very little going on

Mainly cloudy, 10°, breezy SW.

Rather quiet for the last few days with little of note.

A flock of Lapwing over Cholsey Hill and a distant Barn Owl and the usual “Winter Thrushes” all over.

A Grey Wagtail and Herring Gull, Bunk line but little else.

Alan & Paul.

Lapwing courtesy Alan

Kinda quiet

Sunshine and showers, 12°, light SSE.

Another fairly quiet day with the river and Bunk line covered.

The Gull flock has dispersed with most on a recently ploughed field on Cholsey hill and the rest scattered in various fields elsewhere incl 2 Herring Gull hanging around CSW.

A couple of Chiffchaff still around, 5 Siskin, Common Snipe, several Teal, a couple of Grey Wagtail, 8 Pied Wagtail accompanying a small cattle herd, Sparrowhawk and Raven.

Alan & Paul.

Still a little quiet

Cloudy at first then a few sunny spells, 14°, light SSW.

A quietish day again. Alan reported the river area as very quiet with just a Sparrowhawk worthy of note.

Bunk line also quiet, a Little Owl heard calling, a Treecreeper and the usual Gull flock loafing in one of the fields, c400 birds.

Lollingdon also proved quiet, however a Barn Owl seen being harried by a Red Kite. The Owl eventually dived thru a hedge and lost its pursuer. A Raven over and a Grey Wagtail present and 2 Common Snipe on a flooded field.

Mammals: Brown Hare, Stoat and some long dead remains that looked like a Polecat.

Dragonflies: at least one Common Darter still on the wing.

Both pics courtesy Alan

Buzzard

Lesser Blackback Gull

A mild one

Overcast with later sunny spells, 16°, light SSW.

Unseasonably mild today and relatively little to show for it.

Alan along the river and seemingly quiet. A Mandarin Duck on the river, “Winter Thrushes” evident plus Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush, Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff and the regulars.

Large numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing along the Bunk today with many coming from the Cholsey Hill area. 500-600 birds noted and 2 Sparrowhawk flew thru.

A Chiffchaff along Green Lane with a roving Tit flock and Fieldfare and Redwing in just about every bush.

A Grey Wagtail in the Church Road area.

Dragonflies: A Migrant Hawker along the river and a Common Darter, Green Lane.

Long-tailed Tit ↕

Great Tit

Shaggy Parasol

Egrets & Dragons

Sunny spells and the odd rain shower, 13°, breezy SW.

Relatively quiet out at Lollingdon today. 100+ Fieldfare on the hill plus a few Redwing and Starling.

Nearby 2 Little Egret, 2 Raven overhead, a Chiffchaff, a flock of 20+ Meadow Pipit and several Pied Wagtail and Skylark.

A Sparrowhawk visiting the garden again.

Dragonflies: at least 3 Common Darter still on the wing.

Butterflies: a single Brimstone.

Little Egret

find the Common Darter

Fieldfares & Redwings

Cloudy with occasional showers, 14°, light to breezy SSW.

Pretty quiet along the Bunk line today although plenty of Fieldfare and Redwing around. 2 Grey Heron, 2 Grey Wagtail, a Kestrel and around 200 Lesser Blackback and 20+ Black-headed Gull.

Garden very busy this afternoon with 2 Nuthatch, several Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit, a Great-spotted Woodpecker and a Treecreeper.

Butterflies: Yesterday, a Red Admiral, Green Lane and a Peacock, Brook Meadow.

Alan & Paul.

Getting colder

Cloudy with some sunshine, 12°, light WNW.

The Long Ditch, Lollingdon and Bunk line covered today.

Kingfisher, Peregrine, Reed Bunting, 4 Stonechat, 5 Siskin, 3 Redpoll, 4 Grey Wagtail (incl 1 in the garden), Sparrowhawk, 2 Kestrel, 2 Chiffchaff and good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing. Several Skylark and a few Yellowhammer, Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail.

Dragonflies: a single Common Darter.

Paul & Alan.

Siskin courtesy Alan ↕

Buzzard courtesy Alan

Stonechat courtesy Alan

A couple from the garden. Grey Wagtail (above) & Dunnock, Wren & Blue Tit (below)

All quiet

Mostly cloudy, 14°, breezy SSW.

Not a lot today out at Lollingdon: 2 Stonechat on the hill,100+ Fieldfare and 30’ish Redwing, a single Chiffchaff and a Raven over was about it.

Only other thing of interest was a Stoat hunting.

October out with a whimper

Cloudy, 16°, light SE.

A pretty quiet one today with both out along the Bunk line.

The usual Winter Thrushes of c100 Redwing and 20+ Fieldfare now regularly seen, plus a Sparrowhawk carrying prey, 2 Kestrel, 2 Grey Heron, a Chiffchaff, Grey Wagtail, 100+ Lesser Blackback Gull, 2 Herring Gull and 20’ish Black-headed Gull.

The usual commoner Finches and a few Yellowhammer.

On the walk back I noticed a flock of Wood Pigeon and Gulls on Cholsey hill take to the air and managed to pick out a male Peregrine swooping thru. Didn’t take anything and continued flying towards Wittenham Clumps.

The Ring-necked Parakeet still present around the Station Road Allotments.

Grey Wagtail courtesy Alan

Some of todays Fungi

Quietish

Sunny periods, 17°, breezy SW.

