30 Apr 20

Priorslee Lake and Woodhouse Lane

My extended exercise walk encompassed Woodhouse Lane today

5.0°C > 9.0°C:  Variable amounts of cloud with only a few sunny intervals. Moderate S wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:38 BST

Priorslee Lake:  early

(68th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The trio of Greylag Geese arrived and were chased on to the E end grass by the cob Mute Swan. Later they went to the W end where they were left alone.
- The same rather strange, presumed female, Pheasant on the school playing field.
- Another very low count of Coots.
- The Lesser Black-backed Gull was on the same buoy as used on Tuesday. Same bird? Or is the buoy in a favourable location?
- Still cannot decide how many singing Garden Warblers there are. At least four although song was heard from six different locations.
- A Lesser Whitethroat was very vocal throughout and also rather mobile. For all that I managed the briefest of glimpses as it dived in to a bush.
- The original Common Whitethroat is not singing at the moment. Another bird in a different location was singing. It was a rather strange song lacking the usual ‘scratchiness’, but was seen well-enough to eliminate any confusion species.
- Only one Sedge Warbler noted.
- This year the Mistle Thrush is using a much wider range of song posts than previously. If I had not noted two birds together last week I might have thought he was still seeking a mate and a nest site.
- One House Sparrow made it as far as the sailing club compound.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 2 Canada Geese (pair outbound)
- 1 Cormorant
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: adults
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 16 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Jackdaw

Count of hirundines etc logged:
- >75 Sand Martins
- >10 Barn Swallows
- House Martin(s) heard only

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 16 (12) Chiffchaffs
- 23 (18) Blackcaps
- 6 (6)? Garden Warblers (see notes)
- 1 (1) Lesser Whitethroat
- 2 (1) Common Whitethroat
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler only
- 5 (5) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 3 Greylag Geese: arrived
- 2 Canada Geese: arrived; later flew to playing field
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall still
- 12 (10♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Grey Heron
- Little Grebe heard only
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Moorhens
- 14 Coots only
- 1 Common Sandpiper still
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult, briefly

New flower species noted:
- Wayfaring-tree (Viburnum lantana)

On / around the street lights:
- 1 spider sp.
The Lunar Marbled Brown moth (Drymonia ruficornis) has gone: perhaps washed away by yesterday afternoon’s deluge.

‘Imperious’ is a good word for this Greylag Goose, none the worse for its brush with the cob Mute Swan.

“Quarts and pint pots” spring to mind. This Great Crested Grebe is determined to have a go.

Just the tail left ....

 ... nope – reposition for another go (while a Barn Swallow passes).

Down the hatch this time. Look at that extended neck. The stomach will be extended soon.

Two for the price of one and also compare and contrast. A resting Barn Swallow was going to be joined by the Sand Martin but he decided to fly on.

The Barn Swallow decided to leave too! Note the length of its tail – likely a male.

This Barn Swallow was bold and allowed gentle closer approach. It may be the angle foreshortening the tail. Or it may be a shorter-tailed female.

A picture you always hope to take and then sadly it is not as sharp and clear as you would like. A Sand Martin picking a morsel off the surface of the lake.

Starlings are harder to photograph than you might imagine. They are very wary and do not allow close approach. When they are, as here, busy collecting food to take back to the nest they are frantically shuffling around adding to mouthfuls of food. This male (the blue at the base of the bill means it is a male; females have pink-based bills in the breeding season) has quite a collection. How they manage to find these grubs I have no idea. It is clear I would not make a good Starling.

Well all this is indeed true. But it is a shame that in these “helf’n’safety” conscious days we cannot just put up notices saying “do not touch”. After all we do not root out all Laburnum trees just because the seeds are poisonous do we? And the flowers of Giant Hogweed are a great nectar source for many insects. We are killing and starving millions of insects every year through the application of weed killers. It would be nice for the survivors to have a food source.

On one of the lamp poles was this tiny spider – my portable 1p scale in use again. It bears some resemblance to crab spiders in the genus Xysticus but I cannot find an exact match.

Flowers just opening here on what I think I have previously misidentified as a Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus). Upon cross-checking with the date of flowering and the leaf-shape I think this is a Wayfaring-tree (Viburnum lantana). There are many around the lake.

