Weather or not.........................!

Light to heavy rain showers a.m. clearing after midday, mod to fresh S, 16º, poor visibility, pretty rubbish weather!

A sea watch in the morning from the Obs produced a good passage of Gannet, maybe 500+ in all with most moving east, 2 Great Skua, 1 Balearic Shearwater, 4 Guillemot and 5 Common Scoter.

With the rain showers clearing after lunch we decided to take a walk, a ♂ Merlin and a ♂ Peregrine noted, a Chiffchaff, a cracking ♂ Black Redstart found by the Upper light, 6 Stonechat in total, a Little Owl, several Meadow Pipits, Pied Wagtails and Skylarks in the area.

2 Red Admiral seen with one in off the sea!

 Gannets

 Black Redstart

 Black Redstart

 Gannet

Stonechat

A pause in migration?

Overcast, heavy rain showers light to fresh S.

Visible migration appears to have come to a halt in the current weather conditions, a continuous southerly to westerly airstream, strong winds and heavy rain.

A very poor showing on the land with up to 4 Chiffchaffs and a Blackcap around the Obs garden, a flyover Siskin and a ♀ Merlin hunting.

A trip to Radipole Lake was interrupted by heavy rain with only a female Garganey of note.

A Red-throated Diver was the only sea bird of note I actually saw today apart from a steady stream of Gannets.

The day overall was interrupted by almost constant heavy rain and subsequently was unable to get any pics!

 

Sunset over the bill last night.

 

 

And now for something completely different!

 

 

Pics courtesy of Loren Chaplin

Both ends of Portland.

Sunny spells, 18º, light to mod W & S.

Land migrants very thin on the ground today at the bill, a few Chiffchaff & Song Thrush, 2 Blackcap and a Stonechat around and an early morning movement of small numbers of Redwing & Song Thrush but little else.

A ♀ Sparrowhawk and a ♂ Merlin hunting over the bill early morning and a ♀ Merlin and a Buzzard seen later in the day along with around 4 Kestrel.

A large flock of 70+ Linnet, also several Goldfinch, Meadow Pipit and Skylarks constantly evading the marauding raptors.

The sea had some activity today with a couple of Balearic Shearwater, several Common Scoter, a Great Skua, a Great-crested Grebe and several Gannet.

A trip to Ferry Bridge at the other end of the island found 600+ Brent Geese, 1 Black Brant and a at least 5 Pale-bellied Brents. Also a small flock of Turnstone, some Ring Plover, 10 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Oystercatcher and good numbers of Mediterranean Gulls, 4 Sandwich Tern flew west along Chesil beach.

The day ended with a Barn Owl hunting in the evening sun over the fields between the Obs and the West cliffs.

A Painted Lady butterfly seen in the top fields.

Buzzard

  Barn Owl

  Brent Geese at Ferrybridge

Brent Geese disappearing along the Fleet

Windblown

Overcast, 16º, fresh southerly.

Arrived Portland early afternoon to a overcast and rather windblown bill area, the Short-toed Lark I was hoping to see today was taken last evening by a ♂ Merlin and was the only scarcity around so not a good start. However let’s be optimistic about this as we are here all week so something good is sure to turn up (fingers crossed).

A couple of hours birding around the bill area produced a few Raven, a couple of Kestrel, a ♀ Sparrowhawk, a ♀ Merlin, Little Owl, 3 Stonechat, a Wheatear and 2 Chiffchaff (I missed a Woodlark by 30 mins).

The sea was very quiet birdwise but rather choppy!

  Stonechat

Raven scavenging the car park

Cholsey, 17th Oct

Sunny spells, 18º, light SW.

A walk along the Bunk line to Winterbrook, then along the Thames path to the 4 Arches, back to Bow Bridge and Caps lane back to the village.

Another Stonechat along the Bunk line being hassled by a Robin, a Chiffchaff and 3 Green Woodpeckers together.

12 Redwing flew over the river at Winterbrook and a Grey Wagtail along the brook...................5 Kingfishers seen in total, a Treecreeper with one of the 6 Tit flocks seen, also a Song Thrush, 4 Jay, 2 Cormorant, a Grey Heron, 4 Chiffchaff, 4 Bullfinch, 2 Kestrel seen and 2 Swallow flew down river just north of Cholsey marsh.

Quite a few Black-headed Gull loafing in fields near Cholsey SF and also along the Thames near the 4 Arches.

A quick visit to Lollingdon hill saw 2 Wheatear and the Stonechat still present.

Several Common Lizards seen basking in sunshine today and a few butterflies on the wing. Several Small and Large White, a Brimstone, a Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Peacock and a Red Admiral. A few dragonflies seen with 6 Migrant Hawker and 20+ Common Darter, also a Hornet noted.

 Stonechat

 Stonechat

 Agressive behaviour by a Robin to the Stonechat

 Common Lizard

 Common Lizard

 Common Lizard

 Peacock

Grey Heron

Wet & Sunny!

Lollingdon hill, 16^th Oct.

Rain, clearing by 14:00, 16º, light to mod S then fresh SW.

A rather wet Lollingdon hill early afternoon found 2 Wheatear and a Stonechat along the fence line hawking insects in the rainy weather; fortunately the sun came out just after 14:00 along with more insects.

Around 14:30 a female Merlin raced through the fields to the south and headed towards the downs above Aston Tirrold.

Other species noted were a Chiffchaff, 3 Blackbirds and a Song Thrush, 4 Meadow Pipit, 3 Yellowhammer, 30+ Linnet, 20+ Skylark, 7 Magpie, 2 Buzzards and 3 Red Kites.

Another Wheatear and a flock of 60+ Linnet on Cholsey hill.

A Peacock and Small White butterfly active on Lollingdon hill after the rain had ceased.

A Magpie visited the garden this morning and within 1 minute the Carrion Crow had chased it off, the crows still seem to be intolerant of any other corvid species in the garden. The 2 Moorhen and a single Stock Dove still visiting.

 

 Wheatear & Stonechat

Wheatear

 Stonechat

Stonechat

Churn

Sunny spells, 14º, light NW.

A walk out at Churn this afternoon proved fairly quiet, a Chiffchaff found out by the old field study centre was the only “migrant”. 3 Corn Bunting, 6 Yellowhammer, 20+ Skylark, 2 Jay, a Mistle Thrush and a flock of 250+ Starling feeding on Elderberries.

A couple of Goldcrest in the garden today and a Grey Wagtail along the brook next to the garden.

 

Wheatears & Stonechat

Rain, 10º, light SW.

2 Wheatear and a Stonechat were the highlights of a wet visit to Lollingdon hill today, also seen were c20 Skylark, a Chiffchaff, a Yellowhammer, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 Meadow Pipit, 6 Pied Wagtail, a Buzzard, Red Kite and a flock of 40+ Greylag “type” Geese flew NW over the hill.

An adult and a very inquisitive juv Moorhen visiting the garden recently and a couple of Tawny Owl regular.

 Stonechat

 Wheatear

 Geese

 The inqisitive Moorhen

Richmond Park

A few hours spent in Richmond park near the Roehampton gate area on Friday 10th, nothing much of note in quality.................... 3 Chiffchaff seen, a Kingfisher and a Grey Wagtail, large numbers of Jackdaw (600+) and numbers of Ring-necked Parakeet (c200+), also noted 9 Green Woodpecker, 3 Great-spotted Woodpecker, a Mistle Thrush, 6 Jay, a Kestrel and a Meadow Pipit.

Also the usual Red and Fallow Deer seen, at this time of year it is the "rutting" season so not advisable to get too close to the Red Deer in particular, I came across one stag with a harem of 14 females and he was very protective towards them!

 Red Deer stag objecting to my presence

 Some of the hinds he was protecting!

 Jackdaws

 Grey Wagtail

Ring-necked or as they are commonly called Rose-ringed Parakeets feeding on chestnuts.

Stonechat still present

Overcast, 18º, light SSW, feeling cooler.

Lollingdon hill quieter today, Stonechat still present along with 3 Chiffchaff, 5 Pied Wagtail, 3 Meadow Pipit, a Kestrel, and 2 Buzzard and 5 Red Kite.

A Grey Wagtail for the last 2 days frequenting the brook adjacent to the garden, Coal Tit and Goldcrest in the meadow and a Chiffchaff heard calling nearby, the Moorhen and Stock Dove still visiting the garden.

 Stonechat

Kestrel

Lollingdon Hill, 6th Oct

Sunny spells, 20º, Light SW.

Arrived on the hill today (by bike) to a festival of raptors playing in the breeze with 11 Red Kite and 5 Buzzard in the air over the hill for around 30 minutes before most dispersing over a wider area.

Other species on the hill were, a single Stonechat to the south, 1 Chiffchaff, 14 Skylark, 18 Yellowhammer, 6 Meadow Pipit, 30+ Linnet, a Kestrel, 7 Magpie and a single Starling flew over.

Just Speckled Wood and Small White seen today.

Woken by a dawn chorus this morning of Robin and Wren in song, 2 Tawny Owls calling along with a Grey Heron calling whilst flying over and 2 Carrion Crows calling from the garden trees!
 

 Kestrel

 Yellowhammer

 Linnet

 Red Kites

 Red Kite & Buzzard

Buzzard

Lollingdon Hill, 5th Oct

Overcast, 18º, light SW

A couple of hours on the hill today produced 4 Wheatear (3 to the south and 1 to the west), a single Whinchat, a Blackcap feeding on Elderberries, 3 Pied Wagtail, 4 Meadow Pipit, 3 Chiffchaff, 1 Kestrel, 30+ Linnet and 1 Yellowhammer.

Speckled Wood, Small White and a single Red Admiral butterfly seen and an Orange Underwing Moth, also 2 Migrant Hawker and 4 Common Darter dragonflies.

 Kestrel

 Red Admiral

Red Underwing

Garden & Lollingdon hill 2nd Oct

Overcast at first then sunny spells, 18º, light SW.

A morning working in the garden today, both Green and Great-spotted Woodpecker present, a Tit flock passed through consisting of 8+ Long-tailed Tit, several Great and Blue Tit, 2 Goldcrest, at least 1 Coal Tit and a Treecreeper. Several small hirundine (a few Swallow but mainly House Martin) flocks passed overhead and at one point alarm call went up and 2 House Martin zipped through the garden hotly pursued by a Hobby but they managed to evade capture, and a Mistle Thrush nearby.

Around dawn this morning a Grey Heron was heard flying over and a flock of Canada Geese went over a little later.

A visit to Lollingdon hill this evening saw 3 Chiffchaff present, 12 Skylark, 8 Pied Wagtail, 10 Linnet, 3 Meadow Pipit, 14 Goldfinch, 1 Yellowhammer, a Green Woodpecker, 9 Stock Dove, 2 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel and 6 Swallow and 9 House Martin overhead.

Speckled Wood and Small White butterflies still on the wing.

Tawny Owls very vocal around the garden recently.

 Chiffchaff

North side of Lollingdon hill