12 Aug 15

Priorslee Lake: 05:03 – 06:05 // 06:55 – 09:14
Location

Telford sunrise: 05:46

10.0°C > 14.5°C. Clear for all of 10 minutes then fog rolled in with eventual clearance only after 08:00. Light N wind later. Moderate visibility rapidly poor, even bad for a while; good later

During the poor visibility only birds flying directly overhead my positions could be seen

(102nd visit of the year)

Other notes
- most of the geese were heard only: a party of 10 returning Canada Geese pitched in for a while
- just 3 Little Grebes this morning: adult and 1 juvenile in the ‘usual’ position; another juvenile seen in several places around the lake
- today’s episode in the Great Crested Grebe saga. Three pairs were confirmed as having 4, 2 and 2 juveniles. I saw a pair with a single juvenile earlier and this may have been a 4th pair, but I could not relocate it
- all the large gulls were specifically identified today and all were Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- no Swifts recorded
- House Martins heard high over on several occasions but not located. After the mist / fog cleared just 2 were low over the N side trees
- brief song from two Song Thrushes this morning: another seen

and
- dragonfly species noted: Common Blue Damselfly and unidentified hawker sp. dragonfly
- butterfly species noted: Small Skipper, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock
- moth species on the lamps: Common Wainscot and Agriphila tristella (Common Grass-veneer)
- moth species in the Priorslee Avenue foot tunnel: the same Common Rustic agg. moth
- moths flushed: many grass moths not specifically identified
- several different spiders recorded

Counts of birds flying over the lake (in addition to those on / around lake)
naff weather ruined most of the counts
- Greylag Geese heard only
- 18 Canada Geese (2 groups) with many others heard only
- 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Stock Doves
- no Jackdaws or Rooks seen or heard
- 4 Pied Wagtails

Count of hirundines etc
- no Swifts
- 4 Barn Swallows again
- >2 House Martins

The counts from the lake area
- 2 Mute Swans
- 10 Canada Geese
- 34 + 1 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 Grey Heron
- 3 Little Grebes
- 6 + 8 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes – see notes
- 8 + 15 (8 broods) Moorhens
- 97 + 16 (7 broods) Coots
- 27 Black-headed Gulls
- 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

And this was before the fog really closed in!

One of the juvenile Little Grebes that was exploring away from its usual inaccessible location.

The brown in the wing is diagnostic of Common Whitethroat. An adult male would have a grey back so this is probably a female or juvenile, not separable on this view.

A Painted Lady was up and about as soon as the sun chased away the fog and mist.

This what a Common Wainscot moth looks like when fresh. A small midge is getting in on the action.

This seems to be Enoplognatha ovata, sometimes called the Candy-stripe Spider. There is a very similar species Enoplognatha latimana but on range that is less likely. However the similarity is such that specimens need to have their palps examined and the range information may not be completely reliable.

 

One of the harvestman spiders – they have no venom and produce no web. This is Leiobunum rotundum that I record annually. It is a female: the male had a more or less all red-brown body with a single black dot.

Another spider sp. I thought from the pattern that this was the ‘garden spider’ Araneus diadematus but the photo shows a spider with a much larger cephalothorax (front half!), more robust palps and a more hairy appearance.

Having been caught out earlier this year with what I had assumed to be Red Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) turning out to be Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica) I thought I ought to be careful. And I think with good reason as this is, I think(!), Common Hemp-nettle (Galeopsis tetrabit).

On safer ground here. This IS White Deadnettle (Lamium album).

This is today’s “something completely different” and from the sublime to the ... – well, perhaps foolhardy on a very foggy morning. This a powered parachute – you strap a small Rotax engine with a fan propeller on to you back, grab a modern-design rectangular parachute and away you go flying! No rules, minimal regulation ... Hmm.

does that look like fun?

(Ed Wilson)

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Woodhouse Lane: 07:40 – 08:30
Location

(13th recent visit)

Notes
I spent most of the time in the area of the sluice exit and wood-edge alongside the Wesley Brook. A short walk up to the road but did not venture far along it today

Selected bird counts
- at least 150 Wood Pigeons flushed off the harvested oil-seed rape stubbles
- 1 Goldcrest
- 1 Chiffchaff only
- 4 calling Blackcaps
- 1 Common Whitethroats
- 2 Bullfinches, again one a juvenile
- 1 Linnet over
- 1 Yellowhammer in song

and
- the sun had only just started to break through and very few insects had emerged
- butterfly species noted: Green-veined White
- dragonflies etc. species noted: none

(Ed Wilson)

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Priorslee Flash: 06:15 – 06:45
Location

(75th visit of the year)

Notes
- even here the visibility was rather too poor to see across the water. Some of the geese were still waiting to leave. The Coots could not be reliably counted as those on the island – where most have been gathering recently – could not be seen

Birds noted flying over
None

Hirundines etc
None

The counts from the water
- 2 + 3 Mute Swans
- 13 Greylag Goose
- 73 Canada Geese
- 1 Lesser Canada Goose ssp.
- 1 all-white feral goose
- 40 (29♂) Mallard
- 3 (no♂) Tufted Duck
- [the all-white feral duck not seen]
- 2 + 2? Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Moorhens
- ? Coots – not counted
- 5 Black-headed Gulls again

(Ed Wilson)

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Devil's Dingle: 07:30
Location

1 Lesser Whitethroat
1 Redstart
1 Green Sandpiper

(John Isherwood)

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River Severn, Buildwas: 08:30
Location

1 Hobby
1 Lesser Whitethroat
3 Spotted Flycatcher
4 Redstart
4 Little Ringed Plover

(John Isherwood)

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On this day in 2007, 2011, 2013 and 2014

2014

Little Wenlock, Candles Landfill Site
Location
Today's Report Here

2013

Priorslee Lake
2 Common Sandpipers

(Ed Wilson)

2011

Priorslee Lake
Ruddy Duck
1 Common Sandpiper
>50 Linnets

(Ed Wilson)

2007

Priorslee Lake
Little Egret

(Ed Wilson)