Not a lot

Some sunshine after the rain, 10°, light SW.

Both out after the rain along the Bunk line. Not a lot around at the moment.

A Green Sandpiper was a nice find by Alan but one we could expect this time of year.

Plenty of Fieldfare and Redwing, a single high flying Cormorant, several Yellowhammer, Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Grey Heron, single Chiffchaff and a couple of Raven etc.

Chiffchaff

Frosty start

Sunny, 9°, light N.

Alan out today along River and Bunk Line.

Water Rail, Siskin, Reed Bunting, Kingfisher etc.

Bunk, 2 Little Egret, Usual gulls, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Teal, Many Lapwing & Fieldfare and 2 Grey Wagtail.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Red Admiral.

A little quiet

Mainly cloudy, 9°, breezy NW.

Both along Bunk Line today but at different times:

Little Egret, 2 Raven, good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing, c20 Meadow Pipit, c30 Pied Wagtail, 10 Yellowhammer, 100+ Lesser Blackback Gull, c50 Black-headed Gull, 2 Herring Gull, 1 Grey Heron, c70 Egyptian Geese and the same of Canada Geese.

Tony W saw the Geese flying from the river over Caps Lane and towards the Bunk Line area earlier.

Tony also had 4 Chiffchaff with a Tit flock at Bow Bridge.

Fieldfare (again)

Redwing & Fieldfare

Raven in the twilight

Cold & Wet

Cloudy after the rain, 10°, light WNW.

Both Alan and I covered the Bunk Line this afternoon after the rain stopped but proved very quiet.

Good numbers of “Winter Thrushes” around, a single Raven, 2 Grey Heron, a Grey Wagtail, a few Meadow Pipit and 20+ Pied Wagtail was about it.

Yesterday Alan found a Red Admiral and a Migrant Hawker still on the wing.

Fieldfare courtesy Andy King

Great-spotted Woodpecker visiting garden feeders

Grey Heron

Redwing & Starling courtesy Andy King

Getting cooler

Mainly sunny, 11°, light WSW.

Still rather quiet out there. Lollingdon, 20+ of each Fieldfare and Redwing, 3 Mistle Thrush, a few Yellowhammer, a small flock of Siskin over, 2 Chiffchaff, several Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail etc.

River and Bunk line did not fare any better with Alan. c150 Fieldfare and Redwing, Mistle Thrush, several Meadow Pipit and a good number of Pied Wagtail.

Dragonflies: c20 Common Darter (Lollingdon).

Fieldfare

Redwing

4of the Common Darters

Bunk

Mainly cloudy with a few showers, 12°, breezy SW.

Bunk, per Alan:

A Dunlin in flooded field near Green Lane, 2 Little Egret (same field), Fieldfare, Redwing, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Goldcrest, Raven, Lesser Blackback Gull and Black-headed Gull.

Dunlin courtesy Alan

Raven courtesy Alan ↕

Grey Heron courtesy Alan

Chiffchaff courtesy Alan

Little Egret courtesy Alan

A quiet start to November

A mixed bag today with cloudy skies, sunshine and showers, 12°, breezy SW.

Pretty quiet out at Lollingdon today. A mixed flock of c100 birds, Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit on the flooded field. A scattering of Fieldfare, Redwing, Starling and Skylark, the odd Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting, a Grey Wagtail, and 2 Raven etc.

River area, per Alan: Mistle Thrush singing, Water Rail, Cetti’s Warbler, usual Geese, Meadow Pipit, Siskin over, Sparrowhawk, Fieldfare, Redwing, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail and Kingfisher.

Dragonflies: Common Darter still relatively abundant on suitable areas.

Pied Wagtail ↕

Ciaran on its way.

Showers and sunny spells, 11°, freshening SSW.

Neither of us got out until this afternoon to hopefully avoid the heaviest of the rain.

Alan covered the river/marsh and I covered the Bunk line.

Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff (both sites), Water Rail, Raven, 20+ Fieldfare, 50+ Redwing, 1 Grey Wagtail, 10 Pied Wagtail, several Siskin, 5 Grey Heron and 6 Yellowhammer etc.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Dragonflies: Migrant Hawker (river) and Common Darter (both sites).

Raven

Black Rabbit

Common Darter courtesy Alan

Common Darter

Bunk & Long Ditch

Sunny with variable cloud cover, 15°, light SSE.

Alan covered the long ditch area this morning: Common Snipe, 3 Stonechat, Reed Bunting, Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Lesser Blackback Gull.

We both covered the Bunk line at different times: 12 Shoveler overhead, 20+ Fieldfare, about the same of Redwing, 2 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, 2 Raven, 2 Grey Heron, 10 Siskin, a Grey Wagtail, several Meadow Pipit, 100+ Lesser Blackback Gull, 50+ Black-headed Gull, 5 Herring Gull and 2 Common Gull. Plus 2 Egyptian Geese flew south over Church Road.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: several Red Admiral.

