Priorslee Lake: 05:49 – 09:02
Location
Telford sunrise: 06:56
8.0°C > 13.0°C. Fine, clear start with cloud increasing from the W later. Calm start with light W breeze later. Very good visibility.
(124th visit of the year)
Highlights today
- 3 Lapwings over were my first here this year! (none was seen late winter / spring).
- another Hobby raced through like the proverbial “bat out of hell” with no time to even raise the camera.
Other notes
- lake again packed with geese when I arrived. I estimate the geese this morning at c.370, remarkably close to the 384 counted yesterday. Only a single Greylag Goose was seen leaving though many of the geese left at an angle that made it hard to see / count. That said after this goose had left I heard no more Greylag calls from the lake. A very few more birds arrived and two small groups were seen over
- Mallard counted as shown. Birds were also noted both flying in and out before dawn and some of these may have been additional birds
- sexing some of the Tufted Ducks (1st year birds?) can be hard at this date and numbers of ♂♂ is my best effort from now until around the turn of the year when drakes become instantly separable
- one of the resident adult Great Crested Grebes was absent this morning – probably just below the surface whenever I did the count
- large count of Jackdaws this morning. >200 far to the E and only seen because of good visibility. >40 birds seen after 08:00 (almost all the others >07:00)
- 6 Chiffchaffs (2 in song) again
- 2 Blackcaps heard, one of them at a location I have not heard post-breeding birds previously this year
- numbers of fly-over wagtails, pipits and finches are likely to be under-stated as with clear blue sky the birds were often beyond (my) visual range. If found in the binoculars calling birds were often part of small parties. Many distant unidentified small birds were also noted
- all the Siskins were singles
- 2 of the Redpolls were flying together: in addition another Redpoll was noted briefly in with Goldfinches [Redpoll identification is now a nightmare with the humble ‘Redpoll’ now being split in to (at least) five species. Those that breed in the UK are now ‘Lesser Redpolls’ while slightly larger and paler birds that sometimes arrive in large numbers for the winter are ‘Mealy Redpolls’. The other three species are rare vagrants and even paler. The name ‘Common Redpoll’ is properly applied to the Mealy Redpoll but ‘common’ as far as we are concerned is typically ‘Lesser’ and this is what I suspect all these birds were, but none was seen (well enough) to be sure]
And
- no bats
- no moths on the lamps or in the Priorslee Avenue foot tunnel
- 2 Common Darter dragonflies
- several Eristalis-type hoverflies not further identified
Counts of birds flying over the lake (in addition to those on / around lake)
Another low-cloud affected day
- 8 Greylag Geese
- 15 Canada Geese
- 1 Kestrel
- 1 Hobby
- 3 Lapwings
- 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Collared Dove
- 428 Jackdaws
- 183 Rooks
- 2 Starlings
- 28 Pied Wagtails
- 11 Meadow Pipits
- 5 Siskins
- 4 Redpolls
Hirundines etc
None
The counts from the lake area
- 2 Mute Swans
- 1? Greylag Goose
- c.370 Canada Geese
- 23 (12♂) Mallard
- 26 (7♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Grey Herons yet again
- 2 Little Grebes
- 7 + 9 Great Crested Grebes
- 12 + 17 Moorhens
- 203 Coots
- c.150 Black-headed Gulls
A clear fine start to the day. Some of the geese can be seen in the distance on the water.
In addition to some more departing geese there are six black specs which are Jackdaws on one of their many roost-dispersal routes.
Another of my less than stunning shots: enough to tell us this is not a male Kestrel which would show a grey upper tail. But we would have to be able to see the breast to separate a juvenile from a female at this age.
(Ed Wilson)
Location
Telford sunrise: 06:56
8.0°C > 13.0°C. Fine, clear start with cloud increasing from the W later. Calm start with light W breeze later. Very good visibility.
(124th visit of the year)
Highlights today
- 3 Lapwings over were my first here this year! (none was seen late winter / spring).
- another Hobby raced through like the proverbial “bat out of hell” with no time to even raise the camera.
Other notes
- lake again packed with geese when I arrived. I estimate the geese this morning at c.370, remarkably close to the 384 counted yesterday. Only a single Greylag Goose was seen leaving though many of the geese left at an angle that made it hard to see / count. That said after this goose had left I heard no more Greylag calls from the lake. A very few more birds arrived and two small groups were seen over
- Mallard counted as shown. Birds were also noted both flying in and out before dawn and some of these may have been additional birds
- sexing some of the Tufted Ducks (1st year birds?) can be hard at this date and numbers of ♂♂ is my best effort from now until around the turn of the year when drakes become instantly separable
- one of the resident adult Great Crested Grebes was absent this morning – probably just below the surface whenever I did the count
- large count of Jackdaws this morning. >200 far to the E and only seen because of good visibility. >40 birds seen after 08:00 (almost all the others >07:00)
- 6 Chiffchaffs (2 in song) again
- 2 Blackcaps heard, one of them at a location I have not heard post-breeding birds previously this year
- numbers of fly-over wagtails, pipits and finches are likely to be under-stated as with clear blue sky the birds were often beyond (my) visual range. If found in the binoculars calling birds were often part of small parties. Many distant unidentified small birds were also noted
- all the Siskins were singles
- 2 of the Redpolls were flying together: in addition another Redpoll was noted briefly in with Goldfinches [Redpoll identification is now a nightmare with the humble ‘Redpoll’ now being split in to (at least) five species. Those that breed in the UK are now ‘Lesser Redpolls’ while slightly larger and paler birds that sometimes arrive in large numbers for the winter are ‘Mealy Redpolls’. The other three species are rare vagrants and even paler. The name ‘Common Redpoll’ is properly applied to the Mealy Redpoll but ‘common’ as far as we are concerned is typically ‘Lesser’ and this is what I suspect all these birds were, but none was seen (well enough) to be sure]
And
- no bats
- no moths on the lamps or in the Priorslee Avenue foot tunnel
- 2 Common Darter dragonflies
- several Eristalis-type hoverflies not further identified
Counts of birds flying over the lake (in addition to those on / around lake)
Another low-cloud affected day
- 8 Greylag Geese
- 15 Canada Geese
- 1 Kestrel
- 1 Hobby
- 3 Lapwings
- 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Collared Dove
- 428 Jackdaws
- 183 Rooks
- 2 Starlings
- 28 Pied Wagtails
- 11 Meadow Pipits
- 5 Siskins
- 4 Redpolls
Hirundines etc
None
The counts from the lake area
- 2 Mute Swans
- 1? Greylag Goose
- c.370 Canada Geese
- 23 (12♂) Mallard
- 26 (7♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Grey Herons yet again
- 2 Little Grebes
- 7 + 9 Great Crested Grebes
- 12 + 17 Moorhens
- 203 Coots
- c.150 Black-headed Gulls
A few of the Canada Geese leaving c.07:00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On this day in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2013
2013
Priorslee Lake
2 Whinchat
3 Snipe
1 Wigeon
3 Snipe
1 Wigeon
(John Isherwood)
2011
2007
2011
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)
2008
Priorslee Lake
Water Rail
(Ed Wilson)
2007
Priorslee Lake
Ruddy Duck
Kingfisher
696 Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martin
55 Meadow Pipit
(Ed Wilson)
Kingfisher
696 Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martin
55 Meadow Pipit
(Ed Wilson)