Priorslee Lake: 05:46 – 09:18
Location
Telford sunrise: 06:58
10.5°C > 12.0°C. A few clouds and even the lightest of showers but mainly clear and fine. Calm start with light WSW breeze later. Very good visibility
(125th visit of the year)
Highlight was another Peregrine high over to the NW
Other notes
- no geese in the lake early: just 4 Canada Geese dropped in briefly
- Mallard counted as shown. Again were also noted both flying in and out before dawn and some of these may have been additional birds
- a 1st winter Kestrel used one of the ST information posts as a perch for some minutes. Apart from perhaps the same bird briefly on the mast of one of the yachts in the compound earlier this week this is the first time I have see a bird actually perched around the lake: usually they are just hovering over the grass or seen in the distance
- 4 Little Grebes this morning: one of these in the NW corner and not with the other long-term ‘residents’ along the E end of the N side
- a few Great Crested Grebes absent this morning but with the juveniles more and more independent and catching their own fish they were likely just diving away and hard to spot
- 5 Chiffchaffs (2 in song)
- 2 Blackcaps heard again
- again many of the smaller birds flying over were probably under-recorded
and
- 1 bat: not identified but not obviously a Pipistrelle-type
- 1 Comma butterfly
- 2 moths on the lamps, both Epiphyas postvittana (Light Brown Apple Moth). One of these was next to another lacewing sp.
- a different Common Marbled Carpet moth in the Priorslee Avenue foot tunnel
- 1 hawker-type dragonfly
- one Episyrphus balteatus – a common small hoverfly
Counts of birds flying over the lake (in addition to those on / around lake)
Another low-cloud affected day
- 6 Greylag Geese
- 2 Canada Geese
- 1 Peregrine
- 21 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 5 Feral Pigeons
- 3 Stock Doves
- 403 Jackdaws
- 228 Rooks
- 18 Pied Wagtails
- 14 Meadow Pipits
- 2 Siskins
Hirundines etc
(Ed Wilson)
Location
Telford sunrise: 06:58
10.5°C > 12.0°C. A few clouds and even the lightest of showers but mainly clear and fine. Calm start with light WSW breeze later. Very good visibility
(125th visit of the year)
Highlight was another Peregrine high over to the NW
Other notes
- no geese in the lake early: just 4 Canada Geese dropped in briefly
- Mallard counted as shown. Again were also noted both flying in and out before dawn and some of these may have been additional birds
- a 1st winter Kestrel used one of the ST information posts as a perch for some minutes. Apart from perhaps the same bird briefly on the mast of one of the yachts in the compound earlier this week this is the first time I have see a bird actually perched around the lake: usually they are just hovering over the grass or seen in the distance
- 4 Little Grebes this morning: one of these in the NW corner and not with the other long-term ‘residents’ along the E end of the N side
- a few Great Crested Grebes absent this morning but with the juveniles more and more independent and catching their own fish they were likely just diving away and hard to spot
- 5 Chiffchaffs (2 in song)
- 2 Blackcaps heard again
- again many of the smaller birds flying over were probably under-recorded
and
- 1 bat: not identified but not obviously a Pipistrelle-type
- 1 Comma butterfly
- 2 moths on the lamps, both Epiphyas postvittana (Light Brown Apple Moth). One of these was next to another lacewing sp.
- a different Common Marbled Carpet moth in the Priorslee Avenue foot tunnel
- 1 hawker-type dragonfly
- one Episyrphus balteatus – a common small hoverfly
Counts of birds flying over the lake (in addition to those on / around lake)
Another low-cloud affected day
- 6 Greylag Geese
- 2 Canada Geese
- 1 Peregrine
- 21 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 5 Feral Pigeons
- 3 Stock Doves
- 403 Jackdaws
- 228 Rooks
- 18 Pied Wagtails
- 14 Meadow Pipits
- 2 Siskins
Hirundines etc
None
The counts from the lake area
- 2 Mute Swans
- 4 Canada Geese
- 22 (11♂) Mallard
- 33 (17♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Grey Heron
- 4 Little Grebes
- 7 + 7 Great Crested Grebes
- 11 + 17 Moorhens
- 194 Coots
- c.180 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
A male Great Spotted Woodpecker – male because of the red patch on the nape.
The distant Peregrine: the breadth of the wing precludes all other falcons (apart from escaped falconers birds or even more unlikely vagrant Gyr Falcon!).
The Common Marbled Carpet on a lamp in the roof of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel.
Sort this out! Two Black-headed Gulls were going after the same object that had been dropped by another. The adult on the right is averting its head to avoid the 1st winter on the left ...
The Kestrel on the pole at the lake. I think it is a 1st winter bird: the breast is not that easy to see from this angle but looks rather diffusely streaked whereas as a female would be more spotted-looking. It also lacks any yellow cere at the base of the upper mandible.
The counts from the lake area
- 2 Mute Swans
- 4 Canada Geese
- 22 (11♂) Mallard
- 33 (17♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Grey Heron
- 4 Little Grebes
- 7 + 7 Great Crested Grebes
- 11 + 17 Moorhens
- 194 Coots
- c.180 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
The light shower passing through produced a brief attractive sunrise scene.
Another perspective.
An Episyrphus balteatus hoverfly: a male because the eyes meet.
... and they missed: just.
Comma butterfly.
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day in 2011
2011
Priorslee Lake
1 Common Sandpiper
(John Isherwood)
(John Isherwood)
Location
1 Wheatear
1 Yellow Wagtail
(John Isherwood)