All photos courtesy Alan

Blackcap

Meadow Pipit

Stonechat

Lesser Blackback Gull

Jackdaw

Sunshine & Rain

Rain then sun then rain again, 14°, light SSW.

A rather uneventful walk out to Lollingdon and back. The hill was quiet other than 250+ Starling chattering away on some nearby telegraph wires and the calls of 12 Red Kite and 3 Buzzard soaring over the hill.

Have been hearing a lot of Siskin moving through lately and today was no exception with at least 3 small flocks passing overhead.

Just 5 Fieldfare noted plus, 52 Redwing, 10 Yellowhammer, 1 Chiffchaff, 12 Meadow Pipit, 6 Pied Wagtail, 2 Jay and a single Raven etc.

River, per Alan: Cetti’s Warbler, Blackcap, 2 Treecreeper, Goldcrest, Reed Bunting, Chiffchaff, Grey Wagtail and Water Rail.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: 1 Small White and 7 Red Admiral.

Goldcrest courtesy Alan

Nuthatch

Blackbird

Warm and wet

Rain at first then sunny spells, 15°, light SSW.

Bunk line: 40+ Fieldfare, 24 Redwing, 3 sightings of 2 Sparrowhawk, 6 Grey Heron, 1 Lapwing, 2 Grey Wagtail, 7 Pied Wagtail, 4 Chiffchaff, a Goldcrest, several Siskin and 5 Yellowhammer etc.

Yesterday along the River. Per Alan.

Water Rail, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Siskin, 2 Kingfisher, Reed Bunting, Goldcrest and Sparrowhawk.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Red Admiral.

Common Darter warming up on the rail

Red Admiral

Grey Wagtail

One of two Nuthatch in the garden

Little Egrets

A cloudy day, 15°, breezy ESE.

Alan took the long hike out by the lees and skirting Aston and back through Lollingdon. I just trekked out to Lollingdon and back.

When I walked out there was one Little Egret at Lollingdon but by the time Alan got there it had been joined by another two.

Between the Lees and Lollingdon, another? Little Egret, Kingfisher, Peregrine, Common Snipe, Reed Bunting, Redwing, Meadow Pipit and Skylark.

Lollingdon, 34 Yellowhammer noted with just over 20 leaving the hill and flying south, plus a Reed Bunting with them.

25+ Meadow Pipit, 60+ Skylark, 6 Pied Wagtail, 5 Fieldfare, 4 Song Thrush, 14 Blackbird, 2 Jay, a flyover Raven and a single Little Owl.

Bunk line later, 40+ Pied Wagtail, several Redwing and Fieldfare. Per Alan.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Little Egret courtesy Alan

Little Egret

River & Meadows

Mainly sunny, 15°, light SSW.

River/Meadows. Per Alan.

Reed Bunting, Chiffchaff, Grey Wagtail, Usual Geese, Pied Wagtail, Redwing and Fieldfare.

Dragonflies: Willow Emerald, Migrant Hawker, Common Darter and Southern Hawker.

Butterflies: Small White and Red Admiral.

Reed Bunting courtesy Alan

Willow Emerald

After the rain

Sunny periods, 16°, light SW.

River, Bunk and Lollingdon covered today. A lot of soggy fields out there.

A scattering of Fieldfare, Redwing, Mistle Thrush and Song Thrush, a (f) Stonechat, 2 Corn Bunting, 16 Yellowhammer, a Kingfisher, a Treecreeper, good numbers of Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail, 2+ Jay, 3-4 Chiffchaff and 2 Little Egret.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White and Red Admiral.

Little Egret ↕

Fieldfare courtesy Alan

Yellowhammer courtesy Alan

Yellowhammer

Cattle Egret

Sunny spells and showers, 13°, light to breezy W.

Was not planning to go out today as it looked like more rain and didn’t fancy getting wet for a second day running.

At c10:30 I got a message from Alan to say he had found a Cattle Egret on a flood beside the Wallingford Road.

As I had not seen one before in Cholsey, I grabbed my kit and drove up there.

The bird had left the flood and had flipped over the road to a field with a herd of cattle next to Green Lane.

It stayed in the area for at least another hour and appeared then to have moved on.

Alan stayed on for a time and then found a Little Egret nearby plus c 40 Lapwing, a Goldcrest, Stonechat, Chiffchaff and Meadow Pipit.

All 3 Egret species have been seen in Cholsey this year. All have colonised the UK in the last few decades with breeding in Oxfordshire in the last few years.

They were all rarities in the UK 30-40 years ago hence trips to see Cattle Egret and Little Egret in Sussex in 1984 and 1987 respectively and Great Egret in Cornwall 1989.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

6 photos from both Alan and me.