A fairly quiet hill today, the 2 Stonechat still present and a few BOP’s over. 2 Buzzard, 5 Red Kite, 2 Sparrowhawk and 2 Kestrel.

Nearby, a Chiffchaff, a few good-sized flocks of Linnet, Chaffinch and Goldfinch, numbers of Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and Skylark and a flock of c30 Redwing and a handful of Fieldfare.

Alan along the river: 2 Stonechat, Chiffchaff, Kingfisher, Siskin, Meadow Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Mistle Thrush and Nuthatch.

Dragonflies: 7 Common Darter, incl 2 pairs ovipositing plus Common Darter and Migrant Hawker along the river.

Butterflies: a single Speckled Wood Lollingdon and Peacock and Red Admiral along the river.

Common Darters ovipositing

Stonechat ↕

male Common Darter

RNP

Mainly sunny, 18°, light SSW.

A phone call from Tony Williams this morning alerting me to a Ring-necked Parakeet (Rose-ringed Parakeet) on the Station Road allotments.

An immature (?) bird was present and moving between gardens in Sandy Lane and the allotments.

I was in no hurry to see this bird so I didn’t turn up until around midday and ended up not seeing it. However, Alan was present and had managed a few photos and a video grab. It may well still be in the area as there is plenty of fruit around.

Fortunately a scarce species in Cholsey as they are noisy and competitive with native species.

Loren laughed at me when I said I would take a look, as when she lived in Surrey, she had hundreds flyover every day. Common as muck!

also a Jay present nearby.  

Butterflies: a well-worn Painted Lady found by Jane Dawson on the allotments.

Quiet and windy

A windy day with sunny spells, 15°. Breezy SSW.

A generally quiet time along the Bunk line today. A couple of Grey Heron and Kestrel, 2 Chiffchaff, a few Siskin flyovers, c100 Fieldfare, a handful of Redwing and c300 Gulls. The Gulls were mainly Lesser Blackback Gull with c20 Black-headed Gull. May have been another species present but too distant for ID.

Great-spotted Woodpecker in the garden

Lollingdon

Cloudy with sunny periods and a few rain showers, 15°, breezy SW.

A busy hill and both of us out there at different times today, 4 Stonechat present hawking insects along the fence line and 500+ Fieldfare over. Most flying over heading south towards the downs and some stopped to feed on the Hawthorn berries.

A single, late House Martin flew south east and 2 Raven over.

Good numbers of Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Pied Wagtail, including a possible White Wagtail.

One Wagtail stood out for me as having no discernible black on the head or throat and was a pale looking bird compared to others in the flock.

The flock flew before I could get a photo.

Alan went later to the same site and photographed another bird which appears to be a possible White Wagtail also.

There are no documented records of White Wagtail in Cholsey as far as I am aware. Quite probably overlooked as they are a regular continental migrant thru the UK.

the so called British Pied Wagtail "yarrellii" is a sub-species of White Wagtail "alba".

Addition: Having since consulted with Ian Lewington it is probable that the pic below is a female Pied Wagtail as the plumage detail is not conclusive for a White Wagtail. Often a difficult species to id conclusively in autumn.

2+ Chiffchaff, a Goldcrest, Little Owl, Little Egret, Grey Wagtail, 30+ Redwing, 2 Jay, 2 Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, 14 Yellowhammer and a flock of c40 Linnet and 20+ Chaffinch.

Alan found a Mandarin Duck on the river on the 21st.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Migrant Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Clouded Yellow (22nd Oct, per Alan).

Fieldfares

Possible "White" Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba) courtesy Alan

Grey Wagtail courtesy Alan

Stonechat

Raven

Mandarin Duck courtesy Alan

Solo

Rain at first then sunny, 15°, light SW.

Alan out today along the river and Green lane. Plenty of Fieldfare and Redwing around now, plus Teal, Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff, 2+ Redpoll and a Raven overhead.

All photos courtesy Alan

Teal

Common Buzzard

Redpoll

Fieldfare

VizMig

Sunny ’ish, 16°. Breezy ENE.

A lot of chatter on WhatsApp this morning regarding “VizMig” (visible migration) of mainly Thrushes and Finches in Oxfordshire and further afield. E.g. an estimated 350,000 Redwing over Westenschouwen in the Netherlands today.

Alan was already out and confirmed this. I couldn’t make it ‘til this afternoon and also noted movement of birds.

So both along the Bunk line at different times and Alan along the river later in the day.

Rough figures of 200+ Redwing, up to 100 Fieldfare, 100+ Starling, 5 Redpoll and a hint of Skylark all moving south to south west. Not a lot compared to some sites, but that’ll do.

Redwing and the odd Song Thrush heard passing overhead after dark this evening.  

At one point about 350 Gulls and Corvids all took to the air. They had been following a plough.

A look skyward produced a Peregrine that soared high over me and continued north. Eventually all the birds settled back down behind the plough.

A few Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer present, plus a single Grey Heron and Chiffchaff.

The river produced a few more Fieldfare over plus Chiffchaff, Grey Wagtail and Kingfisher.

As an observation not bird related. The local farm was cutting the hedge (or rather hacking it) along the Bunk line today (a bit early!) when I noticed the arm of the mechanism was caught on the overhead telephone wires. I tried to warn the driver but as he moved forward the line snapped and he has presumably cut some residents off from the telephone service.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Peregrine Falcon

Redpolls courtesy Alan