26 May 18

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

12.5°C > 13.5°C: Very low cloud producing a few spots drizzle in the air. Light N wind picking up from ENE. Poor visibility, becoming moderate as cloud lifted somewhat

Sunrise: 04:58 BST

Priorslee Lake: 05:30 – 06:35 // 07:30 – 08:45

(60th visit of the year)

Telford Sailing Club had their Safety Boat on the water at 08:30 – I thought they were only permitted after 09:30. Apparently testing a newly installed engine they were causing a wash all around the lake and could easily have flooded out the as yet-to-hatch Mute Swan nest as well as the Great Crested Grebe and Coot nests. I had a word with one of their members: whether it will have any effect ....

other notes from today:
- Tufted Ducks heard at 07:50 but nothing seen on the water until a pair apparently flushed from the reeds by the Safety Boat at 08:35
- single quite well-grown juvenile Coot in the NW area
- 3 Cormorants appeared in the cloud overhead: one landed; another did a low pass and moved off N; the third disappeared back in to the cloud
- I think there can be no juvenile Great Crested Grebes as yet: after five days I would have expected to have seen them in the water
- two rather late Common Sandpipers again: same birds as seen on Thursday (but not yesterday)?
- the same(?) two Common Terns present throughout
- a party of 14 large gulls circling high over: they all seemed to be Herring Gulls, mostly immatures. A few other large gulls identified
- 7 Barn Swallows flew N at 06:00. After 08:00 two low over the water
- at least 15 House Martins dipping in and out of the cloud base at 05:45. Later a few over the estate and later still over the lake perhaps additional birds
- I am now almost certain that there are only two Garden Warbler territories: the earlier overlapping territories seem to have been resolved
- similarly there seems to be just one Common Whitethroat territory remaining – the lowest number for many years
- at least 30 Starlings around the ‘football field’ with adults and newly-fledged juveniles on top the protective netting between the abandoned cricket strip and the academy. A few more birds noted flying out of the estate
- a male Pied Wagtail on the dam was my first for a while

and
- still nothing on the lamps
- a Yellow-faced Bell (Notocelia cynosbatella) moth flushed from the vegetation
- plenty of Common stretch-spiders (Tetragnatha extensa), mainly in the nettles
- an interestingly-marked spider, perhaps Larinioides cornutus
- still several Alder flies (likely Sialis lutaria) on the sluice entrance
- big hatch of damselflies with >70 newly emerged tenerals and exuvia seen on the sluice entrance

The following plant added to previous sightings this month
- White Clover (Trifolium repens)
- Bush Vetch (Vicia sepium) (tentative ID)

today’s bird totals

birds noted flying over / near the lake:
- 11 Canada Geese (2 parties)
- 2 Cormorants
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 15 Herring Gulls
- 2 Stock Doves
- 3 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Jackdaws

hirundines seen today
- >30 Common Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows
- >15 House Martins

warblers noted: figure in brackets is singing birds (not all the males seen might have been singing)
- 6 (6) Chiffchaffs
- 12 (12) Blackcaps
- 2 (2) Garden Warblers again
- 1 (1) (Common) Whitethroat again
- 5 (5) Reed Warblers

the counts from the lake area
- 6 + 5 (1) Mute Swans remain
- 5 (5♂) Mallard
- 2 (1) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Grey Heron
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- no Moorhens
- 17 + 1 (1 brood) Coots
- 2 Common Sandpipers again
- 2 Common Terns remain

the Telford Sailing Club testing their Safety Boat.

The wash here threatening the Mute Swan nest just visible in the reeds at the extreme right

the adult Cormorant that landed this morning. Has lost the white thigh-patch of breeding birds but still retains the head-shape from vestigial head plumes. In wing-moult.

as usual a tail-first landing.

Coots are inveterate nest-builders and cannot resist adding new material.

Another shot of one of the Common Terns showing the upper- and under-wing patterns. Note the white shafts on the upper side of the primaries.

Seven juvenile Starlings atop the grid separating the cricket strip on the football field from the windows of the academy.

Two of them closer-up.

A close-up of a rain-spattered Ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare).

Not always easy to separate horsetail species but am pretty certain these are the sterile stems of Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense), also rain-spattered.

On the football field I found my first White Clover (Trifolium repens).

I have previously recorded this as Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca) but I am now uncertain. The lines on the ‘hooded’ leaf suggest Bush Vetch (Vicia sepium). The photos in Naturespot.org.uk suggest that species would be pinkish rather than bluish: my reference books do not! Perhaps both species are present?

Two days earlier than last year’s record here is a Yellow-faced Bell (Notocelia cynosbatella) moth.

A large emergence of damselflies today: this empty exuvia was my first indication of what I later found.

Some parts of the sluice platform were covered in exuvia and emergent damselflies.

We see one damselfly completely emerged while behind it one is still emerging. The emerged specimen looks like to be a female Azure Damselfly. It can take some hours after emergence before the adult colouration is obtained.

A rather better shot of the same putative female Azure Damselfly.

And a rather better shot of one struggling to emerge.

The stripe on the thorax of this specimen looks rather wide but I am of the opinion it is a Common Blue Damselfly.

Rather blown-up – it was over water so I could not get closer – is this spider. I think it is Larinioides cornutus – there is no vernacular name. It is noted as building its nest in grass alongside / over water which seemed to match.

A damaged shell on what seems to be a White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:45 – 07:25

(44th visit of the year)

Two separate single over-flying Rooks were my first at this site this year, taking my year’s site bird total to 62 species

other notes from today
- the long-term Mute Swan Yellow 52F spent most of the time chasing the two first-year birds in the party of 4. Its mate, with a green ring, was around the island. No sign of any new cygnets
- no Mallard ducklings with the only duck seen
- initially 5 Tufted Ducks (3 drakes) on the water: later birds heard and seen in flight and these settled making a total of 9 birds (5 drakes) on the water
- 2 quite well-grown juvenile Coots seen along the E side
- a Great Spotted Woodpecker seen on the island was my first record here since 18 January!
- I noted an insect on the wing over the water and while trying to decide whether it was a moth or perhaps a mayfly sp. a Barn Swallow swooped it up
- House Martins heard, apparently to the W of the area but I could not locate them
- no sight or sound of Thursday’s Reed Warbler

birds noted flying over
- 2 Rooks as highlighted

hirundines etc. seen today
- 2 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow
- House Martins heard only

warblers noted: figures in brackets is singing birds (not all the males seen might have been singing)
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff
- 1 (1) Willow Warbler
- 3 (3) Blackcaps

the counts from the water
- 6 Mute Swans (see notes)
- 23 Canada Geese
- 10 (9♂) + 0 Mallard
- 9 (5♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Moorhens
- 19 + 2 (1 brood) Coots

Not the sharpest picture on a rather dull morning: one of the two juvenile Coots in the brood by one of the footbridges.

This is the Ivy bank between the water and primary academy which is where I look for insects in the autumn morning sun. This view suggests that it has suffered in the snow and frost and looks very burnt / dead in places, though seems to be recovering.

In the foot-tunnel under Priorslee Avenue I found this Common Crane-fly (Tipula oleracea) at rest.

Noted between the lake and The Flash
- a Moorhen on the lower pool
- a Grey Heron standing on a roof of a house alongside the path
- 2 (2) Blackcaps: 1 at the lower pool; 1 above the upper pool around the school ground
- and a Common Crane-fly (Tipula oleracea) in the tunnel under Priorslee Avenue

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day..........

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2009
Priorslee Lake
Oystercatcher
Common Sandpiper
2 Common Terns
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Common Tern
(Ed Wilson)