Dragons and Butterflies........mainly

A Warm, sunny day, 22º, breezy NE.

Little on the hill today, usual stuff present and around 20 Swifts feeding for 15 minutes before moving off and a few Swallow feeding over the fields.

A Willow Warbler still singing and in the Millennium wood today.

Good to see 2 House Martin nests active at Marymead this summer and around a dozen Swift over the village.

2 Blue Emperor dragonflies seen, a few Large Red Damsels and several Azure Damselflies.

A good number of Meadow Brown Butterflies around today, a single Brimstone, several Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Small and Large White and a Large Skipper noted.

 Azure Damselfly

 Camera shy Yellowhammer

Swift movement

Cloudy, 15º, light NW, a couple of light rain showers.

4 hours on Lollingdon hill today saw an unusual and impressive movement of Common Swift with 1500+ flying north also 100+ House Martin, a feeding movement or something else?

There were Swifts in the air for the whole 4 hours with flocks of up to 50+ and the odd 1 or 2 passing over. Also as far as I could see both east and west I could see Swifts moving so there may have been more. They seemed to be pouring off the downs and were at varying altitudes feeding as they passed overhead.

Apart from a flock of 30+ the House Martins were just 1’s and 2’s mixed in with the Swifts.

Also a Hobby flew north, a Black-headed Gull flew west and a Quail heard calling from a field to the south west of the hill.

On the walk out the Lapwing were still present and 2 pairs of Yellow Wagtail around and 36 Stock Dove noted in the Lollingdon area.

Common Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer, Linnet, Skylark all singing and a few Swallow around.

A Willow Warbler still in song around the Bullshole.

A Common Spotted Orchid found in the garden today.........an upside of the gardeners not cutting the grass for 5 weeks!

Few butterflies around today given the weather but Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood and Red Admiral all seen.

 Common Spotted Orchid

 Common Whitethroat

Cuckoos and a Tiger.

Cloudy, 16º, breezy NE.

At least 1 young Cuckoo seen being fed by a Reed Warbler at Cholsey marsh today and possibly another youngster seen. (per Alan Dawson).

A Scarlet Tiger moth on Buddleia spotted today by my daughter in the garden but flew off before I got the camera.

Common Pipistrelle bats hunting around the garden most evening this week.

A few hours spent at the Wittfest this afternoon in Long Wittenham but not much seen...................Great-spotted Woodpecker, Buzzard and Sparrowhawk noted.

               Cuckoo at Cholsey marsh (courtesy Roger Wyatt-archive pic)

All quiet on the western front

Sunny, 24º, light breeze.

Nothing much to report today around the Lollingdon area, a bird of note was a Hobby that flew through.

A Willow Warbler in song by the Bullshole still and several Bullfinches present.

A Marbled White and a Small Skipper noted today along with a few Brimstone, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White, Red Admiral and Speckled Wood.

Also a Southern Hawker dragonfly on the hill hunting along the wooded track.

 Southern Hawker

 Yellowhammer

 Muntjac Deer

Not just birds!

Sunny spells, 20º, breezy SW.

A walk along the Bunk line to Winterbrook, along the Thames to Bow Bridge and back to the village via Caps lane.

The Bunk line path was quiet birdwise a dozen or so Swallow, a few House Martin and Swift, Yellowhammer and Common Whitethroat and a single Buzzard.

The rest of the walk added a Cormorant that flew down river, a Hobby over Bow and a few Sedge Warbler along the river bank.

Only mammal seen was a single Roe Deer.

A lot of Small Tortoiseshell today, several Speckled Wood, the odd Large and Small White and Meadow Brown, one site hosted several Small Skipper and another a few Common Blue. A couple of Cinnabar moths also seen.

The only dragon noted today was Banded Demoiselle.

Pyramid Orchids and Bee Orchids present at one site.

 Banded Demoiselle

 Bee Orchid

 Bee Orchid

 Pyramid Orchid

 a rather worn Common Blue

 Common Blue

 Moorhen on the bird table today