6 Jun 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

7.0°C: Mainly cloudy with a few early breaks. Just made it back before the rain started. Fresh / strong W wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:47 BST

Priorslee Lake: 04:25 – 05:50 // 06:40 – 07:44

(103rd visit of the year)

Quiet with song diminishing by the day.

Bird notes:
- A single Swift flew through at 05:00. None seen later amongst the Barn Swallow and House Martins.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 5 Greylag Geese: trio and two singles inbound
- 2 Canada Geese: duo inbound
- 5 Cormorants: together
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: both (near) adults
- 1 Stock Dove
- 3 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Jackdaws

Birds noted on the ‘football’ field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies not included]:
- 1 Stock Dove again

Birds noted on the academy playing field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies not included here either]:
None

Count of hirundines etc logged:
- 1 Swift
- 6 Barn Swallows
- >40 House Martins again

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 16 (13) Chiffchaffs
- 10 (9) Blackcaps
- [no Garden Warblers]
- 4 (3) Common Whitethroats again
- 6 (6) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 11 (10♂) Mallard
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens
- [Coots not counted again]
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: (near) adults

On / around the street lights pre-sunrise:
- 1 Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

Insects / other things etc noted later:
- moribund possible mining bee (Andrena sp.)

Additional plant species recorded in flower for the year at this site:
None

You can always rely on a perky Wren to liven up a dull morning.

Quite! Note how big the feet look as it clutches the barbed wire.

The Wren adds noise. This adult Goldfinch adds colour to a dull day.

No one could accuse this of adding colour or melody to the morning. Between broods I suspect so this male Reed Bunting is re-establishing his territory with his rather lack-lustre song. Eight out of ten for effort though.

A surprise find on a lamp pole pre-dawn was this Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris).

And it was still there two hours later.

Not entirely sure what this is. It looks rather like a mining bee (Andrena sp.) though I cannot see the antennae. This insect seemed to be moribund, perhaps even dead, on the head of an umbellifer.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:55 – 06:35

(89th visit of the year)

Again not the weather for juveniles to be out and about

Bird notes:
- The Canada Goose goslings still confined to the gardens of the estate by the aggressive cob Mute Swan. How will they ever learn to fly?
- Two broods of Mallard ducklings. One brood of five several days old and noticeably growing. The other brood of four looked very new.
- Two juvenile Great Crested Grebes were in the water were briefly. I could not determine whether there were more juveniles still on the parent’s back.
- The juvenile Moorhen was from a new brood.
- No Swifts here.
- Warblers very quiet – apart from the usual non-stop singing by the Reed Warbler.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Jackdaw

Hirundines etc logged:
- 1 House Martin

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 1 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Reed Warbler still

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 71 + 3 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 18 (14♂) + 9 (2 broods) Mallard
- 13 (7♂) Tufted Duck: one pair flew off high NE
- 2 + 2? (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes again
- 2 + 1 (1 brood)Moorhens
- 16 + 5 (3 broods) Coots
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: (near) adults

Otherwise of note
- 1 Mystacides longicornis (caddis fly) on the same lamp pole as yesterday
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum harvestman on the usual lamp pole

A Canada Goose hoists its sail! Of course this is one of its primary feathers that is falling out as it begins its annual moult. Both birds show rather loose-looking feathers.

The Mystacides longicornis caddis fly on a lamp pole (offset to avoid intrusive back lighting). It is relatively unusual to find them at rest. Normally groups are dancing over lake-side vegetation.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

Noteworthy
- Chiffchaff singing at the lower pool
- Blackcap singing at the lower pool again

(Ed Wilson)

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

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2012
Holmer Lake
Black Swan
(Martin Ryder)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Common Terns
(Ed Wilson)