3.0°C > 8.0°C: A delayed start after more heavy overnight rain. Clear start; low cloud for a while; then sunny intervals before clouding again. Moderate southerly wind. Very good visibility.
[Sunrise: 05:53 GMT]
Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:40 – 09:00
(66th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- a pair of Gadwall dropped in briefly.
- 2 Siskins were noted flying out of trees: a late record here
Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 4 Canada Geese: quartet outbound
- 32 Wood Pigeons
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
Hirundines etc. noted:
None
Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 2 (2) Willow Warblers
- *16 (15) Chiffchaffs
- *5 (5) Blackcaps
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese: pair throughout
- 2 Mute Swans
- *2 (1) Gadwall: arrived and soon departed
- *4 (3♂) Mallard
- *37 (28♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- 40 Coots
- *4 Great Crested Grebes
- *3 Cormorants: arrived separately; one also departed
Noted later:
Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 2 (2) Willow Warblers
- *16 (15) Chiffchaffs
- *5 (5) Blackcaps
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese: pair throughout
- 2 Mute Swans
- *2 (1) Gadwall: arrived and soon departed
- *4 (3♂) Mallard
- *37 (28♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- 40 Coots
- *4 Great Crested Grebes
- *3 Cormorants: arrived separately; one also departed
Noted later:
New flowers for the year:
- *Dog's Mercury Mercurialis perennis
- *Lenten-rose Helleborus orientalis agg.
- *Dog's Mercury Mercurialis perennis
- *Lenten-rose Helleborus orientalis agg.
The drake Gadwall from the pair that dropped in briefly. From the under-side...
...and the upper-side.
...and so has this duck.
"So where are the girls?" A bachelor party of drake Tufted Ducks.
A rare view, this year, of a sunny Great Crested Grebe.
The grebe may have looked serene but these two are anything but.
More or less coming to a resolution.
Unusually one of the Cormorants decided to leave. He it goes. What is not evident from this angle is...
...the pale belly indicating it is an immature bird.
A Chiffchaff trying to hide behind the flowers of Blackthorn. Note the right legs is wearing a BTO ring.
The best I can do in being able to decipher the ring. I am not sure it is traceable from this.
Here he (it was singing) out in the open.
Blackcaps are more secretive than Chiffchaffs. Here is one hiding while singing.
Not helping when he turns his head away.
A male Pied Wagtail. At this time of year the Continental race of this species, White Wagtail, is a possibility. This can be ruled out here as the White Wagtail has clean white flanks and a greyer back.
This insignificant flowering plant is Dog's Mercury Mercurialis perennis
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 09:05– 10:25
(68th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- back to a big surplus of drake Mallard: 23 drakes; 3 ducks.
- no Willow Warblers today. This species typically passes in the first few days of April so the birds seen so far are early outliers.
- a Bullfinch heard and seen singing – a quiet unobtrusive song.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- *1 Herring Gull: fourth year?
- 1 Common Buzzard
Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 8 (7) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (3) Blackcaps
Noted on / around the water:
- 20 Canada Geese: of these a pair flew off and two pairs arrived
- *5 Greylag Geese: of these a pair flew off
- 2 + *4 Mute Swans
- 26 (23♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck
- 29 (17♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Moorhens
- 30 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- *1 Herring Gull: a first year, briefly.
Noted elsewhere
- *1 Chocolate Mining Bee Andrena scotia on the Ivy bank.
A Greylag Goose being particularly noisy.
And the pair involved.
This first year Herring Gull dropped in for a few minutes.
I found this Chocolate Mining Bee Andrena scotia on the Ivy bank.
(Ed Wilson)
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Sightings from previous years
2014
Priorslee Lake
2 Little Grebes
4 Great Crested Grebes
9+ Cormorants
1 Grey Heron
2 Swans
2 Shoveler
30 Tufted Duck
10 Chiffchaffs
5 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)
The Flash
2 Great Crested Grebes
1 Cackling Goose
51 Tufted Ducks
3 Chiffchaffs
1 Meadow Pipit
2 Fieldfare
(Ed Wilson)
Nedge Hill
7 Meadow Pipits
c.150 Fieldfare
c.30 Starlings
1 Chiffchaff
(Ed Wilson)
2013
Priorslee Lake
7 Wigeon
22 Tufted Duck
1 Glaucous Gull
1 Yellow-legged Gull
1 hybrid Ring-billed x Lesser Black-backed Gull
1 Mediterranean Gull
c.400 Black-headed Gulls
63 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
4 Herring Gulls.
(Tom Lowe, Martin Grant)
Nedge Hill
2 Lapwing
(Martin Grant)
Little Wenlock, Candles Landfill Site
1 Glaucous Gull
Iceland Gull
1 Yellow-legged Gull.
(Tom Lowe)
2012
Priorslee Lake
10 Chiffchaffs singing
4 Blackcaps singing
1 Skylark
1 Willow Tit
1 Raven flew over
3 Great Crested Grebes
11 Tufted Duck
(Ed Wilson)
Priorslee Flash
2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers
38 Tufted Duck
5 Chiffchaffs singing
(Ed Wilson)
2008
Priorslee Lake
4 Great Crested Grebes
6 Gadwall
c.15 Tufted Duck
1 Fieldfare
11 Linnets
5 Chiffchaffs
c.40 Sand Martins
(Ed Wilson)
The Flash
4 Great Crested Grebes
30 Tufted Ducks
Siskins
2 Chiffchaffs
(Ed Wilson)
Nedge Hill
10 Meadow Pipits
Linnets
Skylarks
(Ed Wilson)
2006
Priorslee Lake
7 Great Crested Grebes
2 Cormorants
14 Tufted Ducks
3 Ruddy Ducks
1 Kittiwake
242 Wood Pigeons
4 Stock Doves
2 Buzzards
1 Kestrel
3 Meadow Pipits
3 Grey Wagtails
9 Pied Wagtails
26 Wrens
3 Fieldfare
94 Redwings
2 Swallow
13 Sand Martins
1 Blackcap
1 Willow Warbler
7 Chiffchaffs
18 Magpies
4 Jays
127 Jackdaws
13 Greenfinches
7 Siskins
7 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson, Martin Adlam)