(Ed Wilson)

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Woodhouse Lane:

(2nd visit of the year)

Notes from here
- Strange that no Pheasants were heard calling. Usually plentiful around the fields.
- A snatch of what seemed to be Willow Warbler song. A Song Thrush, a Chiffchaff and a Blackcap were in full cry close-by and I was not 100% certain. Nothing more heard.
- Good number of Common Whitethroats: my highest count for several years

Notable species counts (singing birds in brackets):
- [no Pheasants]
- 4 (3) Skylarks
- [no Long-tailed Tit parties]
- 4 (2) Chiffchaffs
- 5 (5) Blackcaps
- 7 (5) Common Whitethroats
- 2 (2) Song Thrush
- 4 (3) Chaffinches again
- 2 Goldfinches
- 3 Linnets
- 6 (1) Yellowhammers

Additional flower species noted:
- Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)
- Lucerne (or Alfalfa) (Medicago sativa)

Early summer in Woodhouse Lane is a very relaxing and peaceful place to be. Very little traffic, a few walkers and great wildlife. The verges of the ‘three-ply’ lane are packed with wildflowers – mostly Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) in this view. Fields of rape beyond. The verges will be trimmed soon but it seems not to affect the abundant flowers too much.

Looking back up the lane.

All just a stone’s throw from the M54 – you can just see a vehicle between the trees.

More Common Whitethroats this year than I can recall for some years. A male in song.

Another male in the hedge. They use hedges as look-out posts. They are nesting in the rape.

And another in silhouette.

And yet another in song. In ten days or so when nesting gets underway they will be less obvious and song will diminish.

Not a very sharp photo but one I was pleased with anyway. Common Whitethroats have an erratic ‘dancing’ display flight and here is a male doing just that.

With a stick in the way: never mind. A perky singing Dunnock. This one shows obvious white tips to its primary coverts.

Definitely not willing to pose today were any of the Yellowhammers. A male here.

Do I need to say what these are? Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta). The small white flowers just to the left are Dog's Mercury (Mercurialis perennis).

More Bluebells.

This Yellow Archangel plant (Lamium galeobdolon) was in better light and more advanced than any I photographed last week.

This is clearly one of the pea family. Which? My vote is for Lucerne (or Alfalfa) (Medicago sativa). Originally a crop plant for cattle but now widely naturalised.

The density of some wild flowers beside the lane is wonderful. These are Ramsons (Allium ursinum).

A big patch of Common or Field Forget-me-not (Myosotis arvensis).

A closer look at part of the patch.

(Ed Wilson)

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If you are on your daily exercise and keeping a safe distance from others, we would love to see any photos or sightings from Priorslee Lake and The Flash, by contacting us at priorsleelake@hotmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you.😊

(Martin Adlam and Ed Wilson)

Note:
Here are a few Garden Sightings from Ed Wilson Here on our Readers Corner from the past few days

And

A few of Martin Adlam's Sightings from the Isle of Portland Here.

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

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
1 Common Sandpiper
2 Raven
2 Reed Warbler
(John Isherwood)

Nedge Hill
1 Whinchat
1 Yellow Wagtail
1 White Wagtail
2 Common Redstart
40 Wheatear
(John Isherwood)

Long Lane, Wellington
3 Whimbrel
(JW Reeves)

2012
Priorslee Lake
1 Lesser Whitethroat
1 Reed Warbler
(John Isherwood)

Nedge Hill
1 Common Redstart
15 Wheatear
1 Lesser Whitethroat
2 Raven
(John Isherwood)

The Wrekin
2 Pied Flycatchers
Common Redstart
(Observer Unknown)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Hobby
2 Red-legged Partridge
Lesser Whitethroat
Cormorant
5 Lapwings
6 Reed Warblers
3 Whitethroats
8 Blackcaps
5 Chiffchaffs
4 Linnet
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
17 Mute Swans
(Martin Adlam)

2007
Priorslee Lake
1 Swift
c.20 Sand Martins
1 Swallow
6 House Sparrows
2 Sparrowhawk
Buzzard
Kestrel
2 Stock Dove
2 Grey Wagtails
1 Sedge Warbler
4 Reed Warblers
Chiffchaff
126 Jackdaw
(Ed Wilson)

Nedge Hill
2 Buzzards
Swallow
Ring Ouzel
2 Common Whitethroat
1 Chiffchaff
2 Linnets
(Ed Wilson)

Priorslee Flash
3 Great Crested Grebes
Reed Bunting
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
5 Great Crested Grebes
2 Greylag Geese
6 Tufted Ducks
2 Common Sandpiper
1 Cuckoo
1 Sky Lark
c.10 Sand Martins
c.8 Swallows
c.20 House Martins
1 Meadow Pipit
2 Grey Wagtails
32 Wren
26 Blackbirds
2 Sedge Warblers
3 Reed Warblers
2 Lesser Whitethroats
2 Garden Warbler
10 Blackcaps
6 Chiffchaffs
1 Willow Warbler
1 Jay
11 Chaffinches
8 Greenfinches
3 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)