A short walk

Cloudy with some sunshine, 21°, light SSE.

A walk out with Loren to the Lees and back today. Not a lot to see except for a couple of pairs of Yellow Wagtail with possibly more past the Lees but did not go out there as a tractor was spraying the fields. With what we don’t know!

We usually get approx. 5-6 pairs of Yellow Wagtail breeding in Cholsey but last year we had just one possibly 2 pairs. So hoping this year they do better.

(Western) Yellow Wagtails are summer visitors to the UK and winter in Sub-Saharan Africa. They often feed alongside livestock and take insects kicked up by Sheep or Cattle etc. Maybe the ones we saw today were feeding alongside Zebra and Wildebeest a few months ago?

The ubiquitous Common Whitethroat seen in fair numbers plus Skylarks and the odd Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Yellowhammer.

Butterflies: Brimstone, Small White, Orange Tip, Small Tortoiseshell and Small Heath.

Alan also out today.

Butterflies: Alan found a Large Skipper butterfly today. The 20th species so far. Also Marsh Fritillary. Green Hairstreak and Small Blue.

Dragonflies: Common Clubtail and Broad-bodied Chaser.

Birds: Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Yellow Wagtail.

A photo I took last year of this Yellow Wagtail picking flies off the Cows face.
 Yellow Wagtails from today ↕

Small Heath
 Small Blue (courtesy Alan Dawson) a rather tatty one!
Large Skipper (courtesy Alan Dawson)


from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-short-walk.html

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