6.0°C > 9.0°C: Clear to E with fiery sunrise ahead of increasing cloud with some rain after 08:10. Moderate SSE wind. Excellent visibility.
Sunrise: 05:06 BST
* = a photo today
Priorslee Lake: 04:10 – 05:55 // 06:50 – 09:05
(97th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Only the two juvenile Coots from the original brood seen. Chilly and damp weather kept the others in the reeds perhaps.
- Back to four Great Crested Grebes. A puzzle as ever.
- The wader-fest continue but at a typically slow rate. Two Oystercatchers flew from the E at 08:05, did a 180° over the lake and left. My second sighting of this species here this year which is unusual.
- The Sedge Warbler has not gone and may have a mate. One was muttering away quietly pre-dawn with just a few notes of its proper song. Later I heard another very short burst of song and then two birds shot out of the water-side vegetation and in to the bushes between the lake and the M54. Whether either (or both) were this species I could not say, only that no more song was heard.
- Only two Starlings on the academy playing field. When they flew off, flying close together, the calls suggested parent and juvenile.
- A House Sparrow heard calling from bushes along the N side. Waiting for Redrow to finish the houses and move in?
Overhead:
- 2 Greylag Geese: pair inbound
- 2 Stock Doves: singles
- 13 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Herring Gulls: two second year and one third year
- 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls again: four (near) adults; three second years
- 2 Oystercatchers
- 3 Cormorants (trio)
- 29 Jackdaws
- 13 Rooks
Hirundines etc., noted:
- 4 Swifts
- c.10 Barn Swallows
- c.10 House Martins
Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 12 (11) Chiffchaffs
- 1 or 2 (1) Sedge Warblers (see notes)
- 10 (10) Reed Warblers again
- 15 (14) Blackcaps
- 3 (3) Garden Warblers
- 5 (3) Common Whitethroats
Count from the lake area
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 2 Greylag Geese: pair, briefly
- 2 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 2 (2♂) Mallard
- 3 Moorhens
- 20 + 2 (1 brood) Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult, very briefly
- 1 Grey Heron
On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:
- *1 male Misumena vatia spider
Noted later:
Beetles:
- *One (or two) unidentified beetle(s)
- *One (or two) unidentified beetle(s)
Midges
- *Thousands!
Spiders
- Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides cornutus)
- *Stretch spider sp (Tetragnatha sp.)
Flowers newly ID'd here:
- *Broom (perhaps Cytisus scoparius though there are many cultivars)
- *Common Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)
- *Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis)
- *Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon)
- *Wood Avens (Geum urbanum)
- *An as yet un-ID yellow flower
- *Common Mouse-ear (Cerastium fontanum)
- *Thousands!
Spiders
- Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides cornutus)
- *Stretch spider sp (Tetragnatha sp.)
Flowers newly ID'd here:
- *Broom (perhaps Cytisus scoparius though there are many cultivars)
- *Common Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)
- *Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis)
- *Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon)
- *Wood Avens (Geum urbanum)
- *An as yet un-ID yellow flower
- *Common Mouse-ear (Cerastium fontanum)
It really did mean "red sky in the morning, shepherds' warning". This at 04:30; rain by soon after 08:00.
About as good as it got.
Here with some reflections.
Well you have to try to be different.
A 'grab shot' as the two Oystercatchers flew back to whence they came without stopping.
"Open wide". A male Reed Bunting belts out its frankly rather uninspiring song.
Yet another yellow flower. This is Wood Avens (Geum urbanum), also known as Herb Bennet.
A plant I noted growing on the dam with ...
Seems they are attractive to ants!
In close-up the stems and flower buds are hairy which they are not on Chickweed.
Another for which I needed the help of the Shropshire spider recorder. Remember the all-white spider from 13 May? That was a female Misumena vatia. This is a male - and very different-looking. This is called sexual dimorphism. Unlike the female he cannot change colour. He is also smaller with, as we see, brown legs.
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Between the lake and The Flash
- Sitting adult Moorhens on nests at each pool. Another adult at the lower pool.
- After his day off yesterday the Chiffchaff was singing at the lower pool.
- A Blackcap calling at the upper pool.
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Flash: 06:00 – 06:40
(84th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- No sign of any Mallard ducklings. That said rather fewer duck Mallard seen.
- Initially I noted two pairs of Tufted Duck, a lone drake and another drake with a drake Mallard (the duck from that trio was not found). Later I saw two pairs of Tufted Duck flying around together when I was not in a position to see all the water. Later again there were still the two pairs present. Did these pairs go for a fly about or were these different birds?
- The Coot nest along the W side was empty of both adults and juveniles and I could locate none of them. The single juvenile peering out under the brooding adult in the nest by the bridge was reasonably well-grown and upon reflection likely from this pairs' first brood: I doubt a second brood would be so well-developed.
- A Great Crested Grebe has reappeared - just one apparently.
- The over-flying Rook was my first of the year here (species #68). They are strangely scarce here - at least at the times I tend to be around.
Birds noted flying over here:
- 14 Feral Pigeons
- 2 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Jackdaw
- 1 Rook
Hirundines etc. noted:
- No sign of any Mallard ducklings. That said rather fewer duck Mallard seen.
- Initially I noted two pairs of Tufted Duck, a lone drake and another drake with a drake Mallard (the duck from that trio was not found). Later I saw two pairs of Tufted Duck flying around together when I was not in a position to see all the water. Later again there were still the two pairs present. Did these pairs go for a fly about or were these different birds?
- The Coot nest along the W side was empty of both adults and juveniles and I could locate none of them. The single juvenile peering out under the brooding adult in the nest by the bridge was reasonably well-grown and upon reflection likely from this pairs' first brood: I doubt a second brood would be so well-developed.
- A Great Crested Grebe has reappeared - just one apparently.
- The over-flying Rook was my first of the year here (species #68). They are strangely scarce here - at least at the times I tend to be around.
Birds noted flying over here:
- 14 Feral Pigeons
- 2 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Jackdaw
- 1 Rook
Hirundines etc. noted:
None
Swifts or House Martins logged here this year.
Still none
Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 4 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Blackcaps
On /around the water:
- 25 Canada Geese
- 3 Greylag Geese
- 3 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 27 (22♂) Mallard
- 6 (4♂) Tufted Duck: see notes
- 2 Moorhens only - busy at nests?
- ?? + 1 (1 brood) Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
Nothing else of note.
- 4 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Blackcaps
On /around the water:
- 25 Canada Geese
- 3 Greylag Geese
- 3 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 27 (22♂) Mallard
- 6 (4♂) Tufted Duck: see notes
- 2 Moorhens only - busy at nests?
- ?? + 1 (1 brood) Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
Nothing else of note.
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On this day