Oil Beetle

Overcast, 12°, light SW.

Still fairly quiet out there today.

5 Chiffchaff heard singing between the village and Lollingdon, appear to be the only migrants around so far.

The hill was very quiet with just a pair of Reed Bunting that flew in and disappeared off after a brief spell.

A single Raven flew south.

Just 2 Fieldfare noted, a few Jay and several Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail and a couple of Yellowhammer in song.

A Barn Owl hunting over Cholsey Hill recently. Per Ben.

And a male Siskin in TW’s garden at the weekend.

There are Rooklings in the Church road Rookery!

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Insects: The first Black Oil Beetle of the year seen on the hill. 3 in total.

A little quiet out there!

Sunshine and showers, 10°, light W.

A quiet day out there, Lollingdon hill was quiet, a flock of c200 gulls following a tractor working one of the fields. Mainly Black-headed Gull (nearly all in summer plumage), 10 Lesser Blackback Gull and a single Herring Gull.

A flock of c20 Meadow Pipit flew west and a Pied Wagtail present.

12 Fieldfare and a single Redwing seen nearby and a Chiffchaff briefly in song.

A female Sparrowhawk soaring high over the garden early afternoon.

A very vocal Water Rail on Cholsey Marsh yesterday and 2 possible Green Sandpiper present. Per Ed M.

 Nuthatch

A windy week

A week of wind and rain and a week of catching up on others things I need to do so I have not been out birding this week.

However the garden has been fairly active with the Stock Doves courting and the Rooks and Jackdaws still frequent in the garden.

Other regulars have included 2 Coal Tit, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1-2 Nuthatch amongst others.

 The male Stock Dove in courtship display, fluffing up his glossy neck feathers and then bowing to the female.

But she does not seem to be that interested in his advances at the moment.

 One of the Jackdaws visiting the feeders and coping well.

Rainy Day

A rainy day, 6°, moderate WSW.

A day for not going out, however the garden was quite busy with the usual birds.

A male Sparrowhawk dropped in a couple of times and a couple of Mistle Thrush in the meadow with 1 briefly in the garden.

A Chiffchaff in the garden again and both male and female Great-spotted Woodpecker, 2 Nuthatch and several Rook and Jackdaw.

The Rooks have been more bold of late and they can see the feeders from the rookery <100m away.

They come in “en masse” and scare some of the other birds away and they are quite aggressive to each other. Some try to hang on to the feeders but they are too big get a decent grip so have to be content with feeding from the ground until chased off by the resident Crows.

Sparrowhawk

Mistle Thrush

 Great-spotted Woodpecker, Lollingdon (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Greenfinch (courtesy Alan Dawson). Good numbers of these around Cholsey.

A little quieter

Overcast with rain later, 9°, light to moderate SW.

Another Stonechat on the Hill today but way down the track towards the farm, also a couple of Corn Bunting.

Several flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing out at Lollingdon numbering up to 500 birds in total and a couple of Yellowhammer in song.

2 Raven, 1 flew south over the hill and another c30 mins later heading south through Lollingdon.

A Chiffchaff in song at the Bullshole/Millennium Wood and another in the garden again.

2 Nuthatch in the garden. Per LC.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

2 Buzzard out at Lollingdon

Expect the Unexpected

Thick cloud and rain showers, 12°, moderate breeze from the south.

An interesting day despite the weather and a few unexpected birds.

A Chiffchaff in the garden this morning and it or another singing in the Millennium Wood.

2 Stonechat (♂&♀) on the hill today (not the same pair that wintered) and a couple of Meadow Pipit present.

A small flock of 14 waders flew north over the hill during a rain shower, most were Dunlin but at least 2 were different, the others were Ringed Plover and both species called a couple of times as they passed overhead.

(Another Ringed Plover heard calling @22:40 whilst retrieving something from the car, sound moving west)

A ♂ Brambling flew over with 6 Redwing out at Lollingdon and a scattering of Fieldfare and Redwing in various places.

A Raven heard and several Yellowhammer and a couple of Reed Bunting present.

A Blackcap heard singing in Little Lane recently. Per TR.

A ♀ Brambling still present near Waterloo Close. Per MA.

And 3-4 Otter seen yesterday adjacent to Cholsey Marsh. Per Ed M.

A deceased Common Frog found on the track leading to the hill.

Both ♂&♀ Great-spotted Woodpecker in garden today along with 1-2 Nuthatch and a Green Woodpecker nearby.

The following butterflies have been noted in TR's garden recently: Brimstone, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma and Peacock.

 Stonechat

Song Thrush bathing

Stock Dove 'chillin' in the garden

Male Great-spotted Woodpecker

One of the Otters (photo courtesy Ed)

Great-crested Grebe

A nice series of photos from Alan Dawson of Great-crested Grebe courtship display.

Little & Little

Cloudy with light rain showers, 11°, light to breezy SW.

A Little Egret still around on Cholsey Brook and seen a couple of times and a Little Owl eventually seen after hearing it a few times out at Lollingdon.

The hill was fairly quiet with just a couple of Pied Wagtail and a single Meadow Pipit present. A couple of Corn Bunting in song again and 12 Red Kite and 2 Buzzard soaring around over the hill and joined briefly by a Cormorant that soared around gaining height and then flew off north.

A distant Raven heard.

A good flock of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling between Lollingdon and the village, numbering around 400 birds.

Also a couple of Yellowhammer in song despite the rain.

Several Golden Plover heard flying over garden at 19:15.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Little Owl

Cormorant

No jacket required

After a frosty start, a sunny day, 17°, light SE.

Warm enough to shed my jacket today with possibly record temperatures for the area. 

The sheep have now gone and the field near the hill was being worked. Subsequently c250 Black-headed Gull, 20+ Lesser Blackback Gull, a handful of Common Gull and a single Herring Gull present.

Quite a few Pied Wagtail still present but most of the Meadow Pipit have gone.

A couple of Corn Bunting singing and a few Yellowhammer present.

A good flock of Fieldfare and Redwing on the north side of the hill and a scattering of individuals elsewhere.

A Little Owl heard calling out at Lollingdon but not able to locate it.

Mammals: Roe Deer.

Butterflies: a couple of Brimstone.

Did not get any photos today so thought I'd put a Little Owl pic on. Taken in Dorset,

Dunnock

A Dunnock loud and proud (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Ewelme Cress Beds

A sunny day, 15°, light SE.

A visit to Ewelme cress beds today and a bit spoilt by kids running through the cress beds and flushing everything.!

Well worth a visit usually.

1, possibly 2 Little Egret present and a Grey Wagtail but little else seen Birdwise.

Plenty of Brimstone around and a handful of Small Tortoiseshell.

Buntings are back

Foggy, slowly clearing, 10°, light SSE.

The fog cleared and the sun came out after I got back today. Typical!

The Buntings are back: after an absence of several weeks there were 2 Corn Bunting in song on the hill, a couple of Reed Bunting in song nearby and around 20 Yellowhammer back on territory with several in song.

Just the 1 Stonechat on the hill today, I am assuming the male has left to arrive on its breeding territory early to claim a prime spot?

Good numbers of Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit still out with the sheep and 12+ Red Kite on and around the hill.

Several good size flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing scattered around various fields.

Yellowhammers

Stonechat

Goldcrest (courtesy Alan Dawson)

Early Spring weather brings out the birds

A sunny day, 13°, light SW.

A Chiffchaff singing near Cholsey Sewage works today. Per Brian Wyatt.

The male Blackcap visiting the bird feeders again today and a male Pheasant in the garden.

A couple of Rook and Jackdaw have discovered the suet balls and came in early morning and afternoon to feed.

The female Brambling still putting in appearances near Waterloo Close. Per Mike Amphlett.

A “flock” of 25+ Red Kite over Honey Lane today, incl the “tail-less” Red Kite. Per Bill Nicholls.

A collage of Red Kite over the village today (photos courtesy Bill Nicholls)

Blackcap

 Jackdaw

Rook

Pheasant

Of Bats, Reptiles & More Housing

There is a new application for houses at Old Blackalls farm. P18/S4273/O)

The ecological survey with Bats undertaken on the Old Blackall's site for the applicant together with TR’s son’s monitoring here this year show very similar results.

It seems that we have a remarkable 8 species of bat, Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, Noctule, Leisler's, Natterers, Barbastelle, Serotine and Brown Long Eared.

Bats enjoy a high degree of protection especially Barbastelle which is very rare and a UK Biodiversity Action Plan species.

There are few records of this species in Oxon & Berks.

Clearance of the site and housing estate light pollution are bound to threaten the continuing presence of these species in the area.

Also 

The Countryside Officer, Dominic Lamb, reports a medium population of Slow-worms and low numbers of Grass Snakes in the vicinity.

He also states “that these reptiles would need to be translocated off site - but that no receptor site has been identified”.

You wouldn't think from this that the area is arguably one of the top reptile sites in the county (if one ignores Adders and there are precious few of these now) One left at Bix!

From such an overgrown site we don't see how these reptiles can be gathered without huge clearance and given that half of them are probably on land adjoining Tony Rayner’s. The estimate of the populations are 150 Slow-worm and 20 Grass Snake not to mention the Common Lizard.

We wonder how far down on the political priorities is the environment!

Leisler's Bat (courtesy The Wildlife Trusts)

Blackcap, Rook and a nestbox

Mainly cloudy, 9°, light SSW.

A male Blackcap visiting the garden again today and feeding on suet balls. 

Also a visit by a Rook. Even though the Rookery is next door to the garden the Rooks rarely enter but this one obviously thought it was worth it.

Bill Nicholls has put up several nest boxes in his garden and reports a Robin has already built a nest in one of them.