6 Jun 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

10.0°C > 11.0°C: Low cloud with occasional light drizzle. Very light and variable wind. Moderate visibility at best.

Sunrise: 04:49 BST

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:40 – 05:45 // 06:45 – 08:55

(131st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I thought there might have been as many as nine Great Crested Grebes on the water at 05:00. Later I could find no more than six.
- What sounded like a begging juvenile Common Buzzard was heard from the Ricoh copse.
- The recent vociferous Sedge Warbler seems to have gone. Neither have I recently seen or heard the earlier bird along the S side where a pair nested last year.
- Two of the three Garden Warblers noted are still singing continually and I suspect they have not found a mate and are now unlikely to do so. The third bird sings very intermittently and I have occasionally seen it (or its partner) apparently foraging. Nesting is likely for this bird.
- A Common Whitethroat was seen carrying food and is probably too busy to sing at the moment. All the heavy rain yesterday will have washed many insects and such like off the vegetation and birds will be struggling to find food until we get some warm sunny weather.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 7 Canada Geese: single outbound; six outbound circled and went back inbound
- 2 Greylag Geese: duo outbound
- 3 (2♂) Mallard
- 1 Wood Pigeon
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult?
- 2 Cormorants: singles
- 1 Jackdaw

Hirundines etc. noted:
- c.25 Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 4 House Martins

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 16 (13) Chiffchaffs
- no Sedge Warblers
- 8 (7) Reed Warblers
- 14 (10) Blackcaps
- 3 (3) Garden Warblers
- 1 (0) Common Whitethroat

Counts from the lake area:
- 4 Canada Geese: a duo landed on the fenced-off field c.05:30; a duo flew in c.08:30
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 6 (5♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck, briefly
- 1 Moorhen
- 32 + 15 (7 broods) Coots
- 6 Great Crested Grebes

On / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:

Nothing noted 

Noted later:
Very little again. Chilly and dull conditions with soaking wet vegetation.

Moths:
- Plum Tortrix (Hedya pruniana)
- Silver-ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata)
- Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis)

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

Slugs / snails:
- Garden Snail (Cornu aspersum aka Helix aspersa)
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

New flower for the year noted:
- Common Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii)

The Mute Swan family. Four cygnets with mum on the left and two cygnets with dad. They were all out on the grass for a while today. There have been six cygnets for a week now.

Peek-a-boo. Well it has only taken me just over six months to get a photo of a Cetti's Warbler here. I first recorded one of 21 October 2021. Today it again wandered away from its normal West end haunts and here it is behind the sailing club shelter. It remains much more vocal than birds I have encountered recently at other sites and I do wonder whether it is still trying attract a mate. I did note two birds together several times much earlier in the year: perhaps both were males and one has moved on?

I was well pleased to see this arch skulker briefly in the open. Note the rather rufous tones to the back and especially the crown. Field Guides note this rather large and thick-set warbler sports a broad, rounded tail – looks rather scraggy here probably from hiding in too many brambles.

This Common Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) has shot up out of nowhere since Saturday. Here the 'spots' on the leaves look more like holes made by insects. I'll have another try for real spots when the vegetation is not too wet to access the plant comfortably.

I noted this tree near the Wesley Brook bridge. It appears to have had the bark stripped off of it. I did not note the type of tree at the time: there are Alder leaves a-plenty in the photo and these may belong. As far as I know when a tree is ring-barked (stripped of bark all around the trunk) then it dies. I assume the culprits are Grey Squirrels – a destructive, invasive species just like the Brown Rat but with a bushy tail and good PR.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:50 – 06:40

(127th visit of the year)

A major surprise, first noted by the residents yesterday, was the emergence of the adult pen Mute Swan accompanied by four small cygnets. The most likely explanation is that when, shortly after the cob died, she was last reported as retreating on to the island it was to sit on a replacement clutch of eggs. But was the now dead cob the father? When the original clutch of eggs disappeared (for which there remains no explanation) the cob was already behaving rather strangely, spending several days sitting on the path alongside Derwent Drive. The 2019 bird, whose sex has never been confirmed, spent a lot of time close to the old nest site and was seen to climb on it whilst the pen was there. Behaviour that the old and normally aggressive cob seemed to tolerate. Could that be the father? If so then it is having nothing to do with the pen or the cygnets now.

Other bird notes:
- Just one small Canada Goose gosling remains. The two well-grown and six fast-growing goslings were present.
- A further increase in the geese numbers.
- No sign of any Mallard ducklings. Indeed very few Mallard at all.
- The Mistle Thrush was singing again along the East side. For a while it was in the scattered trees on the area used for exercising dogs.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Greylag Geese: together

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 7 (6) Chiffchaff
- 7 (4) Blackcaps

Noted on / around the water:
- 142 + 9 (3 broods) Canada Geese
- 20 Greylag Geese
- 4 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 10 (7♂) Mallard only
- [the all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck) not seen]
- 8 (6♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 + 4 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 18 + 5 (2 broods) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult

Noted on / around the street lamp poles:
- 1 plumed midge

Elsewhere:

Nothing of note

The big surprise has been the reappearance of the adult pen Mute Swan with four cygnets to look after on her own. She seems to have a growth at the very top of her neck, almost at the back of the head, which I hope is not serious.

A smart-looking adult Lesser Black-backed Gull with no hint of black on the bill. Note the slight brown tone in the folded wings as the feathers wear with age. They will soon start to be replaced when it starts its post-breeding moult.

A plumed midge with very bushy antennae. Perhaps the female of the species has very weak pheromones and he needs all he help he can get to detect her. How does he see where he is going?

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- An adult Moorhen and two juveniles seen at the lower pool.
- No Chiffchaff seen or heard.
- 1 Blackcap still singing from scrub between the two pools.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- The Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) chrysalis remains.
- 1 owl midge Psychodidae sp.

Zooming right in on this owl midge Psychodidae sp. I wonder whether the antennae are actually serrated rather than barred as I thought last week.

(Ed Wilson)

Note:

On Saturday 2 Jun 22, Ed Wilson visited Doxey Marshes, Staffordshire. His photos are on Readers Corner Here.

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On this day can be found via the yearly links in the right-hand column.

Sightings from previous years without links are below

2012

Holmer Lake

Black Swan

(Martin Ryder)

2009

Priorslee Lake

Common Terns

(Ed Wilson)