WonderfulWildlifeUK

Happy New Year  We would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year from Cholsey Wildlife. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the blog regularly for 2018, Loren Chaplin, Alan Dawson, Tony Rayner and Richard Broughton for their photos and observations and Tony Williams, Phil Dyson, Ed Munday, Mike Amphlett and Gerry Quinn for their observations in Cholsey this year. Apologies for anyone I have forgotten to mention. Any information, observations and questions regarding the Flora & Fauna of Cholsey are welcome, so please contact us on the email addresses on the Blog or Facebook. Thank you. from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2019/01/happy-new-year.html

I decided to head up to Hillockhead, with Wren, to see out 2018… the open spaces, coast and the prospect of lots of trail cam footage is always a big pull for me (and it’s good to see Tim again of course!) Tim now has a number of trail cameras and has been monitoring a series of sites that are now reaping the rewards! When we set them up in the summer, we were very excited to capture our first pine marten footage…. now pine marten footage is common and we are now trying to identify individuals who are visiting a selection of feeding stations. One feeding station is attracting a number of individuals and three appear on one clip. I think these are an adult and two of this year’s youngsters. Of course other animals like to take advantage of the food available and mice often dominate the footage, but a badger has also been visiting occasionally… It was also lovely to see this Roe deer popping in, to check it out… This set up is at the same site as the clips above. The Bushnell ...

Turned up Saturday afternoon and made it up on the roof. from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2018/12/garden-visitor.html

Moving to the North Norfolk coast from London in 2007, I realised how little I knew about the beautiful countryside I found myself in. Fortunately, this part of the country is not lacking in opportunities to explore and develop a burgeoning passion for conservation and wildlife. I’d also begun a degree in natural sciences with […] from James Common https://commonbynature.co.uk/2018/12/30/adventures-in-conservation-by-andrew-gorton/

2018 has been a year of ups and downs; although, thankfully, mostly ups. The year marked by a great deal of personal and professional opportunities, myriad wonderful wild encounters and a whole host of new experiences. As is customary on this blog, I thought I would dedicate some time to knocking up something which vaguely […] from James Common https://commonbynature.co.uk/2018/12/29/another-wild-year-in-retrospect/

Variable cloud with some sunshine, 9°, light W. 2 Stonechat still present on the hill today but quite elusive. A singing Corn Bunting , c20 Meadow Pipit a mobile flock of c200 Starling and c100 Fieldfare also around the hill area. Scattered flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing elsewhere and a single Lapwing noted. A Merlin flew overhead near Little Lollingdon and several Yellowhammer and a Kestrel around. A dead Buzzard found in a ditch surrounded by a lot of white feathers (poss Little Egret ). Can only speculate what happened there! C60 Golden Plover on Cholsey Hill and 2 Herring Gull in the field opposite the Church. 2 Nuthatch , a Coal Tit , a Treecreeper and a Great-spotted Woodpecker in the garden today along with several other visiting species. And several Black-headed Gull feeding in the meadow. A Green Sandpiper heard flying over the garden at 17:00. A Mistle Thrush singing regularly in the meadow mainly at dawn and dusk.  Stonechat Robin ...

LuckyAcorn from Lucky Acorn https://www.luckyacorn.co.uk/birds/robins-at-christmas/

Dawn broke overhead as I took my first, adrenaline-fueled steps into the reedbeds of Gosforth Park Nature Reserve, the grey-blue sky, a vestige of the previous frigid night,  soon yielding to pleasant silver as the day got underway. The only lasting remnant of the darker, colder hours before coming from the veil of fog lingering […] from James Common https://commonbynature.co.uk/2018/12/28/the-post-christmas-escape/

A walk around Wittenham Wood today produced some interesting Fungi, lichens etc, nothing outstanding but pretty good none the less. Just a few pics of what we found. All photos courtesy Loren Chaplin. from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2018/12/christmas-day-with-fungi-etc.html

Helpful advice on what we can feed birds with Christmas leftovers. Courtesy gardenwildlifedirect.co.uk. We can feed Christmas pudding, fruit cake or mince pies, which have a high fat content, fruits and fats supply birds with vital energy during the cold weather. Cold roast potatoes are another great source of fat. To serve, simply chop into peck size pieces and add to your ground feeder or bird table. Cooked or uncooked pastry is a superb way of adding extra fats to a birds diet. Mild low-salt cheese that is grated or crumbled can also give your birds crucial energy, cheese is a favourite amongst robins, dunnocks, blackbirds and song thrushes. Attract starlings by feeding chopped apples or pears. Soaked dried fruit is a delicious treat for bird, especially with blackbirds. We can’t feed Avoid feeding salted nuts; as birds are partially unable to process salt in high quantities and it will harm their nervous system. Foods also to avoid are cured meats, crisps, cakes, br...

Merry Christmas everyone From all at Cholsey Wildlife from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2018/12/merry-christmas.html

An unseasonal Red Admiral in a garden on the Wallingford road today and 2 Raven flew over. per Tony Rayner. Golden Plover heard on Cholsey Hill today but not seen so no idea of numbers. A Mistle Thrush heard singing over the past few days near Whitehead Meadow. Photo from earlier in the year from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2018/12/unseasonal-butterfly.html

A little blog post to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! and to remind you that we are open for a few days over the next couple of weeks. From Thursday the 27th we will be open through till the following Wednesday, the 2nd of January, for our Christmas opening. So if you need to escape the family, or need somewhere to go to walk of all the extra food, keep us in mind. The last few weeks here have been very busy for us. We use the slightly quieter weeks either side of Christmas to do the more larger cleans and tidying up while visitors are not around, unfortunately (or fortunately from another perspective) these quieter weeks are getting less each year and so more needs to be done in a shorter space of time. I think we are getting there though. While all this has been going on, there have been a few animal changes which you will notice when you are next in... if not already. Our otter cubs are now just beginning to come out. I have not had a camera with me when I have seen...

Christmas decorations on my bird snack bar and a novel Mammal Feeding Station set up have become an annual challenge and the wildlife has performed admirably  this year so far! The Bird snack bar had its decorations up late last week and the birds were not put off by the arrival of the Christmas Tree, the baubles and stockings. They were not aware of the precarious set up that allows me to access this camera mounted 12ft up on an external wall outside my office! I can only do this if my son hangs his weight off the opposite side of the ladder, whilst I climb up, to stop it falling back into the hedge as the gap underneath is so narrow and the ladder so steep! To give you an idea of scale, I uploaded this recording from the camera, of me glueing everything in place! My phone is there, so I can see the image the camera is seeing, via an iCatcher app. Visits have been coming thick and fast and the food tray soon empties! Earlier last week, I posted the images of the new mammal...

A new high-altitude forest of 10,000 rare mountain trees supporting wildlife including golden eagles and mountain hares is to be planted near Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands by Trees for Life next spring. The waist-high trees form a unique and important wildlife-rich habitat called montane scrub. This should be common between woodlands and open […] from James Common https://commonbynature.co.uk/2018/12/22/high-altitude-forest-to-save-rare-trees-and-boost-mountain-wildlife/

I started this website as a place to express my interest in the natural world and to share sightings and photographs from my local ventures. Truth be told, I never planned to start writing; although five-years in, here I am, waffling regularly about myriad environmental topics and thoroughly enjoying myself. Blogging, ultimately, is about finding […] from James Common https://commonbynature.co.uk/2018/12/21/10-tips-for-nature-bloggers-with-kate-on-conservation/

This week was my final week at Yew View before Christmas and I always start my day with  a quick check of the cameras. I was amazed to see that one of the tawnies was in the nest box! This is the first time we have had one spending the day in this new box. Over the last month or so, they have been day roosting in the other two large boxes that we have at the other end of the garden. What is special about this box, compared to the other two, is that I have a small light unit in the box. This consists of some white LEDs mounted inside a translucent plastic box. The are operated by a sensor, meaning that when the light is sufficient outside, then the internal lights come on. They go off at night. This is essential. This additional light means that I can achieve a better image on the cameras. I use lighting in all my boxes and, based on nesting success, I do not feel that this lighting affects the birds in any way. You can see that there is virtually no reaction to the light coming in ...