4 May 16

Priorslee Lake
Location

Early morning sightings: 06:00
1 Oystercatcher
3 Common Sandpiper
1 Cetti's Warbler
1 Lesser Whitethroat
4 Reed Warbler
2 Sedge Warbler

(John Isherwood)

Morning Report: 07:15 – 09:20

Sunrise: 05:30 BST

4°C > 10°C Still a few patches of frost in sheltered areas but otherwise clear and warming in sun. Calm start with light S wind later wind. Very good visibility

Best today was my first Garden Warbler of the year

That means that all the expected summer visitors have now arrived. Still a chance for a passing Spotted Flycatcher – one of the last migrants because there is not much point turning up when there are not many insects. We can expect (hope?) the odd tern sp. to drops by and a Hobby to dash through. Otherwise it is waiting for something unusual to turn up

No sign of the Pied Flycatcher despite a prolonged search

(68th visit of the year)

Other notes
- more Tufted Duck seem to have left
- the Oystercatcher flew in at 07:45 and then spent a while on the SW grass before flying off E at 08:10
- 3 Common Sandpipers back again: probably just on passage though
- in addition to the 2 Stock Doves flying over a single bird was, rather unusually, on the SW grass (with the Oystercatcher) for a while
- there seemed to be 4 Swifts every time I checked: whether these were the same birds is a moot point. A pair was seen mating – on the wing of course
- a Kingfisher shot down the Wesley Brook, calling. A strange date for here as lack of suitable breeding habitat (river / lake banks to male nest holes in) usually means they have moved off long before now
- 2 Lesser Whitethroats again: this is my best year for this species for many a year – perhaps ever
- in contrast the 2 Common Whitethroats represents a poor year, but there is time for more to arrive
- a Treecreeper was heard singing alongside Teece Drive – my first for some weeks and suggesting they are breeding here

Counts of birds flying over the lake (in addition to those on / around lake)
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 1 Canada Goose
- 2 Cormorants
- 2 Stock Doves
- 4 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Jackdaw
- 10 Rooks
- 2 Starlings

Hirundine etc. totals
- 4 Common Swifts
- 5 Sand Martins
- 3 Barn Swallows
- 2 House Martin

Warblers seen / heard around the lake: numbers in brackets are singing birds
- 1 (1) Cetti’s Warbler
- 8 (6) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (2) Willow Warbler again
- 20 (12) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
- 2 (2) Lesser Whitethroats
- 2 (2) Common Whitethroats again
- 2 (2) Sedge Warblers again
- 7 (6) Reed Warblers

The counts from the lake area
- 2 Mute Swans
- 11 (9♂) Mallard
- 6 (5♂) Tufted Ducks
- 8? Great Crested Grebes again
- 1 Oystercatcher
- 3 Common Sandpipers
- 7 Moorhens
- 32 Coots

Another warbler close-up: this a Chiffchaff. Rather ill-defined supercilium and dark legs confirm – but it was singing as well.

Spring is (may be?) here and here are some flowers to prove it. These are from a Wild Cherry (Prunus avium).

This is Lady's Smock / Cuckooplant / Milkmaid (Cardamine pratensis), the food plant of the Orange-tip butterfly. Strangely this was the only flowering head I could: when I cycled to Aqualate on Monday there were banks of flowers.

And here is our first umbellifer of the year – Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris). I see in the photo on the top umbel there is a nasty-looking fly which I did not notice at the time.

This is Hedge Garlic or Jack-by-the-Hedge (Alliaria petiolata): a common plant that gets its name from the garlic smell when the leaves are crushed. The leaves can be eaten raw in salads or boiled as a ‘green’. I think this plant is rather late flowering this year – I reckon to see it as the very end of March, though it does have quite a long ‘season’.

(Ed Wilson)

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Nedge Hill: 07:00
Location

2 Wheatear

(John Isherwood)

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River Severn, Buildwas and Leighton: 08:30

2 Mandarin
2 Goosander
2 Common Sandpiper
4 Little Ringed Plover
1 Oystercatcher

(John Isherwood)

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Note

 It is the 10th Anniversary of the Belvide Birding Blog. Congratulations from all at FoPL
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On this day in...........
2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Local Area
Today's Sightings Here

2007
Priorslee Lake
1 Gadwall
(John Isherwood)

2006
Priorslee Lake
4 Ruddy Ducks
1 Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)