9.0°C > 11.0°C: Overcast with occasional rain / drizzle. Moderate / fresh SSW wind. Very good visibility except in drizzle.
[Sunrise: 05:05 BST]
* = a photo today
Just think: it is just a month away from the longest day and it is then all downhill to Christmas. Perhaps we will have an Indian Summer?
I should have learned not to trust the weather forecast: nowhere near as wet or as windy as I expected. A lie-in anyway with The Flash visited first.
Priorslee Lake: 06:50 – 09:55
(98th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Two juvenile Coots seen from yet another new and small brood (#7). Any / all the other juveniles stayed in hiding.
- Six Great Crested Grebes. These behaving as three pairs all of which were down the E end. None seems interested in nesting.
- Not sure about the Sedge Warbler. I may have heard it very briefly. A bird seen diving to cover in the reeds from where I heard the sound was not a Reed Warbler (or Reed Bunting). Nothing further seen or heard. If it has gone then could it be the bird heard at The Flash (see below)? Time may tell.
Overhead:
- 4 Canada Geese: pair outbound; pair inbound
- 1 Wood Pigeon only
- 1 Collared Dove
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls again: two (near) adults; one immature
- †6 Jackdaws
- †4 Rooks
† = low number due to my later arrival and therefore no post-roost passage overhead seen.
Hirundines etc., noted:
Numbers varied greatly throughout from c.10 to c.50 and then fewer for a while. Possibly many more individuals.
- c.10 Swifts
- 2 Sand Martins
- c.25 Barn Swallows
- c.15 House Martins
Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 15 (12) Chiffchaffs
- ? Sedge Warblers (see notes)
- 14 (12) Reed Warblers
- †11 (10) Blackcaps
- †2 (2) Garden Warblers
- †3 (2) Common Whitethroats
† = numbers of these species likely affected by my later arrival – no dawn chorus!
Count from the lake area
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 2 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 2 (2♂) Mallard: both departed, separately
- no Moorhens
- 19 + 2 (1 brood) Coots
- 1 Little Grebe: heard only
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
1 Grey Heron as ever
On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:
- 1 Unidentified caterpillar sp.
- *1 Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber)
Noted later:
Bees / wasps etc.:
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
Midges
- Thousands again!
Flowers newly ID'd for the year here:
- *Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea)
- *Field Forget-me-not (Myosotis arvensis)
- *Bush Vetch (Vicia sepium)
- *Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata)
Feedback via Twitter suggests that the nomad bee I logged on 18 May is likely an Early Nomad Bee (Nomada leucophthalma). A new species for my Priorslee Lake list.
I do wish the Mute Swans would not allow the cygnets so close to the sluice. A few years ago we had to get Severn-Trent to unlock the sluice exit when a well-grown cygnet was washed down the sluice. A cygnet this size could well pass through the sluice and be on its way to Shifnal!
- Thousands again!
Flowers newly ID'd for the year here:
- *Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea)
- *Field Forget-me-not (Myosotis arvensis)
- *Bush Vetch (Vicia sepium)
- *Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata)
Feedback via Twitter suggests that the nomad bee I logged on 18 May is likely an Early Nomad Bee (Nomada leucophthalma). A new species for my Priorslee Lake list.
What seems to be a Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber) - the most common of this group.
From white to black. Just a few of the anthers remain from this Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata).
(Ed Wilson)
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(85th visit of the year)
Unexpected highlight today was another Sedge Warbler singing from deep inside the same bramble patch that the Reed Warbler was singing from last Sunday. Most odd.
Other bird notes:
- Many Mallard must have been hiding away. They had decided, probably wisely, they would not sit on the roofs today.
- Four discrete pairs of Tufted Duck present throughout.
- No juvenile Coots seen though the adult by the bridge was brooding one or more judging by the size of its 'skirts'.
- The Great Crested Grebe still here – still only the one noted.
- One of the Jackdaws flying over was carrying food.
Birds noted flying over here:
- 3 Jackdaws
Hirundines etc. noted:
None
Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 2 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler
- 3 (3) Blackcaps
On /around the water:
- 25 Canada Geese again
- 5 Greylag Geese
- 3 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 15 (10♂) Mallard
- 8 (4♂) Tufted Duck: see notes
- 4 Moorhens
- no juvenile Coots seen
- 1 Great Crested Grebe again
Nothing else of note.
(Ed Wilson)
- 2 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler
- 3 (3) Blackcaps
On /around the water:
- 25 Canada Geese again
- 5 Greylag Geese
- 3 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 15 (10♂) Mallard
- 8 (4♂) Tufted Duck: see notes
- 4 Moorhens
- no juvenile Coots seen
- 1 Great Crested Grebe again
Nothing else of note.
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day
2020