WonderfulWildlifeUK

Overcast, 19°, light SW. Still cannot find any Yellow Wagtail locally. Apart from a few passage records this spring we have one record of a female collecting nest material. In past years we can have 6-8 pairs in the parish. What’s going on? On a plus side I counted 11 singing Yellowhammer between the village and Lollingdon hill today. Also a Reed Bunting and 4 Corn Bunting . A few fields still being cut for hay and 15 Red Kite and 3 Buzzard scavenging over the fields.  Apart from the usual just a female Sparrowhawk noted. Mammals: 2 Short-tailed Vole and several other small rodents (incl a unidentified Shrew) possibly vacating the fields being cut. Butterflies: 3 Speckled Wood .  Yellow Wagtail (archive photos) Black-headed Cardinal Beetle (courtesy Alan Dawson) from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2019/05/where-are-our-yellow-wagtails.html

This morning, Ed and I headed back to a special site that we had visited when I first arrived. A local tree nursery had some beavers on their land and had kindly allowed me to place some Bushnell cameras there. In just 8 months, these beavers had completely transformed the landscape, from a small creek and land that had been used to grow crops on, to a wetland. The landscape and what had been created by these mammals was just mind blowing! By damming a small creek and then building a long dam, that snaked some 30 metres , a huge lake had formed, along with pools around the sides and the water level had been raised metres in height. The lodge was clearly visible and these beavers had been very busy! I set two trail cameras; one on a tree opposite the lodge, overlooking the water and another a little further up, facing the edge of the dam. I only had a small window of opportunity, so had to set them knowing very little about activity and only having them there for a few nights.

Cloudy with rain, 12°, light SSW. A bit of a damp squib out there today. One of the fields out at Lollingdon was being cut for hay and had 14 Red Kite and 2 Buzzard cruising overhead hoping for any tit bits driven out by the cutter. Apart from that there was little activity as a consequence of the weather. 2 Little Owl present and 2 Lesser Whitethroat singing, (1 Little Lollingdon) . Butterflies: a single Speckled Wood . Lesser Whitethroat (library photo) Male Bullfinch (courtesy Alan Dawson) Male Banded Demoiselle with Mayfly prey (courtesy Alan Dawson) from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-wet-one.html

If you follow my blog, you may remember that last October,  took a trip out to visit Ed Snodgrass in Maryland in the USA. I met Ed at a green roof conference and, when he told me about his farm here and invited me out, I just couldn’t say no! Ed is the founder and owner of Emory Knoll Farms; the first green roof nursery in North America. ‘ As the nation’s leading supplier of plants for green roof systems since 1998, their accomplished horticulture team has more experience than any other nursery in the United States growing plants for successful green roof projects and are active in green roof plant research and collaborating with educational institutions and nurseries, worldwide.’ Ed has worked tirelessly to return the 140 acres of his farm, back to nature and the results are simply spectacular. From huge swathes of meadow, to woodland and pools, Ed has created a habitat simply teeming with wildlife, so I was in my element. In October, last year, I visited when everything had come to

Cloudy with few sunny spells, 17°, light W. Fairly quiet around the hill today and quite breezy, Skylark and Corn Bunting in song with the odd Yellowhammer and Common Whitethroat joining in. 2 Lesser Whitethroat in the area along with several Blackcap . A Raven flew west over the hill and 300+ Corvids in the pig fields. Mainly Rook and good numbers of Jackdaw and the odd Crow . 2 Jay made their presence known as a Buzzard passed close overhead. On returning another Swallow alarm call alerted me to a Hobby that flew over the garden approx. 20 second later. Mammals: Short-tailed Vole , Brown Hare ,  Weasel and Roe Deer . Reps: a single Common Lizard . Butterflies: Brimstone , Orange Tip and Peacock .  Brown Hare (courtesy Alan Dawson) Nuthatch  Dad & Junior Red-eyed Damselfly (courtesy Alan Dawson) from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2019/05/cooler.html

Yesterday I joined a walk on Wimbledon Common led by Peter Fiennes, author of an absorbing and beautiful book on trees. Oak, Ash and Thorn sets out the case for Britain’s woodland and I liked the idea of discussing this subject within the woodland itself. We gathered, rather aptly, under an oak, its crown providing […] from James Common https://commonbynature.co.uk/2019/05/26/in-the-company-of-trees-by-frances-jones/

A few photos from Alan Dawson this week. Yellow Wagtail. Appear rather scarce around Cholsey this year. Please email me if you see any in the area. Ta  Chiffchaff Small Blue A few additions to the year lists this week not mentioned previously, with Large Red Damselfly , Red-eyed Damselfly , White-legged Damselfly and  Small Blue butterfly.   from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2019/05/alans-wanderings.html

Wallingford Wildlife Group are carrying out an RSPB Swift survey this summer and to help people to familiarise themselves with Swifts and potential confusion species held a “Swift Walk” earlier this evening. Swifts spend most of their lives on the wing, they eat, sleep and mate on the wing. Once a young Swift leaves the nest it may not land for 2-3 years when it first breeds. As you may be aware Swifts are in serious decline as there breeding sites are not available in modern buildings and renovated buildings as well as a decline in insects they feed on. For further information follow the link: Swift Facts Approx. 20 people turned out for the walk. We started off at St Mary's Church in Wallingford where Swifts are quite obvious overhead and then a walk along the River Thames to an area next to the Oxford University boat club building. Fortunately the weather was kind and we managed to see several Swallows and House Martins and were able to highlight the differences betw