 7°, light NW.

A Ring Ouzel and 3 Wheatear on Lollingdon Hill this morning found by Alan. Unfortunately they did not linger and soon disappeared over the top not be seen again.

Another visit by Alan this afternoon and 5 Wheatear present on the hill but no sign of the Ouzel.

Ring Ouzel taken out at Lollingdon 2017

Wheatear from today courtesy Alan

Migrants ramping up

Sunny at first then clouding up, 11°, light to breezy SW.

Looks as though migration is ramping up a little now the weather has changed with 3 of us out today and 2 new species for the year: A Yellow Wagtail and a House Martin.

Today’s records from Michael Pocock:

“A very long walk today right up to the rather quiet downs in the sunshine, but a range of sightings: Sedge and 1 Cetti’s Warbler on the Marsh, 1 Willow Warbler on Moulsford Downs, 3 Wheatear at Lollingdon, plus 2 Fieldfare and 1 Swallow through and 2 Willow Warbler in green lane.”

Alan’s records from today:

Morning: Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Snipe and Water Rail on the Marsh and a couple of Swallow.

Afternoon: A Yellow Wagtail at CSW and c25 Fieldfare and a single Redwing and a singing Willow Warbler Bunk line.

Several Swallow, a couple of Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail and another Yellow Wagtail, Linnet, Yellowhammer, 2 Herring Gull and Sparrowhawk near the Gravel pit area.

I took a walk out to Lollingdon and back: a Common Redstart that didn’t stay too long, 4 Fieldfare and 3-4 Corn Bunting on the Hill and 2 Raven and 2 Lesser Blackback Gull overhead, a Willow Warbler nearby and another in Whitehead Meadow, 3 Blackcap, and several singing Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer and a handful of Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail in the Little Lollingdon area.

Good numbers of Chiffchaff in song, a Goldcrest singing along Cholsey Brook, 2 Swallow feeding over CSW and a House Martin flew over Church road.

Mammals: Brown Hare & Roe Deer.

Butterflies: a few Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock on the wing and a Small White in the garden.

Yellow Wagtail taken on Alan's phone.

Linnet courtesy Alan

Fieldfare courtesy Alan

Jackdaw in the garden

Yellowhammer

Robin

Winter still with us

Cloudy, 5°, light NW. Yesterday: Sunny but cold with rain/sleet/snow, 5°, breezy NW.

The last few days have been like a return to winter as the above denotes.

Migration appears to be held up with a few summer visitors struggling to find food after arriving and winter visitors waiting for the winds to change.

All areas have been relatively quiet with Lollingdon, Cholsey Marsh/River and Bunk line areas covered between Alan and myself.

Bunk line today held a small flock of Thrushes with 36 Fieldfare, 3 Redwing and a small flock of c20 Starling.

5 Swallow and 2 Sand Martin feeding low over the gravel pit. I got the impression they were under the banking in the lee of the wind trying to hunt flying insects.

At least 1 Siskin (pos 2+) with a flock of c30 Goldfinch in trees along Green lane.

Sedge Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Swallow, Sand Martin, Little Owl, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Corn Bunting, Linnet plus all the usual suspects noted over the last few days.

The Church road Rookery have youngsters in the nests!

Redwing

Fieldfare

Skylark ↕ courtesy Alan

Fieldfare

Fieldfare & Starling

A brief return to Winter?

Sunny with a few light snow/sleet flurries, 7°, breezy NNW.

A very quiet morning out at Lollingdon today with a cold wind and a few light snow flurries.

A Raven flew over Lollingdon hill and a few Chiffchaff and Blackcap nearby.

Alan had better luck along the Bunk line with several Sand Martin and Swallow feeding over the gravel pit.

All in all a quiet day.

Swallow courtesy Alan

Weekend catchup

Cloudy yesterday but Sunny today, max 15°, light W.

"Quite a few" Sedge Warbler found on Cholsey Marsh this morning by Alan.

Cetti’s Warbler, Blackcap and Chiffchaff in song, also present on the Marsh.

A single Siskin flew over the allotments yesterday.

A Short-eared Owl on Cholsey Downs on the 2nd. Per Alan.

A Smooth Newt found by Angie Regan in their garden yesterday and several Grass Snake and Slow-worm in Tony Rayner’s garden.

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

Smooth Newt courtesy Angie Regan

Short-eared Owl courtesy Alan

Migration slowed

Sunny spells, 10°, breezy NW.

Migration appears to have slowed as a stiff north westerly wind sets in. still quite a few Swallow battling thru with 1 over Lollingdon Hill this morning, 5 feeding over CSW later and a couple more moving north along the Bunk line.

A reasonable passage of Swallow later in the day out at Lollingdon with 5-6 waves of 4-5 birds. (Per Alan).

2 Raven south over Lollingdon Hill and a Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel present.

The usual Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting and the occasional Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail around the Little Lollingdon area.

Generally quiet all round for summer migrants today but Chiffchaff still quite vocal in multiple spots.

2 Lapwing still present in the Bunk line area and a Sparrowhawk. (Per Alan).

A few butterflies on the wing in sheltered spots with both Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell.

Buzzard & Sparrowhawk

Help for Swifts

 Thank you to Paul Wren for permission to publish the following article.

It’s fair to say Swifts numbers have plummeted, a 53% decline between 1995 and 2016.

Lack of or loss of nest sites is a large factor in this.

Putting up nest boxes or retro fitting S Bricks is an easy way to help them.

Birds returning in early May will return to previous nest sites, however younger birds returning later in May and right through July can be attracted to the sites you provide.

Delivery of new Swift boxes

Playing the correct attraction call is crucial and greatly increases your chances.

Adding a timer allows for flexibility.

There are two main sites that will give you all the information you need. https://swift-conservation.org/ 

'Screaming parties of Swifts for me are the sound of summer. A bird worth trying to help ?

I certainly believe so.'

Paul Wren.

How to get involved.

Oxford City Swift Survey Volunteers

Help reverse the serious decline in Swift numbers. Oxford Swift City Group is recruiting volunteers to survey swift nest sites in Oxford City this summer. Just one hour twice a month during May, June and July. Training will be provided.

If interested contact: OxfordSwiftCity@rspb.org.uk

Many thanks,

Colm Ó Caomhánaigh
Joint Coordinator, Oxford Swift City Group.

Maybe this initiative could be widened to include groups throughout Oxfordshire? (PC).