5.0°C > 9.0°C: Yet again the Telford microclimate produced low cloud and mist to start. The cloud continued to lift with no real breaks. Light SE wind. Moderate visibility, becoming good.
Sunrise: 05:01 BST
* = a photo today
Very little to show for almost six hours. Ironically the best bird – a Hobby – flew over Priorslee Avenue as I was driving away!
Priorslee Lake: 04:10 – 05:45 // 06:40 – 09:55
(101st visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- The Mute Swans lost another cygnet between my arrival and departure. Surely not down the sluice? (I checked.) The adults do like to take the family close to the edge for the weed trapped on the grid.
- Moorhens and Coots presumably stayed in the reeds.
- What were likely the same four adult and one first year Lesser Black-backed as yesterday. These were in and over the Ricoh area for much of the time, periodically making a lot of noise as they chased the local Common Buzzard. The first-year visited the lake and sat on a buoy for a while. Two other adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew over.
- The only Grey Heron was bird high over to the E.
- I noted a Little Grebe sitting in the middle of the water. I moved to try a better position for a photo and it had disappeared.
- Four pairs of Great Crested Grebes now.
Overhead:
- 7 Canada Geese: duo and quintet outbound
- 1 (1♂) Mallard
- 3 Feral Pigeons
- 4 Wood Pigeons
- 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: four (near) adults – see notes
- 11 Cormorants: single, duo and octet
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 36 Jackdaws
- 4 Rooks again
Hirundines etc., noted:
- *>50 Swifts
- *>20 Barn Swallows
- >30 House Martins
No Sand Martins seen again
Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 10 (10) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (0) Sedge Warbler
- 11 (9) Reed Warblers
- 12 (12) Blackcaps
- 4 (4) Garden Warblers
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat only
Count from the lake area
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 2 + 6>5 (1 brood) Mute Swans: see notes
- 7 (6♂) Mallard: five (four drakes) flew off together
- no Moorhens
- 15 Coots only
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: first year – see notes
- 1 Little Grebe
- 8 Great Crested Grebes
On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:
- *1 cranefly, probably Tipula rufina
Noted later:
Flies
- *Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.)
Spiders
- *stretch spider sp (Tetragnatha sp.)
Snails:
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
New Flowers for the year:
- *Shiny (or Shining) Crane's-bill (Geranium lucidum)
The Telford micro-climate. Clear to the E but fog and mist from Limekiln Bank all across Priorslee.
Compare and contrast #2: again a Swift with a Barn Swallow behind it.
Oh yummy! Mrs. Reed Bunting arrives with breakfast.
And about to dive in to the nest.
A Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.).
A seven-and-a-half-legged stretch spider sp (Tetragnatha sp.).
I think this is Shiny (or Shining) Crane's-bill (Geranium lucidum).
(Ed Wilson)
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(23rd visit of the year)
Eventually got tired of waiting for a sunny morning and walked up and down the lane anyway.
Very few notes:
- The Garden Warbler was still singing, albeit intermittently, by the sluice exit.
Some number
- *1 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (1) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
- 4 (3) Common Whitethroats
- 5 (4) Skylarks
- 1 Linnet
- 6 (3) Yellowhammers
also noted
- *Red-and-Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata)
- *Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)
- *Nettle Weevils (Phyllobius pomaceus)
- *A probable Dusky Slug (Arion subfuscus)
- *A possible Copse Snail (Arianta arbustorum)
- *Unidentified fungus
- *Common Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) about to flower
On a dew covered nettle leaf a small green 'beetle'.
And another.
My first Red-and-Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata) of the year. Hard to overlook!
A Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria). The plan view and ...
... side-elevation. Not an exciting looking fly but one with an important job of recycling nutrients.
A clump of fungus that required some 'gardening' for a clearer view.
Here is one that was broken showing all the key identification for an expert to ID it. Sadly I am not.
(Ed Wilson)
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- Two adult and two juvenile Moorhens on upper pool.
- Two adult Moorhens with a small juvenile peering out from under an adult on the lower pool nest. Despite this one adult was still adding more material to the nest. The size of the juvenile (what I could see of it) suggested a second brood. I was told that a well-grown juvenile was seen dead on the path yesterday.
- The Chiffchaff singing by the lower pool again.
- No Blackcaps noted
(Ed Wilson)
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(88th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- All four (three drakes) Tufted Duck were on / by the island.
- Two juvenile Coots: the very well-grown bird standing on the nest by the bridge; one with a pair from the island.
- Two Great Crested Grebes today.
Birds noted flying over here:
Bird notes:
- All four (three drakes) Tufted Duck were on / by the island.
- Two juvenile Coots: the very well-grown bird standing on the nest by the bridge; one with a pair from the island.
- Two Great Crested Grebes today.
Birds noted flying over here:
None
Hirundines etc. noted:
Still none
Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff
- 2 (2) Blackcaps
On /around the water:
- 45 Canada Geese
- 4 Greylag Geese
- 3 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 20 (14♂) Mallard
- 4 (3♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Moorhens only
- 2 juvenile Coots
- 2Great Crested Grebes
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff
- 2 (2) Blackcaps
On /around the water:
- 45 Canada Geese
- 4 Greylag Geese
- 3 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 20 (14♂) Mallard
- 4 (3♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Moorhens only
- 2 juvenile Coots
- 2Great Crested Grebes
Also noted:
- 2 Grey Squirrels
(Ed Wilson)
- 2 Grey Squirrels
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day