Home to Lollingdon and back

Sunny, 20°, breezy WSW.

Lollingdon Hill pretty quiet, just 3 Kestrel hunting over.

Nearby, a flock of 25 Skylark plus a few more scattered around, 6 Yellowhammer, 8 Meadow Pipit. Nearer home, 2 Raven, a Jay, a Grey Heron, 2 Siskin, a Coal Tit, a Mistle Thrush and 6 Chiffchaff.

Dragonflies: a single Migrant Hawker and many Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma and Speckled Wood. Red Admiral has been very common this year and interesting to see 30+ in approx an hour all flying strongly south over the hill heading towards the downs.

Raven

At least 50 Common Darter ovipositing and flying around this drying area of mud and water

Shaggy Inkcap

Peacock courtesy Bill Nicholls

Comma sharing some Ivy with plenty of Ivy Bee

Pretty quiet

Cloudy with minimal sunshine, 17°, light WSW.

Very quiet along the Bunk line this afternoon. 2 Swallow and 5 House Martin over, plus 2 Chiffchaff, 3 Yellowhammer and 2 Grey Heron.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White, Large White, Comma and Red Admiral.

The 2 Herons

 

A good mix

Mainly cloudy with a few sunny spells, 17°, breezy WSW.

Lollingdon, The Lees and Long Ditch:

Common Snipe at 2 (1 & 5) locations, 1 Wheatear, 2 Stonechat, 8 Reed Bunting, 2-3 Corn Bunting and 10+ Yellowhammer, several Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, 6 Chiffchaff, a Peregrine and 14 Lapwing.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: 2 Migrant Hawker and many Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White and Red Admiral.

Arachnids: Garden Cross Spider.

P & A.

Garden Cross Spider

Stonechat courtesy Alan ↕

Pied Wagtail

Common Darter

Common Darter courtesy Alan

Red Admiral

Blue Tit

Grey Wagtail

Autumnal

Mainly sunny, 16°, breezy W.

Lollingdon. 2 Wheatear, Little Egret, Stonechat, Corn Bunting, several Meadow Pipit and Chiffchaff. Per Alan.

Yesterday out at Lollingdon c300 Meadow Pipit, numbers of Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Skylark and Finches. Per Tony Williams and 2 Common Snipe. Per Andy King.

A Stonechat at the Winterbrook end of Bunk. Per John Taylor.

Dragonfly: Cholsey Meadows. 5 pair of Willow Emerald Damsel, a Migrant Hawker and many Common Darter.

Butterflies: Red Admiral.

Willow Emeralds courtesy Alan

Wheatear courtesy Alan

September bows out..........quietly.

Mainly sunny, 18°, fresh W.

Very quiet out at Lollingdon today with just a handful of Swallow and House Martin over.

15+ Chiffchaff, 2 Common Snipe and a Grey Heron of note was just about it.

Dragonflies: close to 80 Common Darter with most frequenting a partially flooded field.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood and a single Meadow Brown.

With Ivy now flowering, lots of Ivy Bee around.

Comma

Red Admiral

Common Darter

A couple of record shots of the Snipe flying off.

Another Stonechat

Overcast, 17°, breezy SSW.

Lollingdon: a single Stonechat present on the hill today but little else.

9 Chiffchaff on the walk plus 6 Yellowhammer, 30+ Meadow Pipit, a Sparrowhawk and 2 Common Snipe.

A passage of 100+ Swallow and 40+ House Martin moving thru in sporadic flocks.

Alan covered the Bunk area with a Little Egret, a Blackcap, several Chiffchaff etc.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White, Red Admiral and Peacock.

Stonechat

A few of the Swallows on the move

Meadow Pipit courtesy Alan

Stonechat

Mainly cloudy, 18°, freshening SW.

A Green Sandpiper on a flood beside Wallingford Road early morning, then flew off. Per Michael Pocock.

Bunk Line this morning: another good passage of Hirundines, mainly House Martin this time with 25% Swallow. Approx. 200 birds.

A Stonechat (same bird Alan found Monday), 9 Chiffchaff, a Kingfisher, 3 Grey Heron, 19 Skylark (one flock), 40+ Meadow Pipit, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Kestrel, 2 Raven, a Green Woodpecker and 5 species of Finch including at least 1 Siskin heard overhead.

Alan along the river: 2 Common Sandpiper flying upstream, several Chiffchaff and numbers of Swallow and House Martin.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White, Red Admiral, Peacock & Speckled Wood.

A few different aspects of the Stonechat.

Lollingdon and the Bunk

Mainly sunshine, 20°, breezy SW.

A good passage of Hirundines today with excess of 300 birds over Lollingdon. A lot were not visible to the naked eye but regular scanning with binoculars revealed birds passing high overhead. Mainly Swallow but also good numbers of House Martin.

The hill was very quiet with only a Kestrel hunting.

Nearby, 10+ Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 3 Yellowhammer, 2 Jay, 30+ Meadow Pipit and 8 Skylark.

Alan found a Stonechat along the Bunk Line plus several Chiffchaff, a Sparrowhawk and a passage of Swallow and House Martin passing over.

Dragonflies: a single Emperor and many Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma and Speckled Wood.

Stonechat courtesy Alan

Back to Cholsey

Sunny, rain later, 15°, light W.

2 Redstart on the hill today. Per Tony Williams. Plus a good number of Swallow and House Martin over and several Meadow Pipit present.

3 Swallow, a Mistle Thrush and several Meadow Pipit over Church Road and a Grey Wagtail and 2 Pied Wagtail in the garden.

Dragonflies: Migrant Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Red Admiral & Peacock.

Grey Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Sea Birds

Overcast and rain showers, 18°. Fresh SW.

A very windy and sometimes very wet day to be returning home. Yet before setting off there was time for a 2.5-hour sea-watch and that proved very fruitful.

A numbers of watchers went to various spots around Portland Bill but a few (including myself) stayed and viewed from the Observatory.

A heavy sea and at times poor visibility made viewing a challenge at times but persistence paid off.

1 Great Shearwater, 2 Cory’s Shearwater, 1 Sooty Shearwater, 1 Manx Shearwater, 100+ Balearic Shearwater, 2 Arctic Skua, 1 Great Skua, 20+ Kittiwake, 1 Fulmar, 1 Auk sp and plenty of Gannet. No photos!

The sea rules the day

Overcast, 18°, fresh SW.

The high winds put paid to any birding on the land today so a sea-watch was order of the day.

The 4 hours between 07:00 and 11:00 were the most productive with, 34 Balearic Shearwater, 2 Cory’s Shearwater, 1 Manx Shearwater, 9 Arctic Skua, 1 Great Skua, 1 Long-tailed Skua, 21+ Kittiwake and numerous Gannet. A continued watch after 11:00 turned up very little.

All I heard in the garden was 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Blackcap plus a couple of Meadow Pipit, Raven and Little Owl nearby and saw a few Swallow milling around overhead considering whether to fly south. Fortunately, they turned back inland.

Butterflies: Red Admiral & Speckled Wood.

The view from the Observatory patio today where sea-watching takes place.

Portland & Abbotsbury

Cloudy at first then sunny, 18°, fresh WSW.

A sea-watch at Portland then a visit to Abbotsbury and a stop off at Ferrybridge on the return.

A breezy night with an electric storm at around 04:00, some rain then cloudy to start.

A 2 hour sea-watch produced a good number of Shearwaters and Skuas even though I missed the pick of the bunch of a Long-tailed Skua and Sooty Shearwater but I managed a few.

1 Great Skua, 8 Arctic Skua, c35 Balearic Shearwater, 1 Manx Shearwater, 20+ Kittiwake and 3 Common Scoter.

Overhead migration was minimal and only a few Chiffchaff and Blackcap were around the Obs garden.

Abbotsbury, apart from the feral birds the following noted: Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Little Egret, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Teal, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Shelduck, Lapwing, Kingfisher, Swallow, Wheatear, Chiffchaff and Cetti’s Warbler.

As for others, a Whooper Swan, 2+ Wigeon, Bar-headed Goose, several Cinnamon Teal etc.

Ferrybridge: good numbers of Ringed Plover and Dunlin, a Bar-tailed Godwit, Little Stint, Knot and 2 Ruff.

Butterflies: Red Admiral & Speckled Wood.

Little Egret (above & below)

Kingfisher

Bar-tailed Godwit

Little Grebe

Lapwing

Fox Moth caterpillar (courtesy Loren)

Whooper Swan

Whooper Swan courtesy Loren

Whiplash Rove Beetle courtesy Loren

Disruptive weather

Thunder, heavy to light rain, 19°, breezy SSE.

A day disrupted by the weather with a lot of rain, murky conditions, poor visibility and a strong breeze.

Very little noted on the land so a sea-watch was on the cards from inside the obs.

One of the first was a single Cory’s Shearwater followed over the course of the day on and off by c30 Balearic Shearwater, 3 Common Scoter, 1 Teal and a Sandwich Tern.

Not a lot for several hours watching.

Overhead: singles of Lapwing and Grey Heron and 2 Swallow.

Land: 8 Chiffchaff, 1 Blackcap, 2 Common Whitethroat and 2 Wheatear.

Fish: Bluefin Tuna.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

Chiffchaff on the hunt

Expectations not met

Overcast with some light rain showers, 20°, breezy NNE.

After some pre-dawn rain expectations were high for a fall of migrants but it did not materialise. As grounded migrants were hard to find. The sea-watch and overhead migration was rather protracted and petered out by midday.

10+ Chiffchaff, 3 Common Whitethroat, 1 Blackcap, 1 Sedge Warbler, 3 Wheatear, 1 Stonechat and 1 Whinchat.

Overhead: 30+ Meadow Pipit, 1 Tree Pipit, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 3 Siskin, c100 Swallow, 30+ House Martin, 30+ Sand Martin and the surprise of the morning with an Osprey flying out to sea.

Sea-watch: c60 Balearic Shearwater, 2 Arctic Skua, 7 Sandwich Tern, 2 Common Scoter,  a Dunlin and a Ringed Plover.

Fish: Bluefin Tuna.

Dragonflies: 1 Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White, Red Admiral and Speckled Wood.

Moths: 2 more Convolvulus Hawkmoth and a Channel Island Pug to name a few.

If you don't get any photos you can always guarantee the Little Owl will pose.

Sunrise this morning

Convolvulus Hawkmoth

Channel Island